No! I’m not referring to the special sandpaper for do-it-yourself enthusiasts invented in 1921 by the 3M Company, but instead to a summary of this year’s fruit growing season. To use an old football (soccer) analogy it has been “a game of two halves” – the first part of the year very wet and cold, the second part of the year very dry and sunny. 

You might be forgiven for thinking that dry sunny weather is perfect for growing grapes, and of course, it is much better than a grey, damp summer. The problem is that this year it has been almost too extreme. Since more or less the end of June, until today’s date, we have had almost no rainfall whatsoever, and as the harvest rapidly approaches the vines are more than a little stressed. Believe it or not we do need a little rain during the growing season, but the most important factor in this is the timing. A little rain in mid-summer is not a bad thing, but rain too close to the harvest can cause problems. For example, if the grapes are small and thick-skinned (owing to dry weather), then a sudden downfall of rain can cause the berries to grow rapidly and burst their skins, leading inevitably to rot (and not of the noble variety). It goes without saying that the element we really don’t want is humidity – this is why too much rain in summer is a very bad thing. The ground gets wet, the sun comes out and the humidity gets trapped under the canopy, and this can be especially bad in an area such as ours that uses pergolas. If our overhead vegetation is too thick, then the humidity can’t easily escape.

Having said all that, we have the very opposite problem at the moment – our grapes are quite small owing to the lack of rainfall – healthy but small. Naturally if the ratio of pulp to skin and pip is low then we will have reduced yields. Quality? We will have to wait and see.

No! I’m not referring to the special sandpaper for do-it-yourself enthusiasts invented in 1921 by the 3M Company, but instead to a summary of this year’s fruit growing season. To use an old football (soccer) analogy it has been “a game of two halves” – the first part of the year very wet and cold, the second part of the year very dry and sunny. 

You might be forgiven for thinking that dry sunny weather is perfect for growing grapes, and of course, it is much better than a grey, damp summer. The problem is that this year it has been almost too extreme. Since more or less the end of June, until today’s date, we have had almost no rainfall whatsoever, and as the harvest rapidly approaches the vines are more than a little stressed. Believe it or not we do need a little rain during the growing season, but the most important factor in this is the timing. A little rain in mid-summer is not a bad thing, but rain too close to the harvest can cause problems. For example, if the grapes are small and thick-skinned (owing to dry weather), then a sudden downfall of rain can cause the berries to grow rapidly and burst their skins, leading inevitably to rot (and not of the noble variety). It goes without saying that the element we really don’t want is humidity – this is why too much rain in summer is a very bad thing. The ground gets wet, the sun comes out and the humidity gets trapped under the canopy, and this can be especially bad in an area such as ours that uses pergolas. If our overhead vegetation is too thick, then the humidity can’t easily escape.

Having said all that, we have the very opposite problem at the moment – our grapes are quite small owing to the lack of rainfall – healthy but small. Naturally if the ratio of pulp to skin and pip is low then we will have reduced yields. Quality? We will have to wait and see.