All about the Vineyard.

In May 2008 we planted 2700 Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines which we will make into sparkling wine. Our first real harvest will be in 2010 and the first wines should be ready a year and a half later.
This year we hope to put up our trellising and also to plant 500 more vines to fill in a small gap at the side of the field. We are going for more Pinot Meunier and a tiny amount of Bachus to make a little still wine.
Why Aller Hill? - most importantly it is south facing so that you get the maximum benefit of the sun late in the summer. It is also Calcerous Clay on a Limestone base which happens to be the same as the best white wine producing parts of burgundy. Lots of people speculate about minerals in soils affecting wine taste and quality - what the French call Terroir. I think that the most important thing is actually how the soil drains as this affects whether the vines produce wood or grapes. What we are trying to do is to keep the soil as alive as possible by keeping herbicide use to a minimum and encouraging diversity by planting a range of grasses similar to those that we have on the rest of the land. Rainfall also seems relatively light here which is important so that the grapes aren't diluted at harvest time. We are taking measurements and it will be interesting to see whether this is true.
The story so far in pictures, start with soil
 3200 vines 

 Just After Planting.
End of the first summer.

Cold Winter Number One.

New Planting.

Summer 2009.


Cold Winter Number Two


Summer 2010




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Born to be Wild.

Image
Born to be wild. In life, we all like to have a bit of control over things. That reassuring feeling that everything will go to plan and while nothing is ever guaranteed, you expect things to turn out well. In the winemaking world, this is what happens when you make your wine with a commercial cultured yeast. The vast majority of wine is now made using strains that are pretty predictable and will do the job quickly without too much risk. This being the case, why did we decide last year to go back to the wild side and let our grapes ferment with the natural yeasts to be found in the vineyard? The answer is that there is research that suggests that no two  vineyards have the same finger print and so you are tasting the unique product of our environment. The process was pretty nerve wracking. A commercial strain does its job in a week or two but our indigenous Somerset yeasts were still slowly working away until after Christmas. The results? We couldn’t be happier. We think tha
Read more

Making Real Cider

Image
At one time virtually every farm in Somerset had its own cider barn where householders would make cider for themselves and their workforce. They were usually partially under ground and had a tree planted right next to them to keep them nice and cool in the summer. This photo was taken at Higher Plot sometime late in the 19th century and shows the barn on the left with its newly planted tree.  Sadly this year the tree didn't show any signs of life and so will have to come down after more than 100 years. It may re-grow from the roots but if not, we will plant a new one. A very small number of farms in Somerset still make cider in the traditional way and I went down the road to Beer Aller to help out at Nightingale Farm where they use an old press and crusher to mill local apples. Unlike wine making there's no sulphur, cold stabilisation or anything like that just the natural yeasts from the apples. As they say, the force of the ferment will be strong enough to
Read more

Why the price of wine will go up and up.

Image
Things are changing in the world of volume wine trading which makes my job quite interesting at the moment. A series of factors have come into play that mean that wine as a whole is going to become a bit more of a luxury item for most people rather than the first thing that they thoughtlessly reach for from the fridge after a hard day at the office. This is not just down to high taxation although this plays a part. What used to happen was that if the price of something like Chilean Cabernet went up because a poor harvest or more likely foreign exchange movement, then buyers would just drop it and move onto whatever else was cheap which could be Spanish Tempranillo or California Merlot, it didn't matter.   For years there has been over supply particularly from the European powerhouses of France, Italy and Spain. Growers have been desperate to get anybody to buy their grapes but also with the full knowledge that if nobody did then a friendly EU official would come along and tak
Read more