The 2020 grape harvest is now underway here at Biddenden, with the first of our signature variety, Ortega, starting to be picked yesterday, Tuesday 1st September 2020. Following the prolonged, hot summer, this year’s harvest is approximately 3 weeks ahead of usual and will continue for the next 6-8 weeks, picking through each of our 11 varieties as they ripen.
All of the grapes are picked by hand, before being taken the short distance from the vineyard to winery to be pressed on site. Ortega accounts for approximately half of the vineyard, and so will be picked over the next couple of weeks, followed by other white varieties such as Bacchus & Huxelrebe, before finally moving on to the reds – Pinot Noir, Dornfelder & Gamay Noir.
The wines will then remain in tank until early 2021, when bottling will commence, with the 2020 vintages released from mid-2021 onwards.
Our current range of wines from a range of vintages may be bought from our vineyard shop (open Wednesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm) or via our online shop for nationwide home delivery.
We’ll be posting more updates on our social channels throughout harvest, find us @biddendenvineyard on instagram & Facebook and @biddendenvine on twitter to stay up to date.
