Ever wondered what it would be like to handpick wine grapes? Well this could be the chance you have been looking for.
Kerry Vale Vineyard, one mile south of the Welsh border village of Churchstoke, is looking for volunteers to help pick what owners Geoff and June Ferguson say will be a high quality crop.
The fine weather has led to good growing conditions for British vineyards and the five-year-old vineyard is optimistic about its harvest, expecting to pull around 10 tons of grapes from their 6,000 vines. Last year's yield was around the same.
“It's an incredibly busy but exciting time at Kerry Vale at the moment,” said Geoff.
Kerry Vale Vineyard has three grape varieties; Rondo, Phoenix and Solaris. Each grape variety ripens at different times which means the workload can be spread over a number of days/weeks.
At this time of year, Geoff continuously monitors the sugar/acidity levels in the grapes to ensure they are picked at just the right time. The most important criterion determining the time for harvesting is the acid level. Too high and the wine is sharp to the taste, too low and it is flat and uninteresting. Kerry Vale Vineyard likes the sugar content to be as high as possible, which requires a good amount of sun, sometimes difficult to attain in our unpredictable climate.
“Due to the variation in the seasons, harvest time varies from year to year,” explained Geoff. “This year we will started harvesting our Solaris on September 30 and continue on Saturday. We will pick again on October 7-8 as the different varieties ripen.”
Kerry Vale Vineyard is a small, family run vineyard, so volunteers are essential at this time of year to bring in the vintage. The work is hard but satisfying for those who enjoy the outdoors. June, said: “There’s nothing nicer than working in the vineyard on a sunny day”
If you have an interest in wine and wine making, what better way to understand how the process begins than on the vineyard where the grapes are grown? Volunteers will hand pick the grapes, cut them off the vines in whole bunches, then they will be put in trays which will be transported to the winery.
Volunteer pickers will be asked to start on the vineyards from 8am. They will pick until 10.30 when coffee and biscuits are served to provide energy to keep the pickers going until 1pm when they will be rewarded for their efforts with a hearty lunch and a glass of wine on the vineyard. Those enthusiastic volunteers who wish to pick for the remainder of the day are welcome to do so and will have tea and cake at 4pm.
If you’d like to get involved call Tel: 01588 620627 or email info@kerryvalevineyard.co.uk .You can also check out the vineyard’s facebook pagewww.facebook.com/kerryvalevine
Picture captions: Geoff and June Ferguson, owners of Kerry Vale Vineyard and grape picking taking place