Grape expectations: English wine harvest

Vineyards across the UK are gearing up for the 2024 grape harvest. Last year, I donned a high-vis vest and joined a bunch of other volunteer pickers at Wiston Estate near Worthing for a day among the vines. It was hard work but a tonic for the overstimulated brain – and you can do it, too

Picking grapes is hard, heavy, back-breaking work, but it leaves you with a far greater appreciation of how that fizz made its way from the vineyard to your glass. Taking part in a grape harvest at an English winery was not something I ever dreamed I’d do when I moved here some 30 years ago. It was the sort of thing you read about in those saccharine books by Peter Mayle and his ilk, not something you’d actually get up to with strangers on an English hillside.

A few decades ago, the muttered phrase ‘English wine’ would (and did) cause splutters of mirth, derision even. I began my journalism career as a wine writer, first at Decanter magazine, for which I still write, then at the (sadly now defunct) WINE magazine, and as a freelance, so I spent a lot of time examining trellising systems, identifying soil types and discussing yields per hectare in vineyards across Europe and the Americas.

More than once I was ribbed or consoled for living in a country whose wine was considered a joke. That’s all changed, of course. There are now 1,000 vineyards in England and Wales, and the wines – sparkling wines in particular – regularly win silverware at international wine competitions, often beating the Champenois at their own game. A case in point: at the recent Decanter World Wine Awards, Chapel Down in Kent was awarded a Best in Show award for its Rosé Brut, outshining stiff competition from a gaggle of prestigious Champagne producers.

So it was with a sense of mild irony that one sunny day last October I took part in my very first grape harvest, not in Sonoma or Stellenbosch, but in Sussex. Just north of Worthing, to be precise, at Wiston Estate. It’s just one UK vineyard that welcomes amateur pickers to take part in the annual harvest, which will be happening over the next few weeks. I’d been invited to join in.

About 25 of us turned up to volunteer our services. My fellow pickers were a mix of young and less-youthful, mostly from the local area. Some were wine lovers, some not; some were grape-harvest veterans, others first-timers. The uniting element was a desire to get out and spend time in the countryside and perhaps learn something new. We did so in the long, slanting rays of the autumn sunshine – some of the last of that sweet heat we’d feel on our faces when the unrelenting grey grip of winter took hold.

Wiston’s vineyard manager, Travis Salisbury, originally from South Africa, talked us through the task that lay ahead. He explained how to clip the bunches from the vine without removing a finger, and how to identify any and remove any grapes that had succumbed to rot. After donning our high-vis vests, we were handed bright-blue surgical gloves, a sturdy bucket and well-honed secateurs and sent out into the Chardonnay vines to harvest. In pairs, we worked our way slowly up and down the rows, denuding the vines of their fruit. A single snip, and the glowing, sun-warmed bunch falls heavy into your hand. It’s surprisingly pleasing.

After the first row or two, my picking partner Mike and I become more assured. The pace quickened as the baskets filled with lustrous piles of ripe, gold-tinged fruit. As the hours unreeled, I felt like a worker bee with just one role to fulfil – a far cry from the slightly crazed multitasking that defines my working life.

I was reminded of the concept of ‘flow’, a term coined by the late University of Chicago Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and which The Lancet (rather drily) describes as a mental state “in which people are shown to experience high levels of wellbeing through involvement in challenging activities that require some level of skill”. Other pickers I spoke to over a carb-fuelled lunch shared the same feeling – that a day away from social media and the draining 24-hour news cycle was a tonic for the overstimulated brain.

I came away with a heightened admiration for the people whose life work this is – planting vines, growing grapes, harvesting and vinifying them and bringing a myriad skills together to create something that, while not ‘vital’ for survival certainly makes us feel happy, perhaps even a bit philosophical.

My hands were turning blue, my back ached and I craved a hot bath but I felt oddly restored – and very much looking forward to the glass of fizz that marked the end of our day.

How to join a grape harvest

Wiston is just one of a score of vineyards in England and Wales that welcomes amateur pickers (although they already have all the volunteers they need for 2024).

Others producers include: Albury Organic Vineyard (Surrey); Artelium Estate (East Sussex); Hanwell Wine Estate (Nottinghamshire); Rathfinny Estate (East Sussex); Tinwood Estate (West Sussex; paid-for event); and Woodchurch Wine Estate (Kent).

Many wineries are also offering special harvest tour tastings and packages. The Wines of Great Britain website is a good starting point to find vineyards in your area.

Practicalities

You will most likely have to make your own way to the agreed time and place and commit to spending the full day picking – unless the weather intervenes; there’s no picking in the rain. It’s probably stating the obvious, but wear warm clothes and dress in layers (and pack some sunscreen). You’ll most likely be treated to a sweet snack or two, copious cups of tea and biscuits on demand, plus a lunch that will keep you well fed for the task.

You’ll get full training and safety guidelines to follow and plenty of moral support if needed – and you’ll leave with a greater appreciation of the how the wine in your glass got its start.