March has arrived and with it come the first signs of spring along with daily opening here at Biddenden, 7 days a week all the way through until Christmas Eve! Perfect for a wander around the vineyard.
It’s been a wet winter, but work still goes on! We have been busy out in the vineyards working through the pruning, all of which is carried out by hand. This means that we can approach every vine individually and hand select the very best canes to lay down for the coming year. We always say that “winemaking starts in the vineyard” and this is an extremely important part of the process.
We have also started putting in fruiting wires in the new block of Bacchus vines which can be seen on the brow of the hill as you look up from the car park. This is a variety which is growing in popularity and will be used to produce our single varietal still Bacchus and increase production slightly in coming years.
It’s an interesting time to visit if you’d like to understand more about our pruning methods and how we prepare the vines ready for bud burst & the first of the shoots starting to come through.
We have also begun bottling the 2019 vintages and these will be available to buy later in the summer; for now, we have our 2018 vintages available to buy in the vineyard shop which are drinking especially well following on from a year with a long, hot summer.
We can only wait and see what the coming months bring, but as the vineyards begin to come to life we would be hopeful for consistent temperatures, and perhaps a little less rain!
If you are planning a visit, then there is no need to pre-book to take a self-guided tour – you can wander around the vineyard whenever we are open. However, for a more personal visit and to find out more about Biddenden & our history we recommend booking your own private tour guide. Open tours also begin again next month and give an excellent introduction to Biddenden including a tasting of a selection of our wines.
