The 2024 harvest, in one long week
A cool summer and a bright September gave us small bunches, high acidity, and the latest pick we have done in a decade.
We picked the last of the Pinot on the fourth of October, which is about as late as we have ever gone. A cool, slow summer held the sugars back, and then a run of bright, dry September days let the fruit ripen without ever getting soft.
Small crop, good numbers
The bunches were small — a spring frost on the lower blocks saw to that — but what came in was clean, with the kind of acidity that makes English wine worth making. We sorted hard on the table and sent only the best fruit to the open ferments.
What it means for the cellar
The Nouveau is already in bottle and drinking well: bright, purple, exactly what the first wine of the year should be. The Pinot from the top blocks is resting in seasoned oak and will not be released for three years yet — but the colour is deep and even, which is the first sign of a wine that will age the way we want it to.
The 1979 block, as usual, gave the least and the best. Those grapes are quietly becoming a future Old Vine Reserve.
If you want to taste where the vintage stands now, the cellar door is open Thursday to Sunday.