A nervy start to the vineyard year…

A nervy start to the vineyard year…

The slowest Spring for many years has delayed the all important ‘bud burst’ at Wyken.  And we are very thankful for it, as throughout April and early May there were a series of frosts, with the lowest temperature of -5 ^oC recorded on April 17th.  Had these come after a warm period then we would have been in grave danger of loosing a large part of our 2021 harvest.  While the cool climate of Britain enables us to make sparkling wines with beguiling acidity, it is late frosts such as these that also pose an major threat.  Six years ago we suffered a frost on May 10th, which destroyed almost 90% of our crop.

Our heart goes out to the many parts of France and Northern Italy, that much further forward into Spring, were not so lucky.  Reports are that Chablis could have lost 95% of its crop.  You may have seen images of Burgundy, thousands of candles alight among the vines, trying desperately to keep the frosts at bay.

The Suffolk forecast shows the weather improving over the next week, and while not in the clear yet, we are hopeful that we are past the most major threat.