Harvest Report 2025
Dear Friends,
Time for our final newsletter of this year, how time has flown by.
Harvest report.
Firstly. a big thank you to the many wonderful volunteers who helped with harvest this year. We started in the rain and finished in the rain with a lovely sunny day in the middle! All your assistance is much appreciated and we hope you enjoyed your harvest experience as much as we did.
On the 17th September we harvested 2.8t of Chardonnay. Although it was a bit rainy to start with once it stopped it was fine. We finished harvest early afternoon and the fruit was delivered to the winemaker in good time. The report from the winemaker was encouraging with a BRIX reading of 21.6 (Oes 90) which should produce a nice wine of around 12.5% alcohol.
On the 19th September we harvested 1.8t of Sauvignon Blanc in glorious sunshine. We finished early afternoon and after loading the grapes onto the delivery company truck we enjoyed a few glasses of wine in the late afternoon sun. The report from the winemaker said the grapes were impressive with a BRIX reading of 22.7 (Oes 95) which should produce a nice wine of around 12.5-13% alcohol.
Finally on the 3rd October (in the rain) we harvested 1t of Marsanne, the first Marsanne to be harvested in the country. 1t is below the minimum amount for the winery these grapes will be blended with some Chardonnay. This was recorded at 20.1 Brix (83 Oes) so should produce a wine of around 11.5%. We finished at lunchtime and spent the afternoon drying out!
Harvesting was very enjoyable with an eclectic mix of people chatting and working together enjoying the experience. This was our first harvest and we learnt a great deal which we will take forward to next year to make the process even more enjoyable. Everyone who helped will get a bottle of wine next summer as a thank you. We should also thank Rob and Tom from Vinescapes who's experience and expertise made the whole event work like clockwork, well most of the time!
So our total harvest of 5.6t was in line with our expectations and estimates. What does this mean? Well next summer we should be collecting about 6,000 bottles of wine...... I hope everyone will be feeling thirsty!
The quality of grapes harvested across the country was high this year and yields were good. This was a result of exceptional growing conditions, this summer was officially the warmest on record. Our GDD (Growing Degree Days) for the growing period (1st April to 31st October) was 1154.9°, almost certainly a record high for this location. Rainfall was low and with the hot weather disease pressure was low and our preventative spraying programme was very effective.
What happens next? Winter is the time for pruning, repairing and preparation for next year. We have already worked on levelling and re-seeding some of the ally's in Fitches and will be repairing some of the trellis that has been slightly damaged during the year by the machinery, normal wear and tear. As soon as the vines are fully dormant we will start winter pruning. This is an important task, it is very important to set the vines up for next year, so every vine will be pruned by hand. We hope to start this mid December.
We would like to finish this year by thanking everyone for their words of encouragement, interest and support, it really means a lot and keeps us going. Next year is going to be another interesting episode in the wine journey of Bures Valley Vineyard and we hope you will join us in our escapades!
All the best
Chris, Laraine and Adam