Well we’ve been pruning now for just over a week. Best practice is only to do so in dry weather, so that the rain doesn’t wash disease spores from the bark into the cut tissues. It may take us around 3 months, followed by the tying down of the canes. We are trialling a wound spray this year, as there is a lot of concern now about good hygiene practices. See more in our latest YouTube video.
A good start in life?
First birthdays, second birthdays, in fact any anniversary is a reason to chill down a nice bottle of Brut Zero. Then why not enjoy having fun with the bottle as shown here, before of course, recycling it.
We have just disgorged the last batch of our 2008 fizz, which has therefore had nearly 24 months ageing on the lees. So we are well stocked up and ready for Christmas.
Rondo going into the Press
We picked our Rondo in the pouring rain on 18th & 19th September, a good two weeks earlier than last year (such fun?!). Here you can see the beautiful dark red destalked and split grapes going into the press. We will then blend the juice with another variety to make a lovely new Rose. Click on the link to watch a video of this on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/user/EastcottVineyard?feature=mhsn#p/a/u/0/Z_xbNGYvLzU
If you were ever in any doubt about whether jam traps work, then just take a look at these. Having deployed our jars last month, baited with Lidl’s budget jam, they are doing a great job of keeping most of the wasps off our Rondo. Unlike last year, certain jars are filling up faster than others and hence need emptying every other day. We guess this is all to do with flight paths from the nests. Richard measured the Oeschle of the Rondo grapes today and although the berries are much smaller than last year, he’s very pleased with the resulting higher levels of sugar. We might even be harvesting quite soon as it’s rising fast.
Just rolling out the extra defences against the wildlife as our early harvest variety Rondo begin to ripen. The wasps are ahead of last year and so the jam traps were rushed into service yesterday after one stung me! Richard launched the helikite this morning to deter the birds and is now busy erecting ankle height electric wires to keep the badgers out.
Yesterday we took all the new 2010 releases along to the North Devon Show: Furzehill White (our new dry), Two Moors Rosé (the new pink) and Gribbleford White (our medium). Our Fizz was also there redressed as ‘Brut Zero’. We were also awarded 1st prize for having the best stand.
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