My First Harvest
Late September I joined the @welcombehillsvineyard team harvesting their grape variety Pinot Précoce which, as an early ripening grape, had ripened to perfection. A bold group of us woke up early on a Sunday with the promise of a glass of wine (or 2) and lunch to pick over half a tonne of these beautifully sweet grapes on a day that felt like we had been transported to the south of France.
As grapes ripen, their skins thicken and their juices become a perfect harmony of sugar and acidity. Harvest is a tricky time, and trained vineyard managers and viticulturists will understand exactly what that particular grapes balance needs to be at picking time (the window can often be as little as 24 hours of perfect ripeness) for the wine that they are trying to produce.
Pinot Précoce is a mutation of Pinot Noir, and it's suited perfectly to our cooler climate. At ripening (and I may have eaten a few - oops), the grapes were beautifully fragrant, with a lovely sweetness. The grapes we picked will go into their Rosé (2018 has already sold out, so I'm eagerly awaiting their next batch).
Harvesting the grapes took time, but armed with clippers and buckets (with some handy runners who kept refreshing our filled buckets with new, empty buckets) we were able to crack through and finish just in time for an al fresco lunch and a tasting of their Ophelia English Sparkling, their Twelfth Night Sauvignon Blanc x Bacchus as well as a sneaky preview of their newest red release (hitting shelves very soon after a touch more time in the barrels).
Many vineyards look for helping hands during the harvest season (which often runs between September and October), so if you are interested in spending half a day/a day in the vines, often on the promise of free wine samples or bottles of wine then contact your local vineyard and see if they would be looking for a helping hand.
