Zoë Driver, winemaker at English wine producer Black Chalk, has reported an “incredible” harvest following what she described as “pretty perfect growing conditions”. 

Reviewing the process, Driver said the vineyard began harvesting a month early due to especially high sugar levels in the grapes, which needed to be managed. 

On the quality of the fruit, she commented: “I can say with all honesty that in the 10 years I have made wine in England, I have never seen such incredible fruit.” 

In particular, Driver highlighted Pinot Meunier as a standout grape, noting that clones 977 and 978 were of especially high quality. 

Jacob Leadley, winemaker, CEO and co-founder, praised the quality of the Chardonnay this harvest. 

Vineyard manager Gwil Cooper echoed this: “I was pleasantly surprised with all of the Chardonnay fruit that was picked this year, from loading the trailers to unloading the fruit I was smiling, particularly the clones from upper levels.” 

The main challenge this year was logistical, Driver said, due to the early harvest. “We ran samples on the grapes in the first week of September and realised very quickly that everything was basically ready – but we weren’t,” she explained.  

“We had key staff members on holiday, no pickers in the country, nothing was clean or ready to receive fruit and critically our new tanks weren’t arriving until the end of the month. It was a mad, stressful week to get ourselves ready to take in our first grapes on September 12th, but we just about made it.”  

Despite the challenges, the Black Chalk team said it expects exceptionally high-quality wines from the grapes.  Leadley said: “The potential is as good as I have ever seen it. I have never seen a more complete growing season, the flavour profile of the wines and the chemistry are almost perfect.”