December 2023
Another month of light duties. As I walk Ludo in the morning, I wander down several vine rows, thinking about how I might tackle pruning a few tricky fellas. Some have unproductive limbs that will need surgery — with due care that the ensuing dieback from the wound does not spread into the healthy centre of the crown. Better small cuts each year rather than one large on.
Next, I look for the potential cane and spurs to be selected next season. Generally, the vines appear in good nick. I subscribe to the gentle pruning method with some exceptions, always mindful of not hindering sap flow whenever I make cuts into the crown.
I have been asked to write an article on the Berkshire vineyard scene for The Bridge, the parish magazine in Hungerford, by its editor, Martin Crane. It’s a cracking good title —as it works on both pastoral and topographical fronts— and it tugs at the memory strings of the residential magazine group, Hill Publishing, I once ran in London many moons ago. We chose similar titles with the definite article a must, such as The Hill (covering Notting Hill and Kensington), The Wick which became The Green (covering Chiswick and Hammersmith), and The Reach (Chelsea). Shame, I never managed to launch one called The Bridge as it is a catchy title and there were plenty of opportunities in a city with countless bridges. Perhaps, as Hackney has now become a des res area, populated with trendy wine bars and smart terraced houses, something entitled The Carriage or The Marsh would be a hit today. I would not have been seen dead living there 25 years ago. I was always a Hill-billy.
The Bridge (for publication in early 2024)
This year’s vendage is complete. The grapes have been picked and pressed, and the juice is now sitting in tanks quietly fermenting.
A huge sigh of relief will have been uttered in vineyards the length and breadth of England and Wales. Wineries will now be
spotlessly clean with tanks, barrels, carboys, and amphorae full to bursting, all marked up and arranged in serried ranks.
The doors are closed, the temperature inside will be cold.
Here in Berkshire, it was, as elsewhere, a nervous season yet one which culminated eventually (late October) in a large harvest with
huge bunches of grapes thanks to a warm and wet summer. Time will tell whether it is a good vintage or a great one. 2022 was certainly
a great one, following a very hot summer. Can you remember temperatures of 40 degrees one day in July? We certainly can.
Berkshire enjoys several vineyards, both large and small. To the east of the county just outside Twyford, lies Stanlake Park, planted
many years ago mainly with still German varieties. In Enbourne, just south of Newbury, is All Angels, a well-established vineyard planted
with champagne varieties on south-facing slopes that produce English bubbles. Just outside Hungerford, you will find Winding Wood Vineyard,
a boutique vineyard planted in 2013 that also produces sparkling English wine.
If you walk along the footpath in the centre of Boxford towards Bagnor you will pass a vast estate of vines complete with deer fencing,
a brand-spanking new winery, and a tasting room. As yet, under wraps and has no name. Over the county boundary into Wiltshire,
in the village of Shalbourne, another large vineyard has appeared, with an even larger winery and tasting room currently in the middle of being completed. It will be some years before their wines see the light of day. For sparkling wine, it is five years minimum from planting to release of the first vintage.
One needs patience and deep pockets.
Winding Wood Vineyard is planted on free-draining loam over flint and chalk — ideal terroir for champagne varietals.
To date, we have released five vintages, with another four in various stages of production. Three years ago, at the recommendation
of our winemaker, Daniel Ham, we embarked on an organic and biodynamic approach to growing grapes. The improvement in the microbial
life of the soil and the health of the vines has been remarkable. We will become fully certified by the end of 2024. We use no fungicides nor herbicides.
There is always a chuckle during wine tours when I describe the plants with medicinal properties from which we make teas to spray the vines against mildew — such as willow bark, horsetail, and yarrow. Then follows outright guffaws when I describe carrying out various tasks according to the phases of the moon. Finally, I throw in the cow manure buried in horns over winter which we dynamise with water for an hour and then broadcast by flicking (like a back-handed tennis stroke) onto the grass with a large paintbrush. Mon Dieu! We humans, of course, are made up of 60 percent water; therefore, it follows that moisture plays a vital part in the health of, and the tending to, our plants. I give my ponytail a flick and walk on.
Last year, English and Welsh vineyards yielded over 9 million bottles of wine. This year it will be exceeded by a wide margin. We are the newest of new world wines, on track to be a very significant player on the world stage as a producer of cool climate wines of the highest quality.
Over the weekend of 8th and 9th December, we held another pre-Christmas ‘At Home’ at Winding Wood Vineyard. At this time of year, the tasting barn is positively arctic —hardly surprising considering the cathedral-like interior measures over 100,000 cubic feet and any heat just rises high into the rafters— therefore we de-camped into The Dairy across the lawn. It was nice and toasty. The gorgeous artisanal food provided by several friends —smoked trout, fudge, organic beef, home-made jams and chutneys, honey, not to mention olive oil from Greece —was laid out on tables in the kitchen whilst the living room hosted the wine tasting plus chat room.