After a cool, wet and very changeable spring, we are finally enjoying a settled period of warm, dry, sunny weather (touch wood!) Since more or less the middle of May we have experienced blue skies and much warmer temperatures as it finally feels like summer might be on the way.

During the last couple of months we have had a few sunny days, but until now the temperatures had always remained stubbornly low, mostly in the mid-high teens °C (mid 60’s°F). This week, however, the thermometer has climbed by several degrees and we are now experiencing temperatures between 25° and 30°C (77° – 86°F).

The result of this sudden  burst of good weather is that flowering has more or less happened in a flash; from flowers first appearing in the last week or two, there are now a number of areas where we already have fruit set, when the tiny pea-like grapes first appear. If this carries on over the next week (which it is forecast to do), then it is likely that we will have an early harvest. If the rest of the season progresses normally (whatever that is these days!) we are looking at probably around the first week of September to start picking. It is actually a little daunting to be thinking of harvest already, it seems to arrive more and more quickly every year!