Yield Predictions 

Yield predictions are vitally important to our pre-harvest preparations. They give us a guide as to how much we might harvest. With this information, we can decide with our winemaker Harry what we might make this year. For example, we might decide that we have enough for a still and two sparkling’s. We may decide to put beside a base wine for blending next season. There are many possibilities and these are driven by the yield prediction.

These predictions also help us decide how many pickers, bins and buckets we might need on a given day, depending on how we split the potential yield. We can then distribute bins and buckets to the right areas of the vineyard as dictated by the prediction, in the hope that pickers have enough equipment for the amount of grapes they may pick.

Grape Sugar Content 

Are the grapes up to standard? If the sugar content is too low, we will end up with vinegar! If you allow it to go too high (less likely in the UK), it might upset your winemaking plans still, for example if you were planning to make a dry sparkling wine it may end up a sweet sparkling wine! There are also other factors such as acid content to consider. These tests have to be made weekly for up to a month before harvest, so that we can gage when and what to harvest.

Picking Equipment 

In the weeks prior to harvest, we check through all of our equipment, from buckets to bins, snips to gloves and everything in between. By harvest it is too late to source any last minute extras so it is important we have everything in stock ready for the big day.

Harvest Logistics

Harvest can be a logistical nightmare. We often do not know when we are harvesting until a week or two before, as this depends on vine health and sugar levels. When it comes to it, we have to line up all of the equipment, picking teams, haulage and winery on one day, and ensure that the correct amount is picked. It is not simply a case of pick as much as you can. The amounts to be picked have been carefully calculated between us and our winemakers at the Grange to ensure that we can fit into the presses at the winery and that grapes which will be blended together are picked together. This often mean splitting up sections of the same grapes in the vineyard to be picked on different days, which also in turn has an effect on further ripening and wine making.

After all of these decisions have been made, we also have to think about bin placement in the vineyards, tractor logistics of emptying full picking bins (up to 250kg!) and how many pickers we need to fulfil quotas on each day. And all before we order a lorry to collect at 3pm!

Viticulture

It may sound obvious, but while we are preparing for harvest we still have to tend to the vines. Their needs do not end simply because we need to start preparing to harvest. Often the last few weeks beforehand can be the most crucial in terms of their care, namely since the autumnal season brings with it new challenges, in particular, humidity.

Tasks in the weeks prior may include leaf stripping, strimming, mowing, spraying (depending on the harvest interval) or green harvesting, all in a bid to keep the grapes clean and healthy. We also have to watch out for pests such as birds and insects, as the grapes are at their ripest and therefore their tastiest. Attacks on the fruit which burst their skins can lead to botrytis which creates an acidic, sour taste in the berries; these cannot be used for winemaking.

Wine Making

Wine making plays a huge role in our pre-harvest preparation, namely because we grow to make wine! It is not only during this period, but rather throughout the whole year that our winemaker Harry is advising us on how best to develop the fruit for our wines. However, this intensifies in the weeks before harvest, especially when considering vineyard-winery logistics. For example, we ideally pick to fill full tanks/presses and design our wines around this so that no fruit is wasted. We have to match up yield predictions, sugar tests, winemaking aspirations, in -house logistics and vine health each time we make a move for harvest. These decisions all move around the winery at its centre, as the ultimate goal is to produce delicious wine that represents the best of each season.