A Year in the Life of an English Vineyard

Featuring the comings & goings at new #BreezyRidge vineyard in Dorset

Livestream ...

Now on YouTube & Spreaker with regular #BreezyRidge livestreams

Livestream coming soon

The lifecycle of the humble vine

Winter pruning

The English Vineyard Year gets off to a cracking start in January with pruning ...

Springtime heralds 'budburst'

Budburst occurs in early Spring and marks the start of the growing season, usually when the average daily temperature exceeds 10 °C ...

Early shoot and leaf growth

As Spring makes way for Summer, the new green shoots grow at a pace until the vine flowers (this is known as 'inflorescence') ...

Flowering and 'fruit set'

Warm temperatures and plenty of sunshine (with little or no rain) ensures that pollination occurs smoothly. 'Fruit set' occurs when a flower starts to develop into a grape ...

'Veraison' and berry ripening

'Veraison' signals the point at which the grapes begin to ripen and the skins change colour (deep black varieties turn red then purple and white varieties turn golden) ...

Harvest time

My favourite time of the year! Hand harvest allows for grape selection to take place in the vineyard, so that only the best bunches are picked ...

So, what's new in the vineyard ...

A grape day out for all the family

A’Becketts Vineyard provides the perfect place to keep the whole family busy and entertained, nestled amongst the most idyllic Wiltshire scenery, on the far side of Salisbury Plain.

'Here is an account of just why you should give this spectacular vineyard a visit …' says the Editor of Country Child Magazine

Thursday, December 31, 2020

English sparkling wine harvest with the munchkins

Usually, by mid-week of half term we would have been contemplating an action-packed day such as exploring the local delights of Haynes Motor Museum or even a trip to the coast. However, today was going to be different and potentially quite a challenge with three lively boys in tow (aged between six and eight) as we were heading off across Salisbury Plain to help the team a’Becketts Vineyard to get this year’s harvest of Pinot Noir in before the rains.