It’s nice to start the New Year with a more optimistic blog than the one I finished 2020 with. A view of the future perhaps? Obviously there hasn’t been a lot to write about regarding life in our vineyard. Since my last blog in December we’ve had Christmas, snow and the over-riding negative of the virus. The latter has meant that we have been nowhere near the vineyard for a couple of months.
True we wouldn’t have been doing a great deal but, round about now in a normal year, we would be well into pruning and at least thinking about winter fertilising and probably a few other tidying up tasks. I say in a normal year. This year is different and might well have been a terminal one.
After two fairly disastrous years, last year particularly bad with what looks like trunk disease and the fact that we haven’t been near the place, I’ve been having very negative thoughts. To the point where it seemed like I might just let the dream go. No more vineyard. This would remove a very large chunk of our retirement lives, for good and bad. And, having read the last blog, I realise that it contradicts what I said then but hey, these are contradictory times.
The good part of giving up is that I would have much less to worry about. The bad would be that a significant aspect of my retirement identity would disappear at a stroke. I mentioned this possibility (of giving up) to Mrs Summerhouse on one of our dog walks. I was hugely relieved and slightly surprised, when she very definitely told me she didn’t want to give up on the vineyard.
Excellent, but nor did I want to continue in the same way as we have been doing for the last few years. To sum up our approach thus far in one word, that word would be, casual or even sloppy. That’s two words, neither of them good.
A couple of things happened this last week that have prompted a rethink. One is something called The Yorkshire Wine Trail (hence image above), to which I shall return. The second, on a more modest level, was the arrival, through our letter box, of a magazine entitled appropriately enough Vineyard (English and Welsh ones). Nothing like witnessing, and definitely envying the success of, other vineyards in the UK to inspire me to do better. Actually doing better would be my second choice. My first choice would be that they all do worse. Yes, I know that’s a terrible thing to say but, it’s out there now.
The Wine Trail is the brainchild of Ian over at Laurel Vines in East Yorkshire. It will be an on-line website which does what it says on the tin – promotes the vineyards of Yorkshire along with the county itself. What’s not to like?
Well, first, I wasn’t sure that we would be in it. After all it’s meant to showcase the tourist potential of vineyards that produce, sell, wine, food, have guided tours and shops and cafes. That kind of thing. At the moment we don’t even have the first of these, ie. wine. Actually that’s not quite true we do have about 600 bottle equivalent in our garage of our red Rondo. After a bit of blending it’s not bad but we don’t sell it.
So we don’t have a lot going for us on the proposed wine trail. Except one thing, our vineyard is in a stunning location and in the middle of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The whole surrounding area of Nidderdale and beyond is beautiful. So if our vineyard is a small ‘hook’ to promote a wider concept (the area) then we might have something going for us.
If we really wanted to ‘big up’ our small vineyard then we could go way back to the time when the restoration of the barn itself (from which the vineyard emerged) was set up as an artist studio for Mrs Summerhouse. When we were a part, in those early days, of The Nidd Art trail we even offered refreshments when we opened the barn / studio to the public. I wouldn’t say this was totally successful as people ate and drank the refreshments but didn’t buy many pictures.
But forget the refreshments and concentrate on the art and this might work. Mrs SH definitely has plenty of art to sell off. We would do what we’ve been doing and donate any money made to our chosen charity – Sunshine and Smiles (a Down’s Syndrome charity). But the point is if we combine the two, vineyard, albeit small, with the art studio and we might then feel we could legitimately feature as a part of the Wine Trail.
Tomorrow, as I write this, evening I shall ‘attend’ a Zoom meeting to discuss the whole proposal and the work Ian has done so far on putting together an on-line brochure for the trail. If this goes well (for us) then this might be the impetus for re-invigorating our vineyard project. A boost so badly needed after a couple of bad years.
If we get this boost then I shall try and be more professional in running the vineyard. I will try and employ our local gamekeeper with his own vineyard to over-see ours – planting and pruning. Our man in the dales (as we currently do) to do the day to day chores like grass-cutting, weed-killing, wire tightening and post renewal. An agronomist to provide feeding advice and soil care. I shall buy more vines and continue my efforts to buy additional land next to the vineyard.
Of course it could well be that if tomorrow night’s meeting goes badly none of the above will apply. Watch this space.
OK so we’re in. The meeting went well and, when asked, people seemed genuinely enthusiastic about us being a part of the wine trail even though were not a commercial vineyard. So that’s very nice and gives us hope for a better 2021 in the vineyard.