REVIEW OF THE SEASON 2006

Another good year. I had not expected it, but cropping was as heavy as in 2005, the best year I can remember. A cool spring led into a warm dry summer, and a long warm autumn. Again, just about every flower set, and successes are to numerous to mention. A warm moist October produced some rot, but in general sugars were good, particularly in terms of the very heavy crops. Most of the old favourites did well, and several new sorts gave promise of being well worth growing.
Whites. Madeleine Angevine and Seyval Blanc cropped very heavily, giving 10lb plus a vine, with decent sugars and the promise of good wine. The German variety Kanzler, promising as a single vine, gave 80lb from 12 vines at 88oe, with superb fruit flavour. It combined well with new sort Solaris, which came with such a promising write up from Germany that I had planted 30. It gave, as promised, a heavy crop, 180lb from young vines, with sugar levels of 90oe. Disease resistance is reported as good, and I will test this in the No-spray vineyard with is now mostly planted up. Wine appears excellent.. Most other varieties gave good yields at respectable but not outstanding sugars.
Black grapes again did well. Triomphe D'Alsace, never the heaviest cropper but with high sugars, excellent disease resistance, and very good wine, gave me nearly 5lb a vine. Rondo again cropped incredibly heavily, with good colour and flavour, but not surprisingly with only moderate sugars. Regent did very well also, as did the dual purpose variety Gagarin Blue. The heaviest cropper of all was Kempsey Black, really a dessert variety, with 20lb a vine and enjoyable grapes. Marshal Joffre, extremely early, cropped well with high sugars, and would do well in a cool climate. Interestingly the variety Brant, generally regarded as primarily an ornamental, gave good crops with high sugars, and the wine seems good.
We grow a wide range of dessert and seedless grapes, most of which did very well. Of the black seeded sorts, Boskoops Glory is an easy, and heavy cropping ,while Alden gave lovely big red grapes with fine autumn colour. Gagarin Blue is good, and Prima is very promising, of good quality and a very big grape. The best muscats were probably Muscat Bleu, a very fine quality black, and New York Muscat. White sorts Isa, Ora and Lilla were good, and of full dessert size, but a number of the dual purpose whites were of excellent quality. Muscats Phoenix and Bianca made very good eating. Most of the seedless sorts in the tunnels were enjoyed by our visitors at our open weekend, and the majority ripened outside, with particularly good results from Lakemont, Himrod and Suffolk.
Our 2006 open weekend was most successful and very busy, despite the unpleasant weather on Saturday - enthusiasts came from all over Britain. We will hold our open weekend in 2007 on 1st and 2ndSeptember, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm.Many more of our 400 plus sorts will be cropping, and visitors who have been before will see the progress. The first results from the no spray vineyard should be visible. Our 200 plus fruit trees will be cropping, and there will be wines to taste, with refreshments in variety, wine, vines and fruit for sale. As before, no charge, though a contribution to a local charity would be appreciated. All are welcome - there is plenty of parking.
At the risk of repeating myself, may I stress that the last few years are not typical - though they may become so. Potential growers looking to classic grapes should note that they may owe much of their reputation to the fact that growers and winemakers know how to get the best out of them - they are not necessarily better than new or non- classical sorts. If you plant Pinot Noir, put in early clones, and consider Chardonnay, if at all, on the very best sites only. Come and look at our vines and see what does well. Be prepared for weather much less warm that the last three years - British weather is. above all, unpredictable.
There will be some excellent, possibly superb, wines in 2006. Look for dry and sparkling wines from that excellent sort Seyval Blanc , plus some fine reds, and expect most vineyards to produce wine of better than average quality. I am pleased with my own wines - the new sorts should be available for tasting at our open weekend 1st - 2nd September 2007, and think that most winemakers will be very satisfied with the wines of 2006.
Brian Edwards