Wine makers predict bumper harvest

Vineyards in the UK are expecting a bumper harvest this year boosting the burgeoning wine industry in the UK, recent reports stated. 

While the rainfall in July may have been unwelcome to some it came at the right time for wine producers in England, who are predicting bumper harvests after perfect weather this year.  

Growers are expecting the highest and best yields to date, boosting the burgeoning wine industry in the UK.  

Augusta Raimes, a partner at Raimes English Sparkling, near Alresford, in Hampshire, said temperatures were just right, bringing back memories of 2018, which was a “phenomenal year” for growers.  

“We have very nice, clean fruit and big bunches. It’s very exciting,” The Guardian quoted Raimes as saying. “We have only just started our bunch counts but we definitely have more and bigger bunches at this stage, so it will be a good harvest.” 

There are now 943 vineyards across Great Britain, according to a new report from the trade group WineGB. The industry produced 12.2 million bottles in 2022, rising from 5.3m bottles in 2017. At present there are 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres).  

With 7,600 hectares (18,800 acres) of vines planted, production is expected to reach 25m bottles by 2032. 

Additionally, exports are up from 4 per cent to 7 per cent. Raimes put the success down to a good spring, when the frost came at the right time, and sun in June. Then, just as it got dry, “the rain did come”, she said. To finish off, she is hoping for a sunny August and September before harvest in October. 

Another wine producer told BBC how there was “potential for a really good harvest this year” 

“We’ve got loads of grapes, but whether they will turn into a really good, ripe harvest by end of September, early October, which is when we harvest, is still a bit early to say,” Belinda Brown from Stonyfield vineyard in Blisworth, Northamptonshire, said. 

She would normally produce about 1,500 bottles a year but during warm summers she can produce 4,000 from the one acre vineyard, which she described as “extraordinary”.