14th February 2024
Biddenden Vineyards 2023 Harvest Report- reflecting on record breaking year
Summer 2022- the longest, hottest summer seen for many years, resulting in a harvest of exceptional quality, very good quality fruit with a high natural sugar level.
Fast forward to 2023. A warm and sunny June was followed by a wet and not seasonally warm July and August and then a hot September and October… what would this mean for the English wine industry?
The 2023 harvest at Biddenden started on Monday 18th September with a small team picking Ortega, 19 days later than 2022 and closer to that of years gone by. After 6 weeks of hard work from our local pickers and winery team, harvest finished on Monday the 30th October with Riesling our last variety to be picked.
Affectionately dubbed ‘the monster of 2023’, this harvest we picked approximately 121 tonnes of grapes, in contrast to the 52 tonnes of 2022. The last time Biddenden picked a crop of this size all three Barnes boys were off at college and Mum, Sally, was the driver of the 3910 tractor, built in July 1983- one of the earliest on record in this county according to Haynes!
To learn more about the bumper 2023 harvest, visit our website to read our full 2023 harvest report. https://biddendenvineyards.com...
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Biddenden Vineyards
The vineyard has remained family owned and is today run by the second & third generation, drawing on many years of experience in winemaking at Biddenden.
