jamie goode's wine blog

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Summer has come back for an encore - the last weekend has been an unexpected treat, with temperatures in the late 20s Centigrade. After lunch on the patio we had a lovely afternoon cycling to Twickenham green for a birthday party that the boys were attending. While I was there I had a chance to check on the progress of my vines (at the allotment). They're coming along well, and I tasted some of the grapes - I reckon harvest won't be long. Pictured is the Pinot Noir. After the party we went to the Prince Albert for a pint, and then headed home before darkness made family cycling hazardous.

7 Comments:

At 10:33 AM, Anonymous Stephen said...

The grapes look to be in great condition.

How would you describe the terroir of your allotment?

 
At 12:53 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

Most of the grapes are in very good condition, especially the Pinot Noir and Phoenix. Some of the Huxelrebe and Bacchus had a bit of oidium, unfortunately. I'm tempted to graft the whole lot over to Pinot Noir.

Terroir? Hmmm. I'm working with what I've got. Fertile loam. Bit sandy. Not really dug down lower to have a look - maybe I should.

 
At 12:56 PM, Anonymous Keith Prothero said...

I trust you will bring a bottle of your finest Pinot to an offline Jamie?

 
At 2:33 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

I will, Keith. The vineyard is still v. young and not in full production, so I may have to blend the Pinot Noir with the white grapes and do a maceration on the skins of both, resulting in a palish red sort of wine that will be nothing like you've ever drunk before.

 
At 4:09 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Out of interest, what are you going to do with the crop once you've harvested it? Do you have an amateur winemaking set-up at home, or can you send your harvest off to some shared winery facility to be processed by a specialist?

 
At 7:05 PM, Blogger Jamie said...

The volume involved means it's only really practical to do it at home. So this is what I'll do. I'm not going to be doing much manipulation. I don't even want to chaptalize, really. So I won't be bothering with any lab work - I'll try to harvest at the optimum time and accept what the vines give me. I will use a bit of sulfur, but not before fermentation - I'm planning to do the world's strictest ever triage and have no rotten or unripe grapes in the vat (....erm, bucket).

 
At 6:51 PM, Anonymous David Moed said...

Jamie

How many bottles do you produce? Perhaps you could auction a few in aid of a charity - I am sure there would be good interest from the blog community and beyond.
And you could even sell pictures of wine grapes to those who need them for their web sites - prior blog refers!
I can suggest my pet charity if you need one - their corporate colours are purple - may match your wine?

David

 

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