“English wine has established a superb reputation in a comparatively short space of time. This is something we should nurture, protect and grow. We are still a tiny industry and the potential is enormous” So began a presentation by Mike Paul and Peter Gladwin to the UKVA (United Kingdom Vineyards Association) AGM, a couple of…
Category: Vineyard
Vineyard 13 : It’s all kicking off
I didn’t get round to publishing this retirement / vineyard blog last week as planned, other blogs took priority. So now I’m publishing it I’ve added some bits – more de-budding, visiting another colleague’s vineyard to buy willows, planting willows and now some more vines – to the original blog rather than rewrite the whole…
Vineyard 12 : Where the idea began
We were up at our vineyard this weekend. We had hoped to see buds and that’s what we saw. This is about 6 or 7 weeks earlier than last year, my diary tells me we first spotted buds on May 4th last year. If you look at the photos in my last vineyard blog you will understand why this…
Vineyard 11 : The Shed
I suppose it says something about our ambitions for our vineyard when I tell you that the only building we’ve added to the vineyard ‘concept’, is a shed. This is not in any way to denigrate my shed. As I’ve hinted at elsewhere a person needs a shed or similar. Either virtual or actual. In my…
Vineyard 10 : A night at the hotel (no opera)
You might say this was an historic meeting, the first one of its type anyway. A powerful force of Yorkshire vinters gathered together to plan our strategy for world domination? Well, not quite, in a number of ways. The first problem was me. The thing is there is a part of my soul that does…
Vineyard 9 : Review of the Year
I thought I would write a quick summary of this year for us and a few other bits and bobs. It’s been a year half in work and half in retirement. The vineyard was always designed as a retirement project so all is going well in that planning sense. I will finish this year’s vineyard…
Vineyard 8 : The Ties of Retirement
Can there be very much to write about the vineyard at this time of year? If we were a proper vineyard, i.e. one that had grapes, I’d probably be writing about our wine making exploits but we don’t and I’m not. I could write about one of my blogs being published in The Grapevine, the…
Vineyard 7 : Just one of the gang, at last?
For some people retirement is about joining things, other people in groups that is. In about June of last year we joined the Mercian Vineyard Association, (MVA) a regional section of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association (UKVA) and currently the one that includes Yorkshire. Ignoring the Marxist line – I wouldn’t want to belong to…
Vineyard 6 : In retirement we have grapes
21 of them on 3 vines. OK 3 out of 400 isn’t a lot but we hadn’t expected any, so… Allan (another member of our fledgling Yorkshire Vineyard association and a retired person like me) had grapes on his vines and we had planted at the same time but although his vineyard is nearish to…
Vineyard 5 : The Harvest
“They do it because they love me,” said Chris, the owner of the vineyard. This is in response to my question about whether he paid his grape pickers. About 20 or so of them I reckoned and not a Polish import in sight but of course they wouldn’t be doing it for free. Chris had…