The grape harvest at Biddenden is now complete for 2019 and we are lucky to have had another excellent year with some top quality juice now in the tanks. Picking this year began on 12th September 2019 with Ortega, running through each of the 11 varieties as they ripened and finishing with Scheurebe on 22nd October 2019, approximately 7-10 days earlier than last year.
This will be the third consecutive year that the quality of the crop has been so high, with all varieties showing good colour and ripening well. Ortega was picked over a run of 10 days, all under beautiful blue skies in the sunshine, something which is a rarity but is welcomed both by the pickers and for us as winemakers. Although there has been a good amount of rain, which has caused wet ground conditions, this will be of benefit for the vines looking forward to next year.
Every grape harvest here is picked by hand at Biddenden Vineyard, before being pressed on site with the juice stored in our stainless steel wine tanks within the winery. Over the coming months the wine will be monitored closely as the winemaking process begins and the 2019 vintages will be released in mid-2020.
In the meantime, our still 2018 vintages from last year’s bumper harvest are all available to taste & buy in our vineyard shop, which is open to visitors daily, and we will soon be opening the doors to our Christmas shop – perfect for choosing all of your wines to see you through the festive period.
