Earliest Harvest Ever

Time flies when you are having fun and 2025 has certainly been a good year for our vines. Across Europe the grape harvests have been starting abnormally early due to the hot and dry summer. England is no exception with 2025 likely to be the hottest summer on record putting the amazing 2018 into second place.

I remember the 2018 season well. It was the perfect storm resulting in a bumper crop of amazing quality. Like 2025, the grass was brown but the vines were a vibrant green and thrived. We saw the potential of our vineyards in a good year and picked 180 tonnes of wonderfully ripe fruit which filled the winery to more than capacity. Compare this to our harvest yield last year of 49 tonnes. 2018 remains our highest yielding year, despite additional plantings since. It is a year that keeps on giving. An award winning year, most recently our Blanc de Blancs 2018 won the joint Trophy for best Blancs de Blancs at the WineGB Awards 2024. Matthew Jukes  wrote in his article 'Last Orders'  that this was a  'land mark wine for this brilliant Cotswold estate'. Kind words.

Back to the present. As we’ve started our grape picking on 2nd September, it will be our earliest start to harvest at Woodchester.  A week ahead of 2018 and  a month earlier than last year - 2024 was a much cooler year. The early start is due to almost perfect conditions at the beginning of the season which led to an early and quick flowering. The prolonged heat wave allowed for an excellent fruit set and berry development. What does it mean for the wines? It is a little too soon to tell. Our harvest usually lasts from four to six weeks and a lot can happen between now and mid October. On the bright side, there is a good amount of fruit on the vines, the fruit is clean and disease has not been a major concern this year - so far. There is plenty of time to ripen the grapes and the much needed rain finally arrived at the end of one of our driest summers. On my wish list is an Indian Summer with plenty of dry September days to enjoy this early harvest. The forecast however is changeable conditions throughout September so picking will be a little more tricky as we dodge the rain.

We think this is the most exciting time to come and experience a Tour & Tasting at the vineyard. On picking days, the press area is buzzing with activity, and if they’re available, guests get to try the grapes or grape juice right at the start of the winemaking process. It’s a fantastic experience whether you’re a wine connoisseur, or you simply enjoy drinking it.

See what’s on here.