Summer 2026

Things were about to get "hot, hot, hot!"

Hello from the vines,

The vines were growing faster than we could keep up, the rain had disappeared, and we were about to discover just how much a vineyard can produce in a heatwave.

Welcome to Summer 2026.

June was hot, but little did we know, it was about to get hotter. The sunshine sent the vineyard into overdrive, leaving us shoot selecting and tucking in fruiting wires at the same time, rushing around like loonies to get everything back on track.

At the time, we thought we were just trying to keep up with the vines. We had no idea what that summer was setting us up for…

Growing faster than we could keep up.

With record-breaking June temperatures across England, the vineyard absolutely took off. We were still shoot selecting while also tucking in the fruiting wires, leaving us rushing around like loonies to get everything back on track.

Shoot selection involves choosing which shoots to keep, helping us manage the canopy and set the vines up for a healthy crop. Tucking in keeps those shoots growing neatly within the wire system.

Usually, we'd tackle these jobs at different stages. This year, the vines had other ideas!

Thankfully, our photographer was on hand to capture the chaos, giving us a lovely record of the work that goes into growing our grapes.

Sunshine, sunshine and… finally, rain!

The hot, dry weather continued through July, and by the 30th, we finally had our first little bit of rain in a long time. And boy, did we need it.

Our established vines handled the drought reasonably well, but our second field, planted a year later, had a few younger vines that struggled.

Watering the entire vineyard simply isn't realistic for our two-person team, so we had to let nature take its course. Thankfully, they pulled through, and we're hoping they'll develop deeper roots to help them cope with dry spells in the future.