The Vineyard

 The first vines were planted at Bosue Vineyard in 1996 as a trial plot, followed by more extensive plantings in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2005. We now have over 3500 vines and these are the modern  varieties of Orion and Phoenix for the white wine and Rondo and Regent for the red wine. These cool climate varieties are well suited to English wine production because they are high yielding and disease resistant. They produce a dry white wine, full of aroma and flavour and with a low acidity and a deeply coloured strong red wine.

The vineyard is planted on a gentle south-facing slope in a shallow wooded valley of oak, willow, hazel and hawthorn and the soil is deep fertile loam. This can present us with problems in controlling the natural vigour of the vine in such a good soil and we carefully prune each year.

Both winter and summer pruning is all done by ourselves by hand and the soil is regularly tested to ensure we maintain a healthy balanced soil.

Sprays are kept to a minimum., with the emphasis on regular feeding at critical periods in the growing season to maintain vine health. 

We are nearly at the end of winter pruning. This is a slow job, usually in the coldest time of the year, and each vine has to be carefully assessed before any cut is made, in order to select the best canes for this years fruit

This is also the time of year for maintenance of the wire trellis. All the wires need to be retensioned after pruning is complete and any broken wires replaced.

May in the Vineyard

After the very warm April weather, shoot growth has been rapid and the tiny potential fruit clusters are clearly visible. As well as the vines, weeds and the grass also grow quickly so weed trimming and grass mowing has started. The first spray in a programme of careful foliar feeding will go on before the end of the month.

It has been rather June out of the Vineyard this month! The Royal Cornwall Show took priority in the early part of the month, and the weather since has hampered our efforts to keep up with the routine work of tucking in the vine growth, tightening the trellis wires, mowing and spraying.

At this time of year, shoot growth is rapid and to prevent damage to the shoots and potential grape clusters, these shoots have to be carefully tucked into the parallel trellis wires.Flowering is beginning on the Rondo, which is always the first to flower, and we now hope for a more settled warm spell to allow all the flowering to take place on the other varieties.