The buds burst into life

What a strange month April has been. Beautifully sunny spring days with plants, insects and birds, all busy. Nature at its best and most glorious. Yet daily life as we all know it has ground to a halt in so many other inexplicable ways.

Work continues among the vines and midway through the month we saw the first buds burst into life. This is such an exciting time as we see the new season’s growth unfurling each day, it’s an important time in the vine cycle.

Budburst started earlier than last year which does bode well for a long ripening season and a bigger window to harvest in. However, it’s not without its worries as the vines are now susceptible to frosts. Fortunately, only a couple of mornings have seen a very light frost so far. Looking ahead, if we have a wet, cold summer the vines will slow down. So it’s swings and roundabouts.

Meanwhile in the offices, we are still fulfilling your orders. Thank you for your support which means so much. While you continue to purchase our wines, we are also preparing to launch the Bacchus and Solaris from 2019 in late June and the five sparkling wines from 2018 in August/September (more to come on these shortly). These will now have to be done in a virtual way. We had grand plans to open our vineyard building and tasting rooms over the summer. This will still happen, and you will still get to come to the vineyard, enjoy its tranquil setting with a glass of wine in hand if you so wish. However given the present challenges we all face the timing of this is difficult to predict. Let’s all hope it’s not that far away.