It’s our third autumn/winter in the vineyard and Paul and I are starting to understand the soil here. The best word to describe it is fragile. Once the rain comes in the autumn we clean and service the Fendt vineyard tractor and equipment and wait for the spring and drier weather to arrive. If we don’t we compact the soil and as a result kill the soil organisms. Not to mention the mess we make!

The work changes to jobs we do by foot, such as hand weeding and fixing the trellising in the vineyard. And, new to us this year, winemaking working with winemaker David Cowderoy. The wine is, excitingly, in the tanks. The still rose is settling down nicely and last week we started malolactic fermentation with a small quantity of our sparkling base to reduce the acids a little.

We’re beyond lucky with 2014 as our first vintage. The grapes were so ripe and had such a fantastic depth of flavour. We tasted the juice with our lovely pickers as it came off the press and it was just amazingly tasty. The juice has now turned to wine, and the flavours are still there, very fruity and very fresh. The rose will be ready in the spring. We can’t wait to share it with you!