Newsletter - Nov 2000
Warm spring without the late May frost gave us hope of a large crop this year, but then July dampened us down with virtually no sunshine and some exceptionally cool temperatures as the vines flowered. The fruit set(pollination) was very poor on some varieties and especially on our mainstay Ortega crop. Little did we know that by October we would be glad that the crop wasn't huge because it could never have ripened in the rain.
At last all the grapes are pressed and fermenting. The vineyard soil is soggy and the gales have caused some damage to our bird netting, but the crop is safe! This year has been the wettest harvest month ever, and the most difficult to manage for quality. Normally heavy rain on a ripe crop will be expected to dilute the grape juice, but for some reason we have seen our sugar concentrations in this year's grapes as high as the last 3 years (all of which were considered good vintages). The main reason for this is probably down to the natural thinning of the grapes by the poor flower set in July, making it easier for the vines to ripen a lighter crop. The down side (from our accountants point of view) is that the volume of grapes was quite low despite our Rotherfield vineyard producing a decent-sized harvest.
We are hopeful that the wines will be good, and in addition that there will be some unique flavours due to our use of natural yeasts. All the ferments have gone smoothly and there have been definite differences in flavour from our previous vintages. I am convinced that certain tanks are showing an intensity of flavours that we have not seen in our wines before. The theory of natural winemaking without removing any of the grapes quality seems to be paying off already. Sugar levels were good and acids were a little high (which should help to make some wines capable of bottle ageing). We intend to produce a Horsmonden dry white, a dry Rosé, a traditional sparkling wine and possibly a medium-dry (if the wines show themselves to be suitable).
Now for the boring statistics for anybody who wants to know:
- Harvest start - 27 Sept 2000
- Harvest end - 31 Oct 2000
- Total crop size - 6 tonnes
- Highest sugar level - 82 Oeschle (Ortega picked 17/10/00)
A full harvest report can be viewed on our web site at harvest_2000.html
WEB SITE NEWS
The Davenport Vineyards web site is now attracting several thousand hits per month, and we are pleased to see that several UK visitors have enjoyed our on-line ordering and home delivery service. The site is constantly being kept up to date with new photos, the latest vintages of our wines and some interesting links. We have received several e mails from our feedback page; please contact us with your thoughts (compliments, suggestions or critisms) because we always like to hear and reply to you. If you have a web site that you think would be interesting to link to our site, please e mail me the address, title and a short description and I will take a look.
NEW LOCAL RESTAURANT
Recently we enjoyed showing our wines to a local restaurateur opening soon. The new owner had decided to give a page on his wine list to English wines and was visiting every Sussex vineyard to make his selection. He brought his wife and daughter along and they left with some sample bottles to re-taste in their own time. A few days later he phoned me to say that they had arranged a tasting for 8 friends to make their final selection from a shortlist. Our wines were included in the blind tasting with some from another English vineyard and eight French wines. At the tasting the unanimous decision was that the 1999 Horsmonden dry was the best wine of the lot (it was the first or second choice for every taster), and the 1998 medium-dry was in 3rd place. They have now decided to stock these wine as their house wines along with our 1997 Sparkling wine. I look forward to tasting his food.
The Restaurant concerned is the Chestnut Tree, Boreham Road, Herstmonceaux, East Sussex BN27 4SF. They hope to be recognised as a centre of excellence for Sussex food, sourcing many of their ingredients from the county. The restaurant is in the heart of "1066 country" and the menu will be featuring medieval food. They have their opening night on Tuesday (14th November) and tables can be booked on 01323 833 651