Just sneak this in as my July vineyard blog. Hence the short period between this and my last blog. So m
ore on my on-going, vine-related, retirement adventures. The first thing to say, right up front, is that I’ve been talking bollocks. While this may come as no surprise to you it has to me. Simply because I was absolutely convinced that this was our third year of the vineyard and I have been telling everybody yes, this is our third year so we might get some grapes this year. It turns out that this is only our second year. Even writing it now I don’t believe it, so firmly fixed in my head was the idea that we were into our third year. It has taken Mrs Summerhouse’s record of the vineyard in its early days and then confirmation in my own diaries to give indisputable proof that what Mrs SH thought, was in fact true. Yes, I thought those three years had gone by very quickly, but tbh the whole of our lives feels like this, so this was no guide.
I was going to write this July blog about the fact that we finally had what seem to be – you judge from the photos – grapes. I got distracted by the three year / two year debate but now back to the original theme. After a few false starts with us thinking the buds were the grapes I think, whisper it, that we do now have actual grapes. Small but beautifully formed. These are the rondo vines for the technically-minded.
I think I wrote last year that we had sixteen grapes and all in the tubes but this year – the second year of the vineyard – we’ve got lots, too many to count. Again see photos. My euphoria, and I don’t think that is too strong a word in the context, was only slightly dampened when we discovered some grapes hiding in their tube. Admittedly in the most exposed row of the vines. These grapes were considerably bigger, huge in fact in comparison with those out of the tubes. You’ll have to take my word for it because I couldn’t get a clear photo as proof. This one below is the best I could do even with my best camera.
As is so often the case with life, my emotions were mixed. On one hand these grapes demonstrated, to me at least, we have healthy plants capable of producing good grapes. On the other hand, and less good, that such grapes only materialise if the grapes stay in the tube. In some ways it feels no better than growing our vines in poly tunnels. The only achievement here would be keeping such tunnels from disappearing down the dale transported by strong winds. I have mentioned the wind I think. These grapes had taken one ‘look’ and decided, thanks we’ll just stay here where it is nice and cosy. So, yes, mixed feelings.
Finally, let me tell you about my winery. In my long term plan for the vineyard, when I began to realise we might actually have some grapes to make wine with, I started to think about suitable winery buildings. You can’t make world class wine in your garden shed. You will be pleased to know that I have put in motion such plans to have a winery. I have chosen my reasonably priced building and that’s a story in itself. It costs £747 whereas, for a short period of madness, I was contemplating paying £5000. That’s a lot of money for a venture still with, I calculate, only a 50-50 chance of success. It all happened because Lofthouse, where the vineyard is located, is a very small village and people in the village know what other people in the village are up to. So when one of my neighbours down in the valley built himself a handsome shed, I wondered to my other neighbour, who helps me in the vineyard, where he had got it from. Hearing I was interested in his shed (from my neighbour) this chap calls me up and tells me he built it himself from timber from the local Grantley sawmill. I thought this was great until he told me the timber alone had cost him £4,000, this without his labour. Although I would not require a shed – more a house extension really – this big I could see, with him building it for me, which he offered to do, even with my help, a figure approaching £5,000. For a short moment I was tempted, it was a very fine shed, but then common sense took hold. I still might have no grapes suitable to make wine with so having a bloody big shed not to make wine would seem a little extravagant. Hence my shed off the lot at Woodlands Timber.
And here it is. Is it my imagination or is this one leaning or is that me? And the good news is that I have 
asked my neighbour to clear a space, put down a concrete base ready for my shed which I will order as soon as my neighbour tells me the base is ready. He has a digger, he’s a good man to know.I shall still feel a little foolish if we don’t get any grapes but hey, nothing ventured etc. As my neighbour with the big shed said, sometimes you have to take a gamble. Retirement seems like the perfect time to take a gamble. And that is what I am doing. Please grapes, keep on growing.