Spring has started late this year.  This is a complete contrast to May 2005 where by the 11th May our vine shoots were up to  eighteen inches high in places, before they were cut back by the frost.  This May has passed without event - no hard frosts and our vines are just shooting.  They look lovely, contrasted with the wild flowers that carpet the rows.  The Ashmolean Society Rare Plants group visit our vineyard to record the early wildflowers here.  Our first tours of the vineyard start.

The first anti-fungal spray has taken place but not much else is needed, except to knock off any "spare" buds growing from the main stumps, and the repair of the trellis system.

January to April
With the shop closed and the vines dormant, the main task was to prune the old branches (called "canes"), leaving about four per plant to provide grape bearing canes for the new year.   Two work parties comprising tough friends and helpers rallied to our call in January, helping us take off the prunings from the trellis system.

We then start the tying down of the canes which we have selected to stay on - this is a slow and skilled job, but the vineyard looks pristine when it is finished.  We also try and catch up on the training of our two year old vines which we are trainning into a tall T-shape.

November/December

The vineyard is gradually put to sleep - old canes are pruned off and all the collecting paraphernalia cleaned and tidied up.  The wine is put through the fermentation process which entails really long hours over a period of three weeks, and the little girls are kept out of the winery since it can be dangerous. We gradually clear up after all the excitement of the autumn.

The winter proves long and cold, and is reluctant to leave the vineyard.  Richard ploughs up alternate rows in our old vineyard to introduce a wildflower seed mix.   We start bottling what little wine we have in the cold of the winery....

	The bottles are sterilised and drained.
	Carbon dioxide is pumped into the empty bottles, which will keep the aromas fresh after bottling.  The wine is then precisely measured into the bottles.
	The sterilised corks are inserted and the wine is carted off to the cold room to store for a minimum of two months.

October

In order to protect our crop from birds we put up a helium balloon with a tail as a bird scarer (temporarily a focus for conversation in the neighbourhood), a banger, loads of old CDs in the trellis and at the end, we even started netting our vines.  Hard work!

Frosts of May 2005 have been devastating, reducing our crop by 80%.  The birds then take most of what is left in spite of all the netting and bird scaring devices we use.  Harvest, normally so convivial and full of promise, is a dispiriting affair.

 

	Crop damage.
	Harvest.

Summer
Training and pruning of our rampaging green vine hedges take up most of the time, as the young grapes need to be exposed to air movement and sunshine in order to stave off fungal diseases.  The continuing wet weather has meant that the vines are even more vigorous than usual.   

Pictures of us pruning and training, and pruning and training.......over the years:

Wines sales are great as the good weather are turning people to our refreshing whites.  Lots of tours this summer as well as wine groups and other societies find our website.

However it is not all work.  A large party is thrown in the gentle heat of July for everyone who has helped and supported us over the year.