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In The VineyardThe very hot, midsummer temperatures of April 2007 helped the development of the young shoots and meant that flowering was a little ahead of normal. This proved to be a great benefit as the weather started to deteriorate in early June but despite this there was a good set of grapes. The wet weather that carried on through July and August lead to Due also to the wet Rob was more than fully employed spraying against the botrytis and fungal dangers. He did an amazing job holding the attacks at bay and certainly was helped by the weather being cooler than normal. We started to leaf pluck, clearing away the leaves from the bunches earlier than normal. By doing this we opened up the fruit to the drying winds, to the sun when it appeared and to the sprays that got to the fruit as well as to the leaves. When the good weather arrived we were surprised by how quickly veraison occurred (the changing of the skin's colour - yes it happens with white as well as red grapes). The sugars increased quite rapidly and we were looking, we thought, at an early October harvest. This year we wanted to make some sparkling wine so it was important to get the balance of sweetness and acidity right, after a review of sugar and more The vineyard rested until after Christmas when the cycle of pruning starts all over again. Derek Smedley MW
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excessive growth so there was a constant battle to push the shoots between the restraining wires and to cut off the excess side shoots and top out the vines. It is so important, at this stage, that food is goes into the grapes rather than into shoot growth.
importantly acidity during the week of 17th September, we decided to pick the grapes for the sparkling wine on Monday 24th September. A good team gathered early in the morning and picked only the cleanest bunches and the wine produced looks good. To get that extra ripeness we delayed the picking of the rest of the grapes until Wednesday 3rd October, further delay would have added more sugar but botrytis was setting in and the timing was just right.
