2024 Harvest Review

With everything picked and happily fermenting in tank and barrel, we can now look back on the challenging 2024 season that followed the bumper 2023 harvest.

In our own vineyards the vines went through budburst the usual time in early April, however April and early May were cool, resulting in very slow growth. Fortunately, warm, settled conditions followed from mid-May and the vines started flowering around the normal time of mid-June.

The cool spring weather negatively affected some varieties, such as Seyval blanc, resulting in coulure (flowers dropping off). Overall, some varieties pollinated well, whilst others struggled.

The biggest challenge of the season was still to come! A cool, wet summer resulted in widespread mildew issues across the country. Downy mildew in particular was rife due to the frequent rainfall, which both burns the leaves but can also affect berries, causing them to shrivel and fail to ripen. A number of vineyards suffered heavy crop losses due to this and many others found the grapes very slow to ripen due to the decreased number of leaves on the vines.

Due to the very poor summer, harvest began a good 3 weeks later than the past few years, with the first fruit coming in on the 28th September and the last on the 28th of October. On the whole, yields were widely down by 30-40% in most vineyards and the quality was mixed. 

As a result of the unsettled weather, we had to be very selective with which red grapes went to red wine. Ripeness and acidity levels were not suited to this in many cases, with only a small amount of Pinot Noir and Rondo being made into reds.

Generally, this year was better suited to sparkling, white and rosé. Highlights include a super aromatic Bacchus, an unoaked Pinot Blanc and returning once again by popular demand...an off-dry Riesling! The majority of our 2024 wines will be ready from Spring onwards.
 
In other news, we are excited to announce that we will shortly be releasing two small batch sparkling wines from 2017 - a Blanc de Blancs and a Blanc de Noirs. Stay tuned very soon for these exceptional new releases!

To find out more about this year's harvest, visit us at our winery shop near Trethurgy. Wine tastings are currently available Wednesday-Sunday, 11am-4pm.