The vineyard was planted during spring in 2007…
Nearly 2000 vines of Seyval, Phoenix, Rondo, Rheichenstiener, Huxelreber and Pinot Noir
The first vine was a very formal occasion…
but it wasn’t long before the real work started …….
…and completed by 15th April at 6.45 in the evening.
By year 2 summer with rabbit guards fitted we watched as the vines began to flourish and Julian started to manicure the rows…….
Whilst Amanda takes a break to figure out the dimensions of her rhubarb patch for the restaurant…..
It wasn’t long before we really started to see a difference and it was time to start construction of the trellising system so we could start to train the vines to where we wanted them to grow… and before long year 3 ….. we started to see the rows really beginning to take shape…..
By the winter, when the snow fell it was a really spectacular sight
A few more years passed and by summer (5th) the vineyard was really beginning to look fantastic and Julian thought he’d noticed something growing amongst the vines…
YES……..YIPPEE…….we finally saw our first crop in 2013….
We didn’t get the sugar level we wanted…….but so what……we had grapes!!!!!!!!!
Well there’s always next year so we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the views as Autumn set in again….
2014 ARRIVED and the vines went absolutely mental !
The Rondo ripened first and achieved a brix sugar level of over 15
So we started harvesting….with special instructions from Amanda’s Dad !
We managed to pick 500 kilos and sent them off to be pressed in Amanda’s van and waited for the green grapes to ripen
3 weeks later we were picking again…green grapes
and the grape crates just kept on filling up
It wasn’t long before we were surrounded
It became obvious after we’d weighed over 2 tonnes that Amanda’s van wasn’t going to be big enough so we ordered a lorry
Finally our first harvest was ready to go to be pressed ( 7 years later !!!!!! )
…… with many thanks to all our family, staff, customers, neighbours and friends who helped over the years
Our first Vintage of Whitehouse still white went on to win an international silver award, well worth the effort!