The Vineyard Diaries

2009 Harvest at Welcombe Hills

2009 promises to be possibly one of the best vintages at Welcombe Hills yet – not in terms of quantity (in comparison with 2006) - but certainly in terms of quality.

It’s been a real delight to get the harvest in after two challenging summers in 2007 and 2008 – especially as with all the rain in July and August, we feared a similar situation when we came to pick.

Once again we harvested on five different dates between the middle of September and the third week of October, ably assisted by teams of friends, neighbours, and our guests with “rent-a-row-of-vines” gift vouchers.

Although we picked slightly later than usual, the long dry spell in September and October allowed for lovely clean bunches with very little risk of botrytis. The third parcel of our vineyard was in production for the first time, and the yield for all the different varieties was promising, with good sugar levels and moderate acid readings.

Over the coming months we will be discussing with Kevin Shayle at Three Choirs what style of wines we wish to make – so keep checking the website for updates of our 2010 release!