And…. Breathe! The first week of reopening is always a little stressful and this year was no exception more down to the fact that as is typical, the week before we reopened there was a huge amount of work behind the scenes going on and it was a mammoth task to get it all done. We had a gazillion lorries turning up, destroying the drive, tractors and diggers getting stuck due to the genuinely obscene weather we’ve had to start this year and a mountain of hedges to cut, flower beds to weed and new plants to go in! So I did what any normal person would do in the situation and go on holiday. I took one look at the mess made in the parkland area by various diggers and tractors and decided a week’s skiing was exactly what was needed, leaving Mum to deal with the new 4ft deep trench that we were seemingly putting in as decoration…
Seriously though, everyone who helped out on site that week deserves a medal it was an enormous push to get things ready and whilst it’s not all done yet it does at least look presentable and I could breathe a huge sigh of relief when I got off the plane.
It’s been a great first week here in the restaurant, our new head chef Michael has been cooking up a storm and I’m loving sampling all his new creations. He and my Mum are a dangerous combination as together the pair of them have more ideas than they know what to do with but I won’t complain, sitting on the deck the other day after a sweaty session in the tractor, sampling a mouth-watering steak baguette with monkfish scampi and crispy calamari was a pretty sweet moment - not least as it was the first bit of sunshine in god knows how long and straight away I burned myself.
Michael has also taken a particular liking to my dog Max, I’m sure many of you will have seen photos of him on our Instagram, he’s a cheeky renegade and like most labs will do just about anything for food so as you can imagine he has a new best friend up here in the kitchen although if he plans many more baguette heists like the other day that might be over…
Our new team members Dom and Paul have settled in really nicely, it’s been great to see them buzzing around the winery doing tastings and making sure you’re all looked after. If you haven’t met them yet, do come and say hello when you next pop in.
It was great to see so many of you here this week on various wine tours and experiences, the weather played ball with us for most of them and it was great to pop the corks and get the wine flowing again. If you’re thinking of doing a tour with us do book it sooner rather than later as they do book incredibly quickly!
If you’ve wondered about the vineyard recently you’ll see that we’ve just gone through bud burst which officially marks the start of the new season! What will 2024 hold in store for us? Hopefully nothing like the start of the year! Having just sampled some of the 2023 wines I’m already buzzing with excitement for what we can produce this year and can’t wait to share some of the new wines with you all, they’ll be here very soon!
Our cover crop is also going in in around 2 weeks, this is exciting for me as it’s one in many steps we’re taking this year to become more sustainable and farm in a more regenerative manner which is all about giving back to the soil and creating a diverse ecosystem. Specifically, we’re planting a mixture of Mustard seed, phacelia, daikon radish, tillage radish and linseed so don’t be surprised if a host of wild purples and yellows start sprouting up in between our rows. This is going to expand the root system in our soil allowing for better drainage and when we eventually mulch it, a huge amount of organic matter is going to be put back into the soil to help our vines to thrive. It’s also a huge boost to our already substantial amount of wildflowers to attract a whole host of beneficial insects. All very exciting!
That’s just a little roundup of what’s been going on here. Don’t forget if you’d like to come and join us for breakfast, or lunch or drop in and sample some wine you can book a table here:
Until next time,
Cheers!