Dear Rentavine.co.uk Club member,

Welcome to the Spring Newsletter of Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard.

In this issue we look at some of the hot topics of the moment including “Why the Retail price of wines do not jump up every time the chancellor slaps on extra duty”. “What’s in a bottle of conventional wine that you will not find in organic wines?”, plus details of what is going on in the vineyard at present , and how to go about starting your own vineyard - if the urge takes you.

Lets start with “Grow your own Grapes”. I have been asked to write a chapter on organic Grape growing for a new book to be published by Garden Organic http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/ (formerly H.D.R.A.) Over the course of this year we’ll be serializing this chapter in our newsletters. Part 1 appears at the end of this newsletter!

Budget Price Hike
Several people have rang to ask about our new prices following the 14p a bottles added to the duty levied by the government on wine.  We have had to tell them that we have no choice but to absorb this additional cost.  Our wine prices, like wine prices in many other outlets are pitched to come just under certain 'price points' (as they are known in the retailing trade).  That is to say that if a wine priced at, say £8.95, was increased by the amount of the additional duty it would go over the price-point of £9 a bottle and would be perceived by too expensive for many more people than would see it as too expensive at the old £8.95 price. 

Message in a Bottle
Richard Widenka, one of our farmers market agents, who sells at Lewes, Tunbridge Wells & Battle Farmers Markets for us, as well as being our Media & public Relations Person, discovered a small piece in one of the national newspapers last week on “Pesticides in Wine”.
The article was based on new research conducted by Action on Pesticides Network Group. The main findings were that there are lots of very nasty (and potentially dangerous) chemicals in conventional wines, albeit in fairly small amounts.  Of course the so called experts would probably tell us they are all safe, but are they?  Make up your own mind at:
http://www.pan-europe.info/Pictures/PDFs/Press%20Release,%20Notes%20%26%20Contacts.pdf

Sales
Sales of our wines continue to expand rapidly. I don’t know how many of you cook with our wine, (and I don’t mean to drink it while you are cooking!), I mean pour it into food.  Well, a company in Scotland are manufactoring organic Chicken paté with added organic English wine! By the amount of wine they are buying, they must be making quite a lot of paté. This week also saw us ship quite a few cases to a big bank in the city. I’m not quite sure what banks have to celebrate just now, perhaps they were just drowning their sorrows!

In the Vineyard
In the vineyard at present the vines are all pruned back and tied down waiting for a bit of Spring warmth to expand the buds to bursting point to begin the long journey to the young vintage. This is a crucial time as we hope (and pray) that we get no late spring frosts which can kill off the emerging shoots and reduce to potential yield for the year by up to 75% !  The cold snap over the first weekend in April dumped about 4" of snow on the vines (see attached photo) and in the cold night which followed some buds on the variety Solaris, which buds out early, have been killed off by it.  The full extent of the damage is not clear at present. We'll just have to wait until May, after bud -burst, when the embryo grape bunches can be seen and counted.  After last years’ very low yielding harvest where we got just 1/10 of the 2006 crop we desperately need a good year this year to replenish our stocks, which will be getting very low indead, possibly even before this Christmas.

Visitors & Tours
At this time of year we re-open the vineyard to visitors for Vineyard & Woodland Nature Trail + Wine Tasting so if you are looking for something special (and different) to do with the kids ( or without the kids) this Spring,do make the effort to visit. Or, if you are a member of a club or society looking for a day out for a group, don’t be shy about recommending us to the relevant committee, etc. Details on our guided Tours can be found on our website.

Gifts
Or, if you are looking for Birthday gifts, St. George’s Day Gift (23rd April) then check out our gift boxes and wines available from our website.
Here’s hoping you will enjoy reading all about growing vines in the first installment of our 4-part piece on vine growing.  Even if you don’t plant an entire vineyard, just one against a wall can look very attractive and be an endless source of fascinations as it goes through its annual growth cycle. And, if everything works out you may even get some tasty grapes to eat at the end of the summer!

Yours in wine,

Roy Cook (wine-maker)
...................................................................................................................................................................................
AN INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIC VITICULTURE
(part 1 of a 4 part series on 'How to plant and grow your own organic grapes')
 
Vine growing for the production of grapes for winemaking has seen a marked increase in the UK since the 1950’s and there are now around 400 commercial vineyards in England and Wales, covering approximately 2000 acres of land and producing two million bottles of wine annually. Of these, only a very small number are organic, yet there is increasing interest in producing organic grapes for wine, particularly amongst existing organic producers with mixed holdings, looking to diversify their crop and product range. Although the UK is more synonymous with the production of traditional white wines, it is now possible to produce a variety of red wines and rosés and even sparkling wine on a par with some of the best champagnes. Viticulturists stand to benefit from the effects of global warming, and as our climate changes, the opportunities for producing high quality English organic wines increase. Also, the advent of the internet and online purchasing have made it easier for producers to market their wines direct to consumers, and internet sales and advertising has given a huge boost to the UK wine industry as a whole.
 
If producing wine for sale, it is important that European and UK wine regulations are followed from the outset. The Wine Standards Branch of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides up-to-date information on legislation from production to marketing and enforces EU wine regulations in the UK and manages the UK Vineyard Register. New vineyards over 0.1 ha (1/4 acre) must notify the Wine Standards Branch in order to be entered on the UK Vineyard Register. Contact information for these organisations is provided at the end of this chapter. Organic producers should also be aware that the term ‘organic wine’ is illegal in the EU – therefore descriptions such as ‘wine produced from organic grapes’ must be used instead.
 
There are already a great many texts available which cover the process of viticulture and vinting in great depth, and the following chapter serves as an introduction to the topic only. It is written by Roy Cook, one of the UK’s pioneer organic grape growers, who has been growing vines organically, and making wine, for almost 30 years at his vineyards at Sedlescombe, East Sussex. For those thinking of starting with organic viticulture, Roy outlines the key points for successful organic vine growing in his chapter below.
 
[Insert photo/s shop1.jpg and / or shop2.jpg]
Caption: Sedlescombe organic vineyard shop
 
GROW YOUR OWN GRAPES
By Roy Cook
 
Contrary to popular opinion, you do not need a chalky soil to grow grape vines. Most soils will produce healthy grape vines, so long as they are well drained and reasonably fertile. Getting ripe fruit fit to harvest however, could be somewhat more challenging, especially in the more exposed or northerly parts of the UK. But, if you get to harvest your own grapes, very little else will give you so much satisfaction!
 
Achieving this goal will be the reward for successfully navigating a long and fascinating journey. I know, because I have done the trip and reaped the rewards.  Back in 1977, I bought a single vine for my greenhouse. A year later, I helped a neighbouring vineyard with the winter pruning in return for canes we cut off the vines. These were cut up and planted into my garden to grow roots. In 1979, 2,000 freshly-rooted vines were dug up and planted out into a pasture field, creating England’s first, 1¼ acre, organic vineyard. Twenty-nine years later, we now farm 22 acres of organic vineyards.
 
Sites and soils
The journey starts with the site. To be suitable for growing vines the site should be assessed according to several criteria. Vines need maximum warmth and a well-drained soil. They will not produce that cherished crop of ripe grapes if they are in the shade or in soggy water-logged soil during the winter, which will kill the finer roots and the vine will have to try to grow new ones each year instead of the root system expanding year on year.  Sites with very heavy clay soils and in close proximity to nearby trees or buildings causing shade are not suitable, though vines can be grown successfully on a south-facing wall where they gain extra heat reflected from the wall.  Sites more than 300 metres above sea level are often unsuitable as they can be too exposed to cold winds. The ideal aspect is a south or south-west facing slope. Sites in ‘frost pockets’ at the bottom of valleys are also not suitable as late frosts can kill off the emerging buds.
 
Varieties
Once you have decided that your site seems suitable, the next question is: what do you want to do with the grapes that you hope to harvest? Do you want table grapes or wine grapes? Red, white, rosé or sparkling wine? The answers to these questions will help determine which varieties to plant. Most varieties (unless they are the totally disease-resistant sort) will need spraying to prevent mildew. Effective spraying on vines means some kind of ‘mist blowing’ sprayer, that is a machine which moves the foliage by blowing it with a fan to achieve 100% cover of the plant surface area by the spray material.  A simple knapsack sprayer (without blower) is a waste of time and effort as it will not achieve the desired degree of coverage. To save labour and avoid the possible health risks of spraying, many small-scale growers will prefer not to have to do any spraying at all. In this case, the choice of varieties is therefore restricted to hybrids that have total resistance to mildew diseases, for example Seyval Blanc or Solaris (white) or Triomphe d’Alsace (red).
 
Vine varieties also vary in their susceptibility to botrytis (grey mould) which can infect the grapes in September and October as they are ripening, particularly in damp or wet weather. One of the best organic methods of prevention is to pick off a few leaves in the grape zone to expose the bunches to air and sunlight so that they dry out quickly after rain or overnight dew, thus preventing the botrytis spores from taking hold.
 
Captions as for variety name
 
There are numerous vine varieties suitable for production in the UK.  We have already mentioned a few of the hybrids that require no spraying at all. There are also the relatively new ‘inter-specific crosses’ that require very little spraying, but usually do require at least 3 sprays with a fungicide such as copper oxychloride against downy mildew (Peronospera). These are varieties such as Johanniter (white) and Regent (red). Then there are the standard Vitis vinifera (European) varieties that are known to produce good wine but which will require spraying for both powdery mildew (Oidium) and downy mildew.  The best known of this type for UK planting is probably Bacchus and Reichensteiner.  Chardonnay also falls into this group, but unless your site is particularly warm this variety will not ripen properly in UK and the sugar levels in the fruit will end up being too low to make a decent wine.
 
Grape varieties
 
Whites
Bacchus: excellent wine, decent bouquet.
Kerner: good cropper, high acidity Reisling style wines, suitable for sparkling wines too.
Ortega: early ripening, high sugar levels, excellent quality wine.
Phoenix: early/mid season, disease resistant.
Reichensteiner: good crops of loosely bunched grapes which do not get botrytis easily. Good sugar levels, neutral wine.
Schonburger: late white wine variety, pinkish grapes.
Siegerrebe: early ripening, pink grapes, makes a very aromatic wine - just 10% in a blend can lift the bouquet of more neutral varieties such as Reichensteiner.
Solaris: strong growing resistant variety, early ripening, very high sugars, holds acid well. Disease resistant variety, neutral wine character, good blending partner with Siegerrebe or other bouquet variety.
Auxerrois: crops well, neutral mid-season variety, also suitable for sparkling wine.
Pinot Blanc: late ripening, high acid.
Pinot Gris: late ripening, high acid.
Seyval Blanc: (Seyve Villard 5/276), late ripening, disease resistant hybrid, heavy crops, high acid, excellent sparkling wine grape. Avoid over-cropping or sugar levels will be poor!
Johanniter: disease resistant, heavy cropper, needs very good site, late ripening, high acid suitable for sparkling wines.
Chardonnay: various clones*:-
    * 76, 95, 548 … high quality, low yield.
    * 75, 96, 121, 131, … good quality, good yield.
  
Reds
Dornfelder: excellent variety for light/medium red wine.
Fruhburgunder: the very early ripening Pinot mutation.   
Regent: early/mid season disease resistant, red wine with good body.
Rondo: early disease resistant red wine variety.   
Pinot Meunier : heavy cropping clones … 817, 864, 865, 900, 977, 983.
Pinot Noir: 115, late ripening, good quality, reliable. Versatile variety - suitable for sparkling wine or light red or rosé wines.   
Triomphe d’Alsace: disease resistant, red juice, ideal for grape juice, poor wine quality.
 
Dessert Grapes
Outdoor eating grapes; disease resistant varieties which will normally ripen in the south of England in September include Muscat Bleu (blue/black grapes) and  Polo Muscat (green grapes).
   
Seedless Grape Varieties
(These are best grown in an unheated greenhouse)
Flame Red Seedless: round mid season seedless grape.
Perlette/Himrod: early round green grapes, possible outdoors.
Exalta and Lakemont: excellent modern resistant green seedless varieties.
 
Traditional Seeded Grapes
(for unheated greenhouses)
Black Hamburg: still a good reliable choice for black grapes.
Mireille: early green muscat, possible outdoors.
Muscat of Alexandria: top quality green grape, mid/late season ripening.
Muscat Hamburg: excellent black muscat grape, mid season.
Royal Muscadine: early and reliable green variety, good in pots.
 
Decorative Vines
Vitis Brant
Vitis Purpurea
Vitis Coignetiae
Vitis Apifolia
 
Having selected the right varieties for your venture, advance ordering is advised. The next decision is about the training system or trellis type that you want to support the vines. Row spacing (the distance between the rows) depends mostly upon the width of the equipment which is to be used to cultivate or mow the alleyways.  Where it is intended to use garden equipment, rows can be as narrow as 1.5-2m (5-6.5ft). Where tractors and farm machinery are available, rows can be 2.5 - 3.5m (8-11.5ft) apart.  Distances between the vines in the row can be as close as 1 meter (3ft) for a Guyot training system, or as wide as 2.5 m (8ft) for a Geneva Double Curtain system.  Once the planting distances and training system and size of area to be planted have been determined, the number of vines required can be calculated.  This is done by multiplying the row width by the spacing within the rows to get the square meters of space available for each vine.  Just divide this number into the total square meters of the available area to get the number of plants to order.

[TO BE CONTINUED IN SUMMER NEWSLETTER]

Best Regards