A Norfolk vineyard says its biggest-ever grape harvest will make a record-breaking 29,000 bottles of wine - a 31pc increase on last year.
In his winemaker’s report for 2023, John Hemmant, of Chet Valley Vineyard in Bergh Apton near Loddon, says about 32 tonnes of grapes were harvested from 20 acres of vines, enough to make an estimated 21,750 litres of wine.
He attributes these record-breaking figures to factors including "generally benign" weather conditions which produced good yields and a high-quality crop.
2023 also saw some of the vineyard's more recent plantings of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes achieve maturity, which pushed up overall yields.
The harvest was safely gathered with the help of 25-30 community volunteers during sunny weather in the first three weeks of October, before the later rain storms.
"Overall the weather was pretty kind to us in 2023," says Mr Hemmant's report.
"There were no great frosts, particularly as we entered budburst in the spring. There was good sunshine in September to allow the grapes to ripen, and conditions for the harvest were mainly dry, making picking easier.
"The rain came just when we needed it to encourage the berries to swell. We enjoyed enough sun for the grapes to ripen fully, giving us excellent sugar levels which will translate into wines with extra extract and depth of flavour."
Mr Hemmant says while climate change is giving East Anglian winemakers more sunshine hours and more consistent ripening, increased rainfall throughout the growing season creates perfect conditions for fungal crop infections.
He says the vineyard team's disease control skills were "particularly important this year, as the warm weather does encourage diseases such as downy mildew, powdery mildew and botrytis".
Mr Hemmant's report concludes: "We are very happy with the results of this year’s harvest.
"We will make more wine than ever before, and the quality is generally very good, with some grapes returning excellent results.
"I would like to thank our very hard-working staff and our wonderful harvest volunteers for making it all possible."
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