My first Bunch of Grapes!

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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)

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!