Albury Organic Vineyard

Pruning and Bud Fruitfulness

2012-02-01T07:25:00.001Z

Alex with Peter Hayes on the vineyard

Earlier this month we were very fortunate to have international wine expert, Peter Hayes, visit the vineyard as part of the Wineskills programme.

One of the topics we discussed was the need to understand Bud Fruitfulness and how it might impact on the level of pruning in the winter. Fruitfulness is the weight of fruit produced by each bud and can be affected by the weather conditions during the previous year.

Pruning establishes the number of buds retained for each vine. Buds produce shoots which in turn produce clusters, so the greater the number of buds per vine, the greater the potential yield. Shoots also produce leaves and therefore pruning also determines the vine’s leaf area and therefore the vine’s ability to produce sugar; the building block for aroma, tannin and color compounds (essential the quality of the wine).

Proper pruning creates a balance between the vine’s leaf area and the amount of fruit produced. If pruning is not severe enough too many buds are retained, which can result in over cropping which stresses the vine and is likely to result in poor unripened fruit. If pruning is too severe then the optimum yield potential isn't realised. Quality can also be adversly effected as the vines energy is concentrated on fewer shoots creating an over dense canopy. Pruning decisions not only affect the quality of the current season’s crop, but impact on the quality of next year’s harvest by also affecting “bud fruitfulness".

The poor summer last year may well adversely affect the bud fruitfulness this year, and for this reason we are pruning the vines a little longer with a view to cutting them back further once initially budding has taken place. Next winter we will investigate he possibility of getting a lab to analyse the potential fruitfulness of cane samples from the vineyard, so that we can better judge the level of pruning necessary to give us the best chance of producing the optimum crop levels.

Our Very First Harvest (Part Two)

2011-10-11T10:49:00.000+01:00

Family and friends at the vineyard

Family and friends gathered on Sunday to pick the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier which will be used to make a still rosé wine. After a day of picking the Chardonnay and Seyval on Friday, we had a better idea of how long the process would take so we drafted in a few more friends to help out. Overall 22 enthusiastic pickers had arrived by 9.30am.

The day went pretty well without a hitch, other than a couple of nearly pruned fingers! We finished at about 4.30pm (after another longish lunch) and delivered about a tonne of fruit to Ulrich at Vivid Wines at about 6.30pm. Ulrich declared the quality of the grapes to be "fantastic", although the Millerandage (Hen and Chicken) meant that there was a higher proportion of stalk to berry than normal. Because of this he decided to whole bunch press to minimise the tannins extracted from the stalks.

We now have about 625 litres of excellent quality, organic, salmon coloured must with a potential alcohol of 10.8% and acidity of 10.3.

Freshly pressed Pinot Noir/Meunier

Overall the harvest has been a great success. Whilst we picked far less fruit than we had hoped for, we none the less have produced some excellent quality fruit which will hopefully enable us to start our marketing activities next year.

Our Very First Harvest!

2011-10-08T17:49:00.000+01:00

Alex with some of the Chardonnay

Our very first harvest took place yesterday when we picked the Chardonnay and Seyval grapes from the 5 acres of we planted in May 2009.

The yield was much smaller than we had hoped for, mainly because of the poor pollination and fruit set at the end of June, but also because the pheasant decided that they would dine out on the Seyval during the last two weeks. The pheasant are a real problem and we will have to develop a strategy for dealing with them before next year. In total we only picked about 700kg but the fruit was of excellent quality and we should be able to produce around 550 bottles of top quality English sparkling wine.

Clean bunches of Seyval

Pheasant damage

The whole process took much longer that we had anticipated, probably something to do with the two hour lunch break! Those who survived the whole day finally finished picking at about 5.00pm, which meant that we didn't get the grapes to the wine maker, Dermot Surgrue, until after 7.00pm. By the time we had weighed the grapes and watched the start of pressing it was 10.00pm - a long day!

A very English lunch with award winning sparkling wine from Camel Valley

Tomorrow we will be picking the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. This will be used to produce a still Rosé (hopefully available next year), but some may be use to blend with the sparkling.

Monitoring Grape Ripeness

2011-10-04T17:30:00.000+01:00

Ulrich Hoffman, winemaker, in his lab

It is essential to pick grapes at the right level of ripeness and, whilst this can be judged on appearance alone, most growers monitor berry sugar and acid levels. As the grapes ripen the the sugars increase and the acidity declines. The desired level of ripeness will depend on the style of wine you want to make. In cool climates like the UK acidity levels tend to be high which is ideal for producing quality sparkling wine.

Sugar is the major soluble solid in the must (grape juice) and it's concentration can therefore be measured by assessing the density of the must. This is done by using a refractometer, which measures the deviation occurring when a beam of light moves from air to the sugar solution, or by using a hydrometer, which measures relative density or specific gravity.

The acidity of grapes is monitored by changes in the titratable acidity and/or the pH of the berries. Titratable acidity is measured by adding a strong alkali to the must and measuring how much is required to neutralise the solution. Both sugar levels and acidity can be adjusted during the wine making process but ideally you want the right levels in the berries.

During the last few weeks we have been measuring sugar levels and acidity every few days. The Indian summer last week certainly helped us towards the right balance and as a result we are planning to harvest the grapes this weekend. Whilst this is a little early for the Chardonnay it is important to pick the grapes before botrytis (grey rot) takes a hold, which is much more prevalent in cool and damp weather conditions.

Never Mind the Weather!

2011-09-22T08:01:00.001+01:00

I now feel like a proper farmer as I'm always complaining about the weather!

This year it has been pretty awful for growing grapes. The wind and rain at the end of June/early July resulted in poor fruit set, and we have had little sun since then to ripen the grapes. In July we had 12% less sunshine compared to the average of 1971-2000 and in August 20% less. Temperatures were also much lower and the average rainfall from June to the end of August has been more than 10% higher.

Comparison with 1971-2000 (Av)	June	July	August
Sunshine	11%	-12%	-20%
Temperature (C)	0.2	-1	-0.5
Rainfall	119%	106%	107%

Hopefully we will get some sun to ripen the grapes during the few weeks before we have to harvest. We monitor the grapes daily for disease, the main potential problems being powdery mildew and botrytis. Whilst some botrytis can be tolerated for still wine it is a big problem for bubbly.

If we can't get the pinot ripe enough it will be difficult to make a good still rose. This would set our marketing activities back a year as I'm adamant that the first wine we release will be something we are proud of. C'est la vie!

Canopy Management

2011-09-10T10:29:00.000+01:00

Richard Smart at Denbies

Dr Richard Smart is an Australian viticulturist and a leading expert in canopy management. He is often referred to as "the flying vine doctor". See www.smartvit.com.au

Recently Richard visited our vineyard and also gave a Masterclass seminar at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking. The subject of his talk was "Practical Applications of Canopy Management" and covered optimum vigor, vine balance, summer pruning, shoot positioning, shoot and cluster thinning, leaf removal and vine training.

The produce the best fruit the ideal canopy should have the following characteristics:

Balanced growth
Intercepts as much sunlight as possible
Shoots that are spaced about 2.5 inches apart and 15 nodes long
40% canopy gaps and 60% fruit exposure

To achieve this involves a lot of work during the growing season, much of which has to be done manually!

Powdery Mildew Lifecycle

2011-09-10T10:02:00.000+01:00

Powdery Mildew on Pinot Noir

Unfortunately we now have Powdery Mildew on the some of the Pinot Noir and a few of the Chardonnay grapes. It's quite isolated at the moment and interestingly is mainly in the rows where the FrostGuard machine was sited which prevented proper spraying earlier in the year.

Powdery Mildew is caused by the fungus Erisiphe necator. It only infects green parts of the vine and the grapes but survives over the winter in dormant buds and in the bark crevices or leaf debris on the ground.

Powdery Mildew Lifecycle

Alex is spraying the whole of Block A this morning with sulphur and potassium bicarbonate which is the standard organic treatment. It is not curative but will hopefully prevent it from spreading.

Bunch Thinning

2011-09-07T16:14:00.000+01:00

The 3rd bunch gets the chop!

Vines will often produce more fruit than the trunk and root system can support, which can stress the vine and also result in the bunches not ripening properly. This isn't a big problem for us this year, as many of the berries didn't pollinate properly which has resulted in small and incomplete bunches (see earlier post - Coulour and Millerandage).

Non the less Alex has convinced me that we should cut off any 3rd and 4th bunches on any one cane, so that the grapes have the best possible chance of ripening in this dreadful weather. Whilst good quality sparkling wine can be made from fairly acidic grapes, we need fruit with a reasonably high sugar content to make a good quality still rosé.

All in all it's been a pretty dreadful year so far weather wise. We are still hopeful of releasing our first rosé wine next year but will only do so if the quality is good enough. Hopefully an Indian summer!

Veraison

2011-08-23T18:37:00.001+01:00

Veraison - Pinot Noir

The Pinot Noir grapes are starting to change colour from green to red. This is the start of the ripening process and in viticulture is called veraison.

Grape berries have two distinct growth phases. The initial phase is when the cells divide and expand and the grapes begin to swell and fill out the bunch. After veraison the acidity decreases due to degradation of Malic acid, making Tartaric acid the predominant acid. At the same time sugars (glucose and fractose) are accumulated and the volume of water entering the grapes decreases resulting in an increase in sugar concentration. The level of sugar accumulation in the berries is dependant on leaf photosynthesis which is why we could do with some more sun!

As the fruit ripens it becomes more attractive to the birds. As well as the KiteHawk and Helium Ballon we will be netting the outer rows of the vines early next week.

Leaf Pulling/Plucking

2011-08-16T18:14:00.002+01:00

A Pinot Noir vine before leaf removal

After leaf pulling

Leaf pulling is the removal of leaves around the grape bunches, which allows the vines to dry off much quicker after rain or heavy dew which in turn makes the vines less susceptible to the spread of fungal diseases like mildew and botrytis. It also improves the coverage of spray applications, and improves sunlight penetration which helps to ripen the fruit and improve aroma.

In Germany they remove leaves early (soon after fruit set) as they believe that this helps to thicken the berry skin making the berries more resistant to botrytis. Leave are removed again just before veraison.

We've just started the process of leaf pulling. Hopefully it will be worth it as it's very labour intensive; each row takes about an hour which equates to more than 20 man days for the whole vineyard. Next year we will investigate buying or renting a machine to do the work!

Postscript

It seems that I have been too aggressive with my leaf pulling; it's important not to take off too many leaves as they are needed for photosynthesis. Also, not surprisingly, Alex is much faster and only takes 30 minutes/row!

Powdery Mildew, Sulphur and Compost Teas

2011-08-13T09:50:00.002+01:00

Powdery Mildew

Sadly Powdery Mildew has arrived at the vineyard, at the moment primarily infecting some of the Pinot Noir on Block A.

Powdery Mildew survives the winter either within infected buds, which subsequently germinate to form mildewed “flag shoots”, or as tiny fruiting bodies that lodge in the bark on the vine which release new spores to infect young tissues in the spring. Leaves are highly susceptible to infection while they are expanding but become resistant soon after they’re fully expanded. Berries are highly susceptible from flowering until shortly after fruit set, but become much more resistant afterwards. Interestingly, research has shown that significant berry infection at harvest can almost always be traced back infection soon after flowering.

So far our strategy to deter fungal infections has been to use compost teas, the theory being that by populating the foliage with the good guys there will be no room for the mildews to infect the plant. Unfortunately recent weather conditions have been ideal for powdery mildew which thrives in temperatures between 15C and 25C with a high relative humidity and as a result the compost tea hasn't been fully effective.

The standard organic treatment for Powdery Mildew is Sulphur and Potassium Bicarbonate (baking powder), both of which are sprayed onto the foliage of the plant. Garlic sprays are also be used as garlic naturally contains high levels of sulphur. Rain and free moisture on the surface are also unfavourable for colonisation, sporulation and dispersal, so the sulphur and baking powder are often sprayed with high quantities of water in the morning so that the foliage takes most of the day to dry.

The problem with sulphur is that it also prevents the good bacteria and fungal content from the compost tea from doing their job; so unfortunately it's one or the other. We have decided that for the time being we cannot risk the further spread of the disease so we will be spraying the plants on Block A with sulphur and baking powder.

We will have to review our spray programme for next year; as sulphur is a preventative measure and not curative, we should really be using it from the beginning of the year if it is to be fully effective.

Organic Viticulture in the Rhinegau

2011-08-07T07:52:00.000+01:00

Vineyards in Assmannshausen

The Rhinegau is one of the most famous and beautiful wine making areas of the world and is also a centre of competence for organic viticulture and wine making. At Geisenheim there is a grape breeding institute and research centre where organic viticulture is a compulsory subject for all of their 1000 students. In Germany there are 215 wine organic growers, farming 1,400 acres, who are members of ECOVIN, the Federal Association of Organic Viticulture which was founded in 1985. ECOVIN is the largest association of working organic wineries in the world.

Last week a group of 7 organic vineyard owners from the UK went to Rhinegau to visit the Geisenheim research centre and to gain first hand practical experience of organic viticulture in the region.

Much was learnt during the course of the 3 days we spent there and particular thanks must go to Professor Kauer at Geisenheim and vineyard owners and wine makers Michael Albrecht, Peter Asbach-Kretschmar, Axel Schmitt, Johann Schnell and Hans Lang, who made us so welcome during our trip. Their passion for organic practices was truly inspiring and confirmed our belief that it is the basis for sustainable viticulture in the future.

Professor Kauer at the vineyard of the Research Centre at Geisenheim

Michael Albrecht in his Winery

Of course we also tasted a lot of excellent quality wine including many made from Riesling and Pinot Noir, which are the main grape varieties in the region. However we also enjoyed tastings of Sylvaner, Pinot Gris, Dornfelder and many others.

Wine Tasting with Peter Asbach-Kretschmar and Michael Albrecht

Coulure and Milllerandage (Hen and Chicken)

2011-07-26T17:01:00.000+01:00

Coulure

Millerandage

If the weather is bad during flowering it can effect pollination and fruit set. This can result in bunches with small and large grapes, a condition known as Millerandage which is often called "Hen and Chicken". The big berries have been fertilised and have pips and sugar but the little berries are sour and seedless. Poor pollination can also result in Coulure, where large sections or even complete sets of flowers fail to produce fruit.

This year our Seyval have suffered and as a result yields may be lower than expected. However as we were planning to take off some of the bunches anyway, so that the young vines don't get to stressed, this might not be too bad news.

Interestingly the Pinot Noir and the Pinot Meunier have much better formed bunches, probably because they flowered slightly earlier when the weather was a bit better.

As flowering generally occurs during Wimbledon fortnight, the weather during the tennis is often a good indicator of potential yields for English vineyards. If the weather is good it is normally a forecast of bumper yields. If it rains throughout I probably won't be in the best of moods!

A Bird of Prey to Keep the Snackers at Bay!

2011-07-25T20:10:00.001+01:00

Birds can be a big nuisance in the vineyard, especially as the fruit begins to ripen when some like nothing more to snack on the grapes. This is particularly worrying for us as we are close to a landfill site which is often covered in scavenging birds.

Vineyard managers use a variety of techniques to try and protect the fruit, such as hanging shiny CD's on the trellising, automatic firecrackers, rockets, electronic audio bird repellers and of course netting.

One of the most effective deterrents is a bird of prey. However, as we don't have a local falconry, we've invested in the next best thing which is a kite in the shape of a hawk which swoops, dives and climbs in the wind just like a real hawk. It is attached to a 25m flying line with a 13m kite pole and should protect 3 to 4 acres of vineyard. We have also bought a Vigilante Helikite which is a shiny balloon filled with helium which flies up to 60m high and theoretically will scare birds off the whole of the vineyard. Both these products can be purchased from Allsopp Helikites

So far the Hawk Kite seems to be flying well; time will tell how effective it is keeping the birds away. Later this week we will try out the Helikite. Hopefully the birds in Albury will decide it's safer to stay on the landfill.

English Rosé Tasting at the Vineyard

2011-07-18T07:49:00.000+01:00

Now that we are nearing our first harvest we need to start thinking about the style of still rosé wine we would like to produce. Hopefully we will get some good quality fruit and we will have something to drink next year.

To help form our views, a group of us met at the vineyard last week to taste some of the best English rosé wines, including samples from Camel Valley, Chapel Down, Hush Heath, Denbies, Stanlake Park, Three Choirs, Brightwell, Meopham and Gusbourne. The tasting was blind and lead by Stephen Skelton MW. Ulrich Hoffman, who will be making our still rosé, was also there amongst a number of friends and local restaurant owners.

The runaway winner was the Camel Valley which they describe as a light dry rosé with intense strawberry flavours. It is made from 67% Pinot Noir and 33% Dornfelder.

Our rosé will also be made from Pinot Noir but with Seyval instead of the Dornfelder. We will decide the percentage mix and even what rows to use in 4-5 weeks time when we will be better able to judge the quality of fruit.

Engagement at the Vineyard

2011-07-16T11:04:00.000+01:00

Olivia and Jon get engaged at the vineyard

The vineyard has looked really beautiful recently with a swathe of poppies adding incredible colour to the landscape.

A local wedding photographer, Zoe Collyer phoned me recently requesting access to the vineyard so that she could take some engagement photographs of Olivier and Jon who are getting married this September and of course I was happy to oblige.

Sadly the poppies have now mostly gone. However maybe another potential revenue stream for the future!

Silent Pool Rosé

2011-06-12T07:41:00.001+01:00

Silent Pool

Now that we are nearing our fist vintage we have to give some thought to the name for the still rosé wine, which will hopefully be available for sale next year. "Silent Pool Rosé" is the current favourite.

The Silent Pool is a lake of crystal clear water adjacent to the vineyard. The water feeding the lake comes from natural springs in the North Down's lower chalk resulting in completely clear water with a beautiful blue green colour.

The pool has a genuine ancient history and may have been a prehistoric religious site. In the nineteenth century Silent Pool became a popular place to visit and in 1858 a local man from Albury, Martin Tupper, wrote a story about about the pool which has now become folklore.

The story tells of a beautiful young woman, Emma, who took to bathing naked in the pool. Prince John heard of this and rode up to see for himself. He arrived to see Emma hanging from the branch of a tree, dipping in and out of the water. Emma saw John and his men arrive and tried to escape by wading deeper into the water. John pursued on his horse until Emma, out of her depth sank beneath the water. Her brother tried to rescue her but also drowned. The story ends by claiming that Emma's ghost now haunts the pool.

Cap Fall and Flowering

2011-06-07T16:01:00.000+01:00

Vines have flower clusters with several individual blossoms that form a closed “cap”. The cap falls off during blossoming and the individual flowers appear. Measurement of the blossoming period begins when about 25% of the caps have fallen off. It can then take 5-10 days for the majority of them to fall off, depending on the weather. This normally happens around Wimbledon fortnight but is a little early this year because of the warm Spring. Generally good weather at Wimbledon indicates a good harvest!

The flower clusters of grapevines are quite inconspicuous. They are panicles (loose, irregularly branched flower clusters) with individual flowers, or blossoms, on the end of each branch. If successfully fertilised, these blossoms develop into grapes. Grapevines self-pollinate and are therefore not reliant on outside help from insects or animals. The overall number of clusters provides an early estimate of potential yield. This is currently looking good on our vineyard, especially for the Seyval and Pinot Noir.

A lot can happen between now and harvest to effect the yield with disease being the biggest risk, especially in an organic vineyard. Birds are also a worry. Also Alex and John Buchan are keen to reduce the number of bunches to encourage root growth and the strength of the plant for next year. We have agreed to leave two bunches per shoot on the majority of the vines but only one bunch on the Pinot Noir that will be used to make the still Rose to encourage ripeness (less important for the bubbly).

The Vineyard in June

2011-06-07T14:24:00.000+01:00

Poppies in the Vineyard (photograph courtesy of John Powell)

The vineyard is looking fabulous at the moment thanks to thousands of poppies which have self seeded in Block B. Unfortunately they won't last for long as Alex is determined to cut them before they seed again in the woodchip mulch!

We are currently busy replacing about 350 young vines that died over the severe winter or were hit by the frosts in May. As this is a manual process it can take some time but Richard is helping out by drilling holes with an auger to make planting a bit easier for Alex. We have also been through the Block A (planted in May 2009) and pruned the canes that were left extra long to try and minimise the impact of frost. The new vines have all now had excess shoots removed and have been tied to the bamboo canes.

Overall the vines are looking healthy; the rain earlier this week was welcome and will help with growth but unfortunately it also brings with it the risk of disease. Next week we will spray the foliage with compost tea, followed a week later (when the vines have blossomed) by Serenade® which contains Bacillus subtilis, a soil dwelling bacterium that helps control Mildew and Botrytis.

Monty Waldin addresses the second Organic and Biodynamic UK Vineyards Meeting

2011-05-21T18:18:00.000+01:00

The second Organic and Biodynamic UK Vineyards meeting was held at Laverstoke Park Farm last week. The theme of the day was Biodynamics and Compost Teas and we were lucky enough to have Monty Waldin give a talk on the application of Biodynamics in the vineyard. www.montywaldin.com

Monty explained that Biodynamics is based on organic practices but also uses natural forces (like those provided by the moon), medicinal plants (such as chamomile, stinging nettle and dandelion), minerals and natural cow manure composts. This strengthens the vines which also produce healthier, more vital wines, reflecting the character of the vineyard.

Presentations were also given by Vinodh Krishnamurthy, from Laverstoke Park Farm Laboratories, who explained the importance of the Soil Food Web, and Alex Valsecchi of Albury Vineyard who talked about the preparation and application of Compost Teas.

There were around 40 attendees representing 15 UK vineyards as well as a number of consultants and organic suppliers. A very successful day demonstrating the ever increasing interest in Organic and Biodynamic viticulture.

Sustainability in the Vineyard

2011-05-21T08:52:00.000+01:00

I recently attended a very interesting Wineskills workshop on Sustainability in the Vineyard, facilitated by Professor Steve Wratten -a cockney living in New Zealand! Steve is a leading light in the Greening Waipara project in Lincoln, New Zealand, which aims to build biodiversity back into the wine experience.

Steve poses the question "How can nature help us with agriculture?" Agriculture, including viticulture, damages biodiversity and in New Zealand has caused major declines in their native plant and animal populations. He argues that the current high level of chemicals used in viticulture is unsustainable.

So what to do? At Waipara they are conserving their remaining undisturbed habitats and introducing additional biodiversity to enhance the services that nature can provide for free in the form of biological control of pests, pollination, improved soil quality, conservation and eco-tourism, to add value to vineyards and reduce reliance on herbicides and pesticides. Fifty North Canterbury vineyards have already signed up to the scheme.

For our part we are already organic so we don't use herbicides and pesticides. However we we will be looking at surveying our current wildlife, planting cover crops to improve biodiversity and creating a biodiversity trail around the vineyard. We also look forward to adopting any sustainability standards that emerge from the current initiatives being undertaken by the UKVA and Plumpton College.

For more details of the Waipara project: http://bioprotection.org.nz/greening-waipara

Vine Mortality

2011-05-14T12:57:00.000+01:00

We have now made a count of dead vines that were planted last May. Overall we had a 2.8% mortality rate, with the Chardonnay faring the worse. The detailed analysis is as follows:

Cultivar	Rootstock	Dead Plants	Total Planted	% Mortality
Pinot Meunier 865	41B	24	1250	1.9%
Pinot Meunier 925	41B	33	1250	2.6%
Pinot Noir 115	Fercal	17	1100	1.5%
Pinot Noir 459	Fercal	3	1100	0.3%
Pinot Noir 870	Fercal	8	1100	0.7%
Pinot Noir 872	41B	7	1100	0.6%
Seyval Blanc	SO4	27	1175	2.3%
Pinot Gris 457	Fercal	4	175	2.3%
Chardonnay 95	Fercal	36	1450	2.5%
Chardonnay 124	41B	83	1450	5.7%
Chardonnay 277	41B	110	1450	7.6%
Total		352	12600	2.8%

It's interesting that the Chardonnay 124 and 277 cultivars fared so badly and that the Pinot Noir did so well. In the next couple of weeks we will be replacing all the dead plants by hand.

Chilly on the Vineyard

2011-05-04T07:16:00.001+01:00

Gary and Philip after lighting the Boujies

I was rudely woken by the weather station alarm txt this morning at precisely 2.51am.... with news that the wet bulb temperature had dropped to 1.3 degrees and that the soil temperature was already below zero.

So it was off to the vineyard in the dead of night to fire up the frost guard machine and to light the orchard burners and boujies. Thankfully Philip and Gary responded to my call for help and between the three of us we had everything lit by around 3.45am.

There was a light ground frost with the weather station wet bulb reading reaching a low of 0.4 degrees and the soil temperature falling to -1.6 degrees at 3.41am.

Now back home at 6.30am with temperatures rising above zero now that the sun is coming up over the tree line. Thankfully no frost forecast for the rest of the week. zzzz

Pearl Glands

2011-04-24T07:39:00.000+01:00

Pearl Glands on a new shoot from a Chardonnay vine

What appear like insect eggs have appeared on the new shoots of the vines, mainly the Chardonnay. In fact these are what are known as Pearl Glands which are tiny balls of vine cells which result from seepage of stomata on the shoots. They often appear on the stems,tendrils, petioles or leaf veins on vigorous vines in warm humid conditions.

Pearl Glands are harmless but may attract ants as a food source.

Bud Burst and the Dreaded Frost

2011-04-13T12:53:00.000+01:00

Bud Burst on the 10th April

Bud burst is now occurring throughout the vineyard. We are probably 3-4 weeks ahead of what we might expect as a result of the recent warm weather. On the face of it this is good news but it's also a worry as any frost from now on is likely to cause significant damage to the new growth.

Last night we had our first scare as temperatures at the bottom of the vineyard dropped to minus 2 degrees. As a result Alex and I were out on the vineyard throughout the night (ably supported by local friends JB and Peter) monitoring the temperature. We started the Frost Guard and lit the Orchard Burners but held off on lighting the Boujies as the temperature started to rise at about 3.30am as a result of some cloud cover. Eventually we got to bed at about 5.00am!

A sleepless night but worth it for peace of mind.

JB, Peter and Alex keep warm by an Orchard Burner

Spreading the Woodchip

2011-04-07T18:11:00.001+01:00

The Mill Creek Compost Spreader

Weeds can be a big problem in organic vineyards as we can't use herbicides to control them. We opted to use woodchip as a mulch which has generally proved to be an excellent solution.

Spreading the woodchip along the rows can be a difficult and time consuming task and so we initially hired a compost spreader from Laverstoke Park Farm to do the job. Initially we thought that spreading it would be a one off exercise but in practice we have already had to replenish some rows and so we have now invested in a compost spreader of our own. We will also be able to use it for spreading PAS100 compost, and possibly organic manure, to add nutrients to the soil.

The spreader (with operator) is for hire if anyone is interested!

English Fizz better than Champagne?

2011-03-22T08:38:00.000Z

Hosted by Stephen Skelton MW, a group of sparking wine luminaries recently met for a blind tasting of England's best fizz as well as some well known Champagnes from France. The tasters were (in alphabetical order): Susie Barrie MW (Winchester Wine School proprietor who wrote her MW dissertation on champagne), Dee Blackstock MW (champagne and sparkling-wine buyer for Waitrose), Sue Daniels (MW student and wine technologist for Marks and Spencer), Michael Edwards (journalist and author of several books on champagne), Victoria Moore (journalist, wine columnist for the Daily Telegraph), Jancis Robinson OBE MW (journalist and wine polymath), Julia Trustram Eve (English Wine Producers) and Stephen.

The results were as follows:

Ranking	Average scores	Vineyard	Wine	Vintage	Varietal blend	Retail price
1	17.17	Ridgeview	Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs	2007	Chardonnay 100%	£21.95
2	16.82	Ridgeview	Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs in Magnum	2000	Chardonnay 100%	£63.00
3	16.65	Sainsburys	Etienne Dumont Rosé (Maison Burtin)	NV	???	£18.99
4	16.64	Gusbourne Estate	Brut Reserve	2006	Chardonnay 46% Pinot Noir 41% Meunier 13%	£21.99
5	16.5	Nyetimber	Nyetimber Rosé	2007	Chardonnay, Pinot Noir	£34.95
6	16.46	Ridgeview	Bloomsbury	2008	Chardonnay 54% Pinot Noir 26% Pinot Meunier 20%	£19.95
7	16.43	Plumpton Estate	The Dean	NV	Pinot Noir 90%, Chardonnay 10%	£20.00
8	16.42	Sainsburys	JS Blanc de Blancs (Duval Leroy)	NV	Chardonnay 100%	£18.49
9	16.36	Moet & Chandon	Brut Imperial	NV	Pinot Noir 50%, Chardonnay 10%, Meunier 40%	£30.99
10	16.32	Sainsburys	Defontaine Premier Cru (Maison Burtin)	NV	Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier	£19.99
11	16.25	Plumpton Estate	The Dean Blush	NV	Pinot Noir 94%, Chardonnay 6%	£20.00
12	16.2	Chapel Down	Pinot Reserve	2005	Pinot Noir 70%, Pinot Blanc 30%	£24.99
13	16.05	Nyetimber	Classic Cuvée	2006	Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier	£25.99
14	15.92	Laithwaites	South Ridge Cuvée Merret (RidgeView)	2008	Chardonnay 60%, Pinot Noir 28%, Meunier 12%	£19.99
15	15.86	Jenkyn Place	Jenkyn Place Brut	2006	Chardonnay 61%, Pinot Noir 23%, Pinot Meunier 16%	£25.00
16	15.81	Hush Heath Estate	Balfour Brut Rosé	2006	Pinot Noir 55%, Chardonnay 40%, Pinot Meunier 5%	£26.99
17	15.8	Davenport	Limney Estate Blanc de Blancs	2005	Reichensteiner 100%	£16.50
18	15.78	Camel Valley	Pinot Noir Brut	2009	Pinot Noir 100%	£24.95
19	15.73	Nyetimber	Blanc de Blancs	2001	Chardonnay 100%	£28.99
20	15.7	Breaky Bottom	Cuvée John Inglis Hall	2006	Seyval Blanc 100%	£20.05

It is clear that the best UK sparkling wines can now more than hold their own with champagne.

Feeding the Vines

2011-03-13T15:15:00.000Z

Alex and Philip distributing the nutrients by hand

During last year's growing season it was obvious that we had a number of mineral deficiencies in the vineyard evidenced by discolouring of the foliage. For example magnesium deficiency turns pinot leaves red and low levels of Iron result in yellow leaves on the Chardonnay. This was confirmed by soil analysis which identified low levels of Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Manganese, Molybdenum and Sodium. Whilst Boron levels were adequate its availability will be restricted due to the high pH of the soil caused by high levels of Calcium.

The main concerns are the Magnesium deficiency and the need to maintain adequate Boron which has a very significant role in bud formation and pollen production and viability. Together with Calcium, Boron also helps form strong cell walls enabling the vine to withstand disease. It also enhances the uptake of Potassium and Magnesium and is a basic contributor in nucleic acid, carbohydrate and protein synthesis.

Being organic we have to be very careful about what we use on the vineyard, but we have obtained permission from our certification body Organic Farmers and Growers (OF&G) to use soil applied Boron, and Sulphur which will also help lower pH levels and improve Nitrogen assimilation. Our agronomist, John Buchan recommended 25kg/ha of Sulphur, 10kg/ha of Boron and 125kg/ha of Magnesium.

As the vineyard has been so wet we have had to apply everything manually by walking up and down the rows scattering the granules by hand!

Preparing for Frost

2011-03-09T19:15:00.000Z

This time of year the major issue for many vineyard managers is frost. As mentioned in previous posts, frost can have a devastating effect on a vineyard, especially in spring after bud break. Last year a nearby large vineyard lost nearly 70% of its crop as a result of exceptional frosts in May!

One of the downsides of global warming is that bud break now often occurs earlier in the year because of warmer temperatures in February and March and the vines are therefore more susceptible to spring frosts in April and May. This year is a good example with our Pinot varieties probably about 3 weeks ahead of where they would normally be. Last year the late frost in May went right the way through the vineyard. It wasn't a disaster for us as we weren't expecting any fruit in 2010, but it was certainly a wake up call.

This year we are experimenting with a number of measures to reduce the risk of frost damage. We are primarily focusing on the first 5 acres we planted in 2009 (Block A) as we hope to get our first harvest from this block later in the year. Our experiences in the next couple of months will help us to develop a plan for the whole vineyard for future years.

So what are we doing? Well first of all we have pruned the vines leaving long canes which we will prune further and tie down after the main risk of frost has gone. Frost damage will occur first at the end of the canes which can later be discarded, hopefully leaving the rest of the cane healthy. We have also left pruning the new blocks until later for the same reason.

Orchard Burner with Boujies in the rows

We have purchased a static Frost Guard machine which will be placed in the centre of the Block A. This is effectively a outdoor convection heater which warms a radius covering 50% of the block. We also have 20 orchard heaters for the bottom of the vineyard and 180 Boujies (large candles) which are going to be used to protect the outside rows and the corners.

Finally we plan to spray the vines with a valerian solution (biodynamic preparation 507), both before and after a frost. Valerian is a liquid made from the flowers of the herb valerian. It works by stimulating the plant's metabolism, effectively warming it up from the inside.

Valerian

Apart from the pruning process and the Valerian, none of this is very environmentally friendly which bothers me, but hopefully we will only have to use the various burners infrequently. At the end of the day the vineyard has to be economically sustainable.

We now also have a weather station which earlier this week reported a ground temperature of minus 5C. We have configured it to send us text messages to wake us from our slumber once the temperature gets below 2C. If that happens in a couple of weeks time I will be out on the vineyard with Alex in the middle of the night lighting the orchard burners and the boujies......and praying!

Winter Pruning

2011-01-07T15:44:00.000Z

Pruning is the main task in the vineyard during winter. This can begin once the leaves have dropped and therefore normally starts in late November and continues through to February.

There are many methods for pruning and training vines which is normally determined according to the climate and the variety of grape being grown. Different systems can help to increase exposure of the foliage to light, improve air movement through the leaf canopy (and therefore reduce the risk of mildew and botrytis) and control vigorous vines that produce too much foliage and not enough fruit. This is all part of canopy management, which refers to how the architecture of the leaf canopy can be manipulated in order to beneficially alter the microclimate around the vine.

In the UK the training system mostly used is cane pruning where the vine is pruned back each year to the trunk, leaving just one or two canes from the previous year, which then produce many more fruiting canes during the growing season. A spur from the trunk is also left (cut back to two buds) to produce new replacement canes for the following year. This is also known as the "Double Guyot" system. In the photograph above the canes have been left intentionally long until after the risk of frost in the Spring as buds will form at the end of the canes first. Once the risk as gone these will be cut back to 5 or 6 buds.

The new vines that were planted last May will be pruned back to just two buds above the graft to encourage root growth and produce a strong new shoot which will form the basis of the trunk for the following year.

So far we've pruned about 3,000 vines - only 18,000 to go!

Inaugural UK Organic Vineyards Meeting

2010-12-16T18:46:00.000Z

The first meeting of UK organic and biodynamic vineyards was held at Laverstoke Park Farm, near Basingstoke today.

Speakers included Ben Raskin from the Soil Association, Will Davenport from Davenport Vineyards, Vinodh Krishnamurthy from Laverstoke Park and Jane Awty from the UKVA sustainability group. Representatives from nine vineyards, as well as the Soil Association and WineSkills attended the meeting.

The main topic of the day was spray programmes for organic vineyards and much debate took place about the use of sulphur, copper, seranade, compost teas and other treatments used for disease control.

It was agreed that a second meeting should take place next year towards the end of June with a focus on Biodynamics and the practical issues associated with using compost teas.

Mycorrhizal Fungi still appear to be working well

2010-12-09T17:32:00.000Z

Mycorrhizal Fungi

When we planted the vines we dipped the roots in a product called Rootgrow, which is a mycorrhizal fungi from a company called PlantWorks. Mycorrhizal fungi normally occurs naturally in soil. It breaks down organic matter releasing nutrients particularly phosphates and can significantly increase root capacity. Unfortunately herbicides and modern farming techniques have significantly reduced the naturally occurring fungi. The idea with Rootgrow is to give new plant roots a kick start.

Last year we measured weight of the prunings from 100 vines that had been treated compared to 100 untreated vines for each variety which indicated that the product had resulted in nearly 10% additional growth. This year the results were similar overall but showed a significant variation between varieties:

Pinot Meunier 33% increase

Pinot Noir 11% decrease

Chardonnay 16% increase

The results for the Pinot Noir are probably misleading as most of the untreated block were very weak and therefore had to be pruned quite hard which artificially increased the weight of the prunings from the untreated vines.

Next years results should be more definitive. We will also try and measure the comparative quantity of fruit from the vines.

Never Mind the Weather

2010-12-09T16:33:00.000Z

Nick Seymour and Alex with the Weather Station

We are now proud owners of a weather station which was delivered and installed at the vineyard yesterday by Nick Seymour.

The weather is of course a major factor in our ability to produce quality fruit. By building up weather patterns over a period of time it will help us to predict, and therefore manage, the risks of pests and disease. It will also allow us to understand how the timing of flowering, berry setting and ripening effects the quality of the grapes.

The data that is collected includes temperature (ground and air), relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. It is updated on the web every 30 minutes so we can see from the comfort of our homes exactly what the weather is doing at any given time. The station can also send text messages to warn us of falling temperatures and the risk of frost. When this happens we'll have to get up in the middle of the night and put in place frost protection measures, which will probably include lighting bougies (oil lamps) and driving the tractor up and down the rows with a frostbuster which is like a giant warm air convection heater!

Albury Vineyard features on BBC Radio Surrey

2010-12-05T15:29:00.000Z

Much to my suprise I was contacted by BBC Radio Surrey last week who were keen to interview me about the vineyard. Having overcome my nerves, my vanity got the better of me and I agreed to be interviewed on a programme called "Dig It", BBC Surrey's anwer to Gardeners' Question Time.

For those of you who are desperate to hear the interview you can get to it by clicking on the following link. It's about 35 mins from the start and only lasts for about 5 minutes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00cf415/Gardening_05_12_2010/

No major cock-ups but I think that I was right not to pursue a career as a radio presenter!

Preparing the Vineyard for Winter

2010-11-03T17:10:00.000Z

Autumn Frost in the Vineyard

The first frosts have already arrived and we are now preparing the vineyard for winter.

November is normally a quiet time on the vineyard as the main job in the winter is pruning, which doesn't start until December or January when the leaves have all fallen and the wood has ripened.

Having said that, Alex has been busy sowing grass seed between the rows of the newly planted vines and she is now tackling the weeds that have beaten the mulch. Chickory is a real problem some of which has survived from a ground cover the year before the vines were planted (please note JB!!). Unfortunately the woodchip we used this year was too fine and is not as good as the batch we used on the first block which is still working well. On top of that the pheasant seem to enjoy spreading the woodchip about the place which has left the mulch very sparse on some rows. We will probably have to spread another 800 cubic metres of woodchip next Spring to win the battle of the weeds next year.

David Seyall with the grass seeder

In the next few weeks we are expecting delivery of a weather station which will monitor temperature, relative humidity, radiation and rainfall all of which will be viewable on an internet site. One of it's primary purposes will be to give us early warning of a frost in April/May after bud burst. Threshold values for temperature can be set which when triggered send a text message to a mobile phone - probably in the middle of the night!

Other tasks this winter will be to replace broken bamboo canes, complete the trellising and assess how many vines we will need to order to replace any that have died. Most importantly we also need to complete our strategy for minimising the risk of frost damage next Spring.

Pheasant in the Vineyard

2010-11-03T16:13:00.000Z

In spite of there being nearly 2000 pheasant living at the top of our vineyard they haven't caused too much trouble this year.

The deer fencing keeps most of them out of the vineyard as they don't fly unless they are frightened. However those that do get in are too stupid to fly out and tend to walk up and down the fence boundary trying to find an exit. Steve, the local gamekeeper chases them out now and again with his dog, and when its dry we round them up using the Landrover. The shooting season is now well underway so we won't see much more of them soon!

The only damage this year has been to some of the newly planted vines at the top of the vineyard where they have eaten most of the green foliage. They also seem to enjoy scrabbling around in the woodchip mulch which has caused quite a mess in places.

Next year we will hopefully get our first harvest and I have heard stories of pheasant eating the grapes. We will probably have to net some of the rows next summer to protect the grapes from the pheasant and other birds.

The Vineyard in Autumn

2010-10-01T07:23:00.000+01:00

The growing season is pretty well at an end and we are now busy getting the vineyard in good shape for the winter. At this time next year we will hopefully be preparing for our first harvest (volunteers welcome!) but there is no fruit this year as vines don't produce any real fruit until their 3rd year. What fruit there was has either been eaten by the birds or cut off so that the available carbohydrates have been used for growth of the canes and the root system. Next year we hope to get around 40% of the total possible yield from the first 5 acres of vines which could be as much as 6 tonnes.

The vines we planted last year have recovered well from the severe frost in May. The woodchip has worked well as a mulch and there are very few weeds. The grass between the rows will need cutting before the winter. The newly planted vineyard is being cleared of weeds and will be seeded with grass between the rows next week. The whole vineyard has been given a final spray of compost tea and various nutrients will be added in November to try to address Boron, Magnesium and Iron deficiencies.

Over the winter the main job will be to prune the vines. This will probably start in January and be completed during February and March. The new vines planted this May are doing quite well but because of the dry summer haven't grown as much as we would have liked. This will mean that they will pruned to just two buds to encourage root growth and a strong new cane next year.

The Weeds are Back!

2010-09-30T23:13:00.000+01:00

In May we planted around 13,000 new vines. The dry summer meant that they haven't grown as much as we might have hoped, but there has been some catching up as a result of the much needed rain during the last couple of weeks.

The rain has also resulted in copious amounts of weeds and rape returning to the vineyard. The initial 5 acres we planted last year are substantially weed free thanks to the woodchip mulch and the grass between the rows. However we haven't grassed the new blocks yet and we need to get rid of the weeds before seeding the grass. To solve this problem we have borrowed a stone burier which not only buries stones but shreds and buries the weeds. The task should be finished by Alex this week with the help of Mihaela and her team who are doing some back breaking work pulling out the remaining weeds from the woodchip.

If the weather is ok we will seed the grass between the rows next week.

The Science of Viticulture

2010-09-29T19:07:00.000+01:00

Peter Hayes lecturing at Brightwell Vineyard, Wallingford

On Monday I attended a Wine Skills Masterclass given by Peter Hayes. Peter is an expert in grape growing and vineyard management having spent more than 30 years in the Australian wine industry, including Director of Viticulture at Rosemount Estates.

We spent the day learning about numerous vine management techniques including canopy configuration, pruning influences, nutritional treatments and pest management; all with the aim of balancing vine development, crop load, quality and longevity.

Of particular note for our vineyard were various ways of reducing the risk of frost damage, including keeping an extra vertical cane until after the risk of frost damage and late pruning which can delay bud burst.

The more I learn about viticulture the less I realise I know!

PS The following is a link to an excellent paper titled "Practical Considerations for Reducing Frost Damage in Vineyards"

www.nzwine.com/assets/frost_review.pdf

Vineyard Agronomy

2010-08-19T09:19:00.000+01:00

Chardonnay with Iron deficiency

Pinot Noir with Magnesium deficiency

It is essential to analyse the soil and vine tissue to understand the availability of nutrients in the soil. Even though we are organic, and never use herbicides or pesticides, it is sometimes necessary to apply nutrients to the soil and the vines to address any significant deficiencies.

Agronomy is the application of various soil and plant sciences to soil management and crop production. To advise us on such matters we employ the services of John Buchan, an excellent agronomist who specialises in organic viticulture.

John has just analysed the results of some recent soil and tissue samples and it seems that generally the overall results are encouraging. Whilst pH levels, at around 7.8, are still high, they are slightly lower than when we first analysed the soil. pH is a measure of the acidity of the soil and is important as a high pH can "lock up" nutrients restricting their availability to the vines.

It's important to recognise that plant nutrition is a balancing act, as over application of any single nutrient can cause antagonism with other nutrients. Our priorities for this autumn and next spring will be improve the levels of Magnesium, Manganese and Iron, which are still very low.

As can be seen on the examples above, the leaves on some of the vines are already showing signs of these deficiencies.

ITV arrive at the Vineyard

2010-08-18T14:57:00.000+01:00

ITV filming at the Silent Pool

Earlier this week an ITV film crew arrived at the vineyard but sadly only to use it as a car park! They were there to film a new drama series called The Oakes which will appear on our screens early next year. The plot involves a girl who drowns in a lake. The Silent Pool is a local beauty spot adjacent to the vineyard where they filmed the drowning.

Filming started at 8.00am and didn't finish until late into the evening, which I'm told will result in only 10 minutes screen time. It's apparently a low budget film but there were at least 25 cars parked in the vineyard, a huge amount of technical equipment and excellent catering to keep everyone well fed!

Powdery Mildew Flag Shoots

2010-08-05T07:32:00.000+01:00

A flag shoot infected with Powdery Mildew

Powdery Mildew is one of the most widespread fungal diseases of grapevines in the world. It is characterised by ash-grey to white powdery growth on green tissue of the vine. If uncontrolled it can cause serious crop losses and impair wine quality. One spore of Powdery Mildew can multiply to 50 million spores in just 3 weeks!

Dormant buds can be infected and survive over winter. When these buds shoot they are deformed and covered with the powdery mildew spores. These shoots need to be removed and destroyed. We have come across several shoots this year but hopefully it isn't widespread.

Sulphur and Copper are traditionally used to control mildews on the vineyard. We are trying to avoid these treatments by using compost teas which populate the vines with friendly bacteria and fungi.

English bubbly beats Champagne in IWC trophy

2010-07-02T08:00:00.000+01:00

Camel Valley in Cornwall have won a prestigious IWC trophy for best in class in the Sparkling Rose category, beating off 450 other entries including many champagne houses.

This is great news for English bubbly. Hopefully Albury Organic Vineyard will win an award soon after our first vintage becomes available in 2014!

For the full article in the Daily Telegraph follow the following link:

Daily Telegraph Camel Valley Article

The Vineyard in Summer

2010-07-01T08:08:00.000+01:00

Now that summer has arrived the vineyard is looking a real picture. The vines are recovering from the severe frost in May and the whole area is covered with poppies. Whilst pretty, the poppies will have to be cut soon before they seed and invade the woodchip mulch.

It looks like the cold winter and May frost will have killed around 150 vines. Nearly 100 are Pinot Meunier which have already been replaced. During the last couple of weeks we have been taking off the lower shoots that are not needed and bud rubbing to stop unwanted shoots from forming. We have also been tying up the shoots we want to keep so that they aren't mutilated by the tractor!

More spraying of compost teas this week in the hope that they will suppress mildew which we have already detected under the microscope.

Battling Weeds with Fungi and Woodchip

2010-06-06T18:53:00.000+01:00

Weeds are one of the biggest challenges for an organic vineyard. Without the use of herbicides weeds can quickly take over and compete with the vines, which is especially bad news for new vines trying to get established.

Agricultural soils which have been ploughed for many years often end up being dominated by bacteria rather than fungi. There is a correlation between plants and their preference for soils that are dominated by bacteria versus those that are fungal dominated or neutral. Since the path from bacterial to fungal domination in soils follows the general course of plant succession (see earlier blog on the Soil Food Web), it is possible to predict what type of soil particular plants prefer. In general, perennials, trees, and shrubs prefer fungal dominated soils, while grasses and weeds prefer soils dominated by bacteria. Vines generally do best in soils that have an F:B (fungal/bacteria) ratio of between 2:1 and 5:1.

At the moment the vineyard is heavily dominated by bacteria which means that weeds will quickly dominate if nothing is done to control them. Longer term the fungal content of the land will naturally increase and we will try and help this process by using compost teas with a high fungal content. In the short term however we are just about winning the battle by using huge amounts of woodchip as a mulch and have just finished spreading over 1000 m3 of the stuff on the 12,600 newly planted vines.

Couch Grass - an Organic Nightmare

2010-05-13T08:37:00.000+01:00

The dreaded couch grass has appeared on the perimeter of the vineyard. Couch grass is a noxious weed whose spiked flowers somewhat resemble an ear of wheat in structure. It is a perennial grass and the rhizome spreads rapidly in all directions in light soil, sending up leafy stems from the nodes.

Couch can be a nightmare for organic growers as we can't use herbicides and the only real way of removing it is a lot of hard work on your hands and knees pulling out the roots.

Fortunately it's not too bad at the moment and Alex has been able to pull out most of it. Fingers crossed it won't spread into the vineyard.

Frost attacks the Vineyard

2010-05-13T07:45:00.000+01:00

For the second night running the vineyard has suffered a fairly severe frost causing damage to buds and leaves on the vines. Were not sure how much damage has been done but it will become apparent during the next few days as leaves will appear burnt and buds will shrivel and fall off where the frost has attacked them.

New shoots will appear in a few weeks time but they won't be as vigerous or fruitful as the first ones. This doesn't matter too much this year but next year (our first cropping year) it could significantly reduce yield and leave less time for the fruit to ripen.

Severe frost this late in the year is unusual in Surrey but we will have to make sure that from next year onwards we are well prepared to minimise any damage. This may involve using bougies (french for candle - a sort of oil lamp) which are placed in the rows every 12 metres. By my calculation we would need over 3000! Alternatively there are machines called frostbusters but they are expensive. Spraying the vines with water in the early hours so that a protective layer of ice forms around the buds can also be effective but it requires an enormous volume of water and is therefore not very environmentally friendly.

So that we know how low the temperature is getting we will be installing a simple weather centre with a mobile phone connection which will send a warning alarm to me and Alex when the temperature is getting too low. This will inevitably mean a few early mornings in years to come as we will have to be up at about 3.00am to light the bougies or spray the fines!

Experiments are taking place with electrical and microwave heaters which we will investigate further.

No time to vote - 12,600 more Vines Planted!

2010-05-08T11:20:00.000+01:00

Oblivious to the election results, we were up at 5am yesterday morning to complete the planting of the vineyard. Thanks to Volker Scheu and his satellite guided planting machine, we managed to finish the planting of another 12,600 vines on about 7.5 acres in little more than 24 hours.

The new vines are mainly the traditional champagne varieties including:

   Varietal                     Rootstock     No.
   Pinot Meunier 865      41B             1,250
   Pinot Meunier 925      41B             1,250
   Pinot Noir 115            Fercal         1,100
   Pinot Noir 459            Fercal         1,100
   Pinot Noir 870            Fercal         1,100
   Pinot Noir 872            41B            1,100
   Chardonnay 95           Fercal         1,450
   Chardonnay 124         41B            1,450
   Chardonnay 277         41B            1,450
   Syval Blanc                SO4           1,175

We've also planted 175 Pinot Gris as a bit of an experiment.

Before planting, the roots of the vines were soaked in compost tea and then dipped in a solution of mycorrhizal fungi which breaks down organic matter releasing nutrients (particularly phosphates) and can also significantly increases root capacity.

The planting nearly didn't happen as Volker's machine got a puncture on the way to the vineyard. However, thanks to Philip and Gary, we were able to replace the wheel with one from Gary's tractor which allowed us to complete the planting while a new tyre was being sourced and fitted.

Thanks to all the team (including Volker and his planters, Alex, Stephen, JB, Philip and Gary) for a huge amount of effort and an excellent result.

Volker and the team with Philip (left) and Stephen and Alex (right)

In total we now have some 21,000 vines planted on nearly 13 acres. During the next couple of weeks we will be spreading 90 tonnes of organic compost on the vines, together with a huge amounts of woodchip mulch which will hopefully keep the weeds at bay!

Bud Burst and Jack Frost

2010-04-22T23:04:00.000+01:00

Bud Burst - Pinot Noir

Spring sees the vines awake from their dormant period over winter. As sunshine increases, the buds begin to burst. The majority of our vines at now at the stage of "full swell". Some are at "bud burst" and a few are showing "first leaf".

This is a risky time in the vineyard as a severe frost can burn the buds. At worse this can result in the entire season's crop being lost. Whilst global warming is generally assisting viticulture in the UK, too much sunshine to early in spring means that the vines will be vulnerable to frost for longer.

Various attempts are often made to protect against frost including lighting oil heaters in the rows, spraying the vines with a chemical solution to form a seal around the buds, or even using helicopters to get air circulation. We can't use the chemicals or the helicopter as were organic so I guess I might be up tonight lighting oil lamps!

Let's hope that Jack Frost won't catch us out!

Something from Dr Who? No - Our New Sprayer!

2010-04-18T07:06:00.000+01:00

Looking like something from Dr Who, the sprayer for the vineyard arrived last week.

We decided to go for a second hand model (supplied by Nick Seymour) to get some experience of spraying compost teas before investing in a new one. Already we have had some difficulties, with the larger particles in the tea blocking the nozzles but Alex is confident that we will be able to overcome this little problem by straining the tea before putting it in the tank.

The sprayer has to be kept spotlessly clean so that the organisms in the tea don't die, which means thoroughly washing it (as well as the brewer) after each application. We'll be giving it another go next Saturday.

The Best Brew in Surrey!

2010-04-16T14:47:00.000+01:00

Vino and Joel from Laverstoke with the Compost Tea Brewer

Last week we took delivery of our very own compost tea brewer, courtesy of the team at Laverstoke Park.

Compost tea is a water based extract of compost that is "brewed" aerobically to extract organisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes). This is done by filling the tank with de-chlorinated water and submerging some woody compost into it (contained in a fine mash bag). Air is then pumped into the tank from the bottom (a bit like a bubble bath) for 24-36 hours.

Feed stimulants can be added to the brew to promote growth of specific organisims. In our case we're using fish and seaweed extracts to encourage the growth of fungi. When the tea is sprayed on the vines these organisms dominate the surfaces of the leaves which hopefully prevents disease-causing organisms from establishing, particularly mildews. Compost tea also provides plant food which aids healthy plant growth, strengthens the plant's defence systems and, with the addition of beneficial organisms to the soil, will help the recycling of organic matter, improving soil structure.

The tank has a capacity of 1000 litres which should be enough to spray the vineyard when we have planted the full 13 acres and the canopy is fully developed. We are planning to make a brew about every two weeks.

During the growing season Laverstoke will be analysing our compost tea every month to ensure that it has the right level and type of organisms for our soil.

We have no intention of competing with the local excellent hop brewery near Shere, or indeed Philip's magnificent brew of "English Breakfast", but hopefully our compost tea will be just the right brew for the vines.

www.alburyvineyard.com

2010-02-11T13:31:00.000Z

Thanks to the team at DNX (an award winning marketing agency also based in Albury) we now have a new corporate logo and website http://www.alburyvineyard.com/.

As well as providing information about the vineyard and the wines we hope to produce, the web site also gives some background to organic viticulture and wine making in the UK. There is also a link to this blog.

Please let me have any comments you feel would be useful in improving the site.

Alex joins the team as Vineyard Manager

2010-02-10T11:59:00.000Z

I'm delighted that Alex Valsecchi has joined the team as Vineyard Manager.

Until recently Alex was at at RHS Wisley responsible for the Orchard, Nursery, Model Fruit Area and the Vineyard. Alex has extensive experience in Vineyard Management having created the vineyard at Wisley following several years practical experience working on vineyards in New Zealand.

Alex will be responsible for all aspects of managing the vineyard and will work closely with me to ensure that we produce top quality English quality wines using premium organic grapes from the vineyard.

Alex was born in Italy and has the initials "AV", the same as Albury Vineyard. It was obviously meant to be!

Friendly Fungi working well

2009-12-13T21:25:00.000Z

Mycorrhizal fungi at work

Back in May when we planted the vines we decided to dip the roots in a product called Rootgrow, which is a mycorrihzal fungi from a company called PlantWorks. Mycorrhizal fungi normally occurs naturally in soil. It breaks down organic matter releasing nutrients particularly phosphates and can significantly increase root capacity. Unfortunately herbicides and modern farming techniques have significantly reduced the naturally occuring fungi. The idea with Rootgrow is to give new plant roots a kick start.

Last Saturday we pruned the vines and measured the weight of the prunings of 100 vines that had been treated compared to 100 untreated vines for each variety. The results were as follows:

                          Untreated      Treated        % Increase
                          weight (kg)   weight (kg)

Pinot Meunier        1.5                1.8               20.0%
Pinot Noir              2.5                2.4               -4.0%
Chardonnay           1.6                1.9               18.8%
Total                     5.6                6.1                 8.9%

It's early days and the test is obviously not very accurate. I have no idea why the Pinot Noir didn’t seem to show any real difference but overall a very positive indication that the friendly fungi are doing a good job! We will do the same test next year and also monitor the quantity of fruit produced in 2011.

The Soil Food Web and Compost Teas

2009-11-15T17:17:00.000Z

Just attended a facinating seminar on Compost Teas given by Dr Elaine R Ingham at Laverstoke Park.

The Soil Food Web is a diverse community of microscopic organism which live in the soil. There are hundreds of thousands of species and this biology is an integral part of a healthy ecosystem. These soil dwellers are performing important tasks that allow plants to thrive and grow. As they eat, grow and move through the soil, these organisms make it possible to have clean water, clean air, healthy plants and moderate water flow.

Not suprisingly pestacides and hebisides kill off this natural biological system. Organic farmers use composts and compost teas to help the biology recover and also as an effective treatment for disease control.

Compost teas are made by aerobically brewing compost in a tank of water (a bit like a jacuzzi) typically for 24 hours. This allows the living organsim on the compost, including bacteria, fungi and nematodes to be released into the water which is then sprayed on the vines. Food such as Humic Acid or Fish Hydrolysate is often added to promote growth of the organisms. Kelp helps as a micronutrient and Trichoderma spores can be added to treat mildew but the downside is that it takes out Mycorrhizal Funghi (see earlier blog "Friendly Fungi").

It all sounds quite complicated but hopefully the guys at Laverstoke will be giving me some expert advice. Anyway, I'm convinced its the way to go for the vineyard. No copper or sulphur next year!

No Mud on the A25!

2009-09-25T06:30:00.000+01:00

Philip and Gary have created an excellent new hard standing to the entrance of the Vineyard. Hopefully this will mean that tractor wheels will be washed when leaving the vineyard so that we don't deposit large pieces of mud all over the A25. We will see!

Vine Diseases and Compost Tea

2009-09-03T23:16:00.000+01:00

Downy Mildew

The main diseases that can effect vines during the growing season are Powdery Mildew, Downy Mildew and Botrytis. Downy Mildew has unfortunately arrived at Albury!

Downy Mildew is a white down that appears on the underside of the leaves causing them to wither and die, the fruit can also be attacked. The standard treatment in an organic vineyard is a copper solution.

As the name suggests Powdery Mildew appears as a white powder on the leaves and grapes. If left untreated the leaves die and the fruit will crack. Dusting or spraying with Sulphur once every 2 to 3 weeks can prevent this disease.

Botrytis will cause fruit to rot and drop off the vine and dark patches will be seen on the canes. This usually appears during Autumn when the fruit is ripening. Avoiding overcrowding of the vines and keeping the bunches well ventilated by removing the adjacent leaves will help restrict this disease.

During last week Downey Mildew has started to appear on some of the leaves at the vineyard, mainly on the Chardonnay. This isn't serious at this stage but we have decided to spray the vines with a copper solution to try and stop it from spreading.

Next year we hope to avoid copper and sulphur by using a compost tea. This is a water extract of compost that is "brewed" to extract organisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes). When sprayed on the vines an enormous diversity of these organisms dominate the surfaces of the vines thereby inhibiting disease-causing organisms from establishing. Compost tea also provides plant food which aids healthy plant growth, strengthens the plant's defence systems and, with the addition of beneficial organisms to the soil, will help the recycling of organic matter improving soil structure.

My first Bunch of Grapes!

2009-08-05T21:57:00.000+01:00

Maybe not the best bunch of grapes you've ever seen but they are the first from Albury Vineyard and are therefore "special". Having said that, they are of course of absolutely no use for wine production and are destined for the compost heap along with any other bunches that appear this year (and probably next for that matter).

The first grapes that will be used for wine production will be picked by hand in October 2011 (year 3) when we hope to get around a 40% yield. For the 5 acres planted so far this equates to about 6 tonnes of grapes which will be enough to produce over 4000 bottles of English bubbly. Put the date in your diary now if you want to be involved in this historic event and be invited to the Albury harvest party celebration of the year in 2011!

The Battle of the Weeds is Won...for now!

2009-07-22T16:33:00.000+01:00

Weeds are one of the biggest problems for an organic vineyard, especially when new vines are trying to get established. Its amazing how mother nature so quickly takes over with all sorts of vegetation if the land is not managed. In my case the major offenders include Rape, Charlock and Thistle.

Thanks to the efforts of Ivan and the team, Philip, Ken, Michaela her team, my brother Paul, JB, and my daughter's many male friends (a lot of labour!!) the vineyard is now fairly free of weeds and is looking good. How long that will last I don't know but we're now planning to keep the weeds at bay by using some more wood chip mulch as well as sowing between the rows with a Cotswold mix. No doubt more labour will also be required!

Overall the vines are doing very well and most are up to the first trellis wire. Michaela and the team will be in next week to do some further tying up and debudding.

It seems that I have very few vines that didn't flourish. The stats are as follows:

Chardonnay planted 2977 - 10 died (0.34%)
Pinot Noire planted 2986 - 21 died (0.70%)
Pinot Meunier planted 1723 - 9 died (0.52%)
Seyval Blanc planted 849 - 19 died (2.24%)
Total planted 8535 - 59 died (0.69%)

Not sure why a larger % of the Seyval died but overall a very acceptable mortality rate!

The Mulching Begins

2009-06-14T08:25:00.000+01:00

Gary, Philip, John (in the cab) and Darryl (from Laverstoke Park) with the spreader and the mountain of wood chip

Weeds are a big problem for organic vineyards, especially when the vines are trying to get established. After much debate we have settled on a mulch to control the weeds, comprising a mixture of green waste compost from Laverstoke Park and virgin wood chip from LC Energy. Last week we took delivery of 50 tonnes of compost and nearly 600 cubic metres of wood chip which arrived in 8 artic lorries.

We now need to distribute the stuff along the rows of vines about 30cm on each side and 10 cm high. To help us do this we will be using a special muck spreader which takes about one and a half tonnes per load. Only 150 loads to complete the job for the initial 5 acres!

Hopefully this will keep the weeds at bay for two to three years. We will be seeding an organic grassland mix between the rows.

The new love of my life!

2009-06-07T16:02:00.000+01:00

Dick Bray, from Oakes Bros, delivers the new tractor

Slim, sleek and a right little goer...... yes the tractor!

On Friday my new tractor arrived all the way from Italy. Now that I'm on the wrong side of 50, I have discovered that a new tractor is more exciting than a sports car and almost certainly safer (and cheaper) than a new woman!

The tractor is a New Holland and is specially designed for vineyards. As it is only just over a meter wide it will easily fit between the rows of vines when we're spreading the mulch, cutting the grass and spraying the vines.

The challenge now of course is to learn how to drive the thing which inside looks like the Star Ship Enterprise with more levers than you can shake a stick at. I'm sure that by the end of next week I will be fully competent as I'm on a tractor course with my good friend John Brockwell.

Motorists and walkers of Albury should take cover!

Green Shoots - No, not the economy!

2009-05-27T18:22:00.000+01:00

The vines have only been planted two weeks and already they are bursting into life!

I'm sure that Stephen will say that it's due to the tip top quality of the vines he has sourced, John will claim that it's down to the preparation of the land, the Rootgrow guys will state that it's on account of their product, Ernst and Jo will say that its because of the expert planting and Ivan will claim that he talked to them every day. But who cares... they are alive and growing!

Terry's Trellising

2009-05-26T19:29:00.000+01:00

Ivan (left) and the team

The trellising is now nearing completion thanks to Mike Terry, Ivan and the team. It will have taken about ten days to install the 120 wooden end posts, 1,700 interim posts, 8,500 bamboo canes and more than 10,000 metres of wire to support the vines as they grow.

In spite of some difficult ragstone at the southern end of the vineyard, the work will be completed on time thanks to the tireless efforts of the guys in spite of the weather!

Next task is to mulch the vines which will hopefully keep the weeds at bay. The mulch will now comprise about 40 tonnes of green waste compost (20mm) mixed with 600 cu metres of wood chip (50mm).

Planting of the Vines (Pictures)

2009-05-14T22:40:00.000+01:00

With Jo and her Planting Team from Germany

Ready to go!

Tim from Plantworks dipping the vines in Rootgrow

The first Vine? Well almost - Stephen broke the first!

Planting of the Vines

2009-05-14T12:59:00.000+01:00

Video of the amazing Planting Machine

Having planted 8635 vines yesterday I am now the proud owner of a real vineyard.

The planting team from Germany arrived before 8.00am led by Jo (daughter of Ernst) and by the end of the day all the vines had been planted. All in all we planted 1723 Pinot Meunier, 2986 Pinot Noir, 2977 Chardonnay and 849 Syval Blanc on a plot of about 5 acres. Rows have been spaced 2m apart with 1.2m between the vines. All the vines were dipped in Rootgrow before planting, other than a control section of 100 in each of the major grape varieties.

The planting team who did a marvelous job were helped by various experts and willing helpers including Stephen, John Buchan, JB, Philip, not forgetting Roy who did a splendid job as official photographer and providing elevenses! Thanks also to Tim from Plantworks for supervising the application of the Rootgrow.

More pictures to follow.

Next is the trellising and then control of the dreaded weeds with mulch, which now looks like it will comprise a mix of 80% wood chip and 20% green compost!

The Layout of the Vineyard

2009-05-02T18:26:00.000+01:00

As our primary aim is to produce a high quality organic bubbly, the vines we have chosen for the initial 5 acres are predominantly the varieties used in Champagne i.e. Chardonnay, Pinot Noire and Pinot Meunier. However we are also planting some Seyval which is a variety which does well in the UK. This will be used along with some of the Pinot Noire, to produce a still Rose. Overall we will be planting around 8500 vines with row spacing of 2m and 1.2m between each vine. As the plot isn't square this equates to 60 rows varying in length between 16o to 190 metres.

Only 10 days now before we start planting!

The Trellising Arrives from Germany

2009-05-02T18:11:00.001+01:00

Philip Goddard on the forklift

Last Thursday the trellising arrived from Germany and is now safely stored in Philip Goddard's barn at Home Farm. For 5 acres of vines we need 140 timber end posts, around 1700 intermediate posts and a huge amount of wire.

Whilst we could wait a year after planting before erecting the trellising I have decided to get this out of the way early on and the job should be erected by the end of May.

Bunnies and Bambi Keep Out

2009-05-02T17:12:00.000+01:00

Jeremy Curling still smiling!

The boundary fencing for the new Vineyard is nearing completion with more than 1000 metres of deer and rabbit fencing. Jeremy Curling is erecting the bunny and bambi proof fence, shown here putting in one of the many large posts around the vineyard.

The Organic Conversion Process

2009-04-10T07:23:00.000+01:00

Early on in the project I made a decision that Albury Vineyard would be organic. Having spoken to a number of organic vineyard owners in the UK and Australia I was convinced that over a period of time the organic process would produce better fruit and ultimately better quality wine. It's also much more friendly to the environment which is a key consideration both ethically and commercially. The downside is that it makes the establishment of a vineyard even harder especially in respect of weed control. Anyway, the decision has been made and the field has to now be converted to an organic regime.

I have chosen to use Organic Farmers and Growers as an authentication body, who have been extremely helpful in helping me to understand the organic conversion process for the field that will become the vineyard. Defra's Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS) have also been very useful, providing me with a half day's free on-site consultancy. The bottom line is that I can do anything I like to the land until the vines are planted but then I have to make sure that all treatments for weed and disease control as well as any composts or fertilisers that I use are certified as organic or, if an organic product isn't available, that I get a derogation for the product concerned. Accurate records of course will have to be maintained at all times!

The process is further complicated as we're only planting 5 acres this year which means that 8 acres will need a cover crop to keep the weeds at bay and add to the nutrients in the soil. As organic seeds are very expensive I don't want to convert this part of the field until I'm ready to plant it with vines. The solution is a temporary fence with a 10 metre buffer zone between the none organic land and the plants.

Friendly Fungi

2009-03-27T17:33:00.000Z

I spent an interesting morning at a company called PlantWorks that makes a mycorrhizal fungi product called rootgrow.

Nearly all plants depend on a group of fungi on their roots which can increase root capacity over 700 times. Unfortunately herbicides and other modern farming techniques have significantly reduced the fungi which, when present, break down organic matter releasing nutrients (particularly phosphates) for the plants. The idea is that vine roots can be dipped in rootgrow before planting to give the natural mycorrhizal fungi process a kick start. This should help establish the vines more quickly and increase the eventual yield.

Looks like we will run a trial on the vines being planted in May. Time will tell what difference it will make but the product looks promising.

For more information visit http://www.friendlyfungi.co.uk/

To Mulch or Not to Mulch - That is the Question

2009-03-22T08:51:00.000Z

Sad, I know, but I dreamt of mulching last night. For those of you who are new to the world of viticulture, mulching is not some sort of depraved sexual act (sorry kids), but is a mechanism that can be used for weed control, as well as providing nutrients to the vines.

Weeds can be a major problems in a vineyard, especially if it's organic as you can't use most herbicides to control them. Weeds compete with newly planted vines which can significantly delay early growth, reduce yield and therefore ultimately the profitability of a new vineyard.

So what to do? Well I've been trawling the web and also taking advice from various experts but it seems that there is no definitive solution to this problem. What it appears I have to do is come up with an Integrated Weed Management Programme (IWM) which involves identifying the weeds, choosing the appropriate control methods and monitoring how effective the control strategies have been. It sounds simple but the tricky bit is deciding on the control methods which can involve all sorts of activities including burning or steaming the weeds, using geese or sheep to eat them, cultivation, or mulching.

Mulching involves surrounding the vines with either a groundcover or an organic compost to a depth of between 3-5 inches to prevent the weeds getting any sunlight. I like the idea of mulching using compost but for just 5 acres we need a man mountain of the stuff and the effort in spreading it is enormous even with a special muck spreader.

If you're interested there are a couple of good articles on the web:

http://www.nswg.org/tomlanini.htm

http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/DPI/nreninf.nsf/v/93ED54B427C660B2CA25740F0076B4AD/$file/Organic_Farming_Vineyard_Weed_Management.pdf

Hopefully my dream won't become a nightmare, being attacked by giant weeds and then drowning in a pile of muck!

Midlife Crisis and a Vineyard

2009-03-21T07:18:00.000Z

It seems that a midlife crisis is hitting me hard. Not only have I decided to establish a vineyard in the south of England, but for the first time in my life I am entering the world of bloggers!

This blog is purely a selfish attempt to chronicle the multitude of tasks, issues, problems and hopefully some successes associated with setting up an organic vineyard in Surrey. Hopefully it might be of interest to English wine enthusiasts and may even be of some use to others who embark on a similar venture. If this proves to be the case then great - we will see.

The story started about nine months ago when I finally decided that I would try and make my dream of owning a vineyard a reality. I had always assumed that it would have to be in France or elsewhere in Europe but one of the few upsides of global warming has resulted in the south of England being a realistic location for producing quality wine, particularly bubbly. There are already 400 vineyards in the UK selling about 1m bottles annually and this is set to quadruple in size over the next 5 years. Vineyards such as Nyetimber in West Sussex, Chapel Down in Kent and Camel Valley in Cornwall are all producing excellent wines especially of the sparkling variety. Hopefully Albury Vineyard will be added to the list in the future.

Anyway, I've now managed to find what I hope will be just the right site within walking distance of my home village of Albury in Surrey. It's 15 acres on the southern slopes of the North Downs in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The location was chosen because it is below 100m above sea level, is well sheltered and is south westerly facing. The soil is also clay on chalk which is the same as the region of Champagne. The plan is to plant the first five acres this May with the classical Champagne varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. If were lucky we will have our first harvest in October 2011. Unfortunately that's only the start of the process, which will take at least another 3 years before "Albury bubbly" hits the shelves! Establishing a vineyard is certainly not a short term investment; it's probably a good 12 years before you get a financial return!

Luckily, I won't be relying entirely on myself to ensure the success of this venture. I've managed to secure the consultancy services of one the top experts in UK viticulture, Stephen Skelton MW. Without someone like Stephen it would be complete madness to embark on such a venture. He has already been invaluable in helping me plan the project and his many contacts have enabled us to get all the basic building blocks in place. the only advice I've not taken from Stephen is not to go organic which I'm told is a nightmare when it comes to weed control. However I'm determined to give it a go - time will tell which one of us proves to be right. I'm also lucky to have come across John Buchan who is an agronomist specialising in organic vineyards (I still can't believe that such a beast exists in the UK).

In the next few months I will be busy preparing the land, planting windbreaks, erecting deer and rabbit fencing, planting the vines and putting up the trellising. Hopefully there will be a bit of time to post some blogs!