Furry Strawberries

Botrytis helps make some of the most delicious sweet wines in the world;  the botrytis fungus sucks water out of the grape which concentrates the sugar and contributes a delicious apricot or marmalade flavour.  But botrytis is also pure evil for good reds which don’t have any ‘marmalade’ flavour, and can also turn the pretty red and purple colours orange!  

Well done to our vineyard teams for keeping the fruit remarkably free of botrytis in this wet year.  The best defence is by trimming vines to let air flow around the bunches of grapes which helps keep them dry, and by slashing between the vine rows to maximise the flow of air through the vineyard.  Being perched on top of mountain range known for its strong winds also helps!”

Cheers, Sam Plunkett