Nigel's thoughts....
THE NEW VINES ARRIVE...
At last the sun is shining. We've had a few weeks of very unsettled weather, which keeps Gareth up in the night watching out for frost, but the frequent rain has been wonderful for the cover crops and general health of the land. Kidding is over for the year and we think the total is 28 kids, though it can be hard to keep track when the mums keep hiding them under briar bushes. That is a great result, and will give us a slight surplus of animals which is good as we have a few friends who want to start playing at being goatherds!
The new vines arrived at the weekend for our new vineyard next to Calvert. After some 5 years of working on the soils there, using cover crops to build biodiversity and complexity into the land, we are finally allowing the vines to move in and take over. Now we need to decide on a name for the site. Over the last two or three years we have debated a few options, but we're not sure we have it nailed yet. Suggestions on an email please! (if we use it, we'll reward with a payment in wine!).
In just a few weeks we'll start to see the 2012 Pinots come through malo and we'll have our fist chance to taste properly; that is going to be exciting after seeing how special the 2012 Rieslings have been.
