What a Wonderful Grape Harvest!

Every good thing comes to an end, and we must say, what an incredible grape harvest we had!

This year marked our second year of picking grapes from Hungerhill Vineyard, and instead of lasting three days like last year, it lasted six days! We experienced a mix of emotions, from stress and tiredness to excitement, joy, and fun!

We were thrilled to see returning volunteers from last year, as well as new faces joining us for this year's harvest. Growing our community of local wine lovers truly warms our hearts.

Now, let's dive into the details of how this year's harvest went. To begin with, before picking our own grapes, Andrew, Pawel, and Nick started by pressing grapes from other local vineyards, including Ortega from Kent and Oxfordshire , Pinot Noir and Bacchus Suffolk, Bacchus from Essex and our own vineyard.

On Saturday, October 7th, we had our first harvest of the year 2023. We hand-picked 1.8 tonnes of Meunier on that day. The following day, Sunday, October 8th, we started picking the Chardonnay. We were blessed with sunny and warm weather, and we hand-picked 3.5 tonnes of grapes that day.

As the weather started getting colder and rainy, some stress set in. However, we discovered at the last minute that we could have a small harvest as the weather seemed to improve on Tuesday. We had the chance to meet people from Warden Abbey who helped us pick the rest of the Chardonnay grapes.
The next significant harvest took place on the weekend of October 14th and 15th, where we picked 4 tonnes the Pinot Noir. With a temperature difference of 10 degrees compared to the previous weekend, we were fortunate to have some sunshine and a fantastic team of pickers, making the harvest a truly pleasant and enjoyable experience.

After the morning picking sessions, we welcomed our amazing team of pickers to the winery with a glass of our exclusive Col Fondo. We then enjoyed a delightful "a la bonne franquette" lunch, followed by cheese, desserts, and, of course, Merstone wine.

We cannot thank everyone enough who volunteered for this year's harvest at Hungerhill Vineyard in 2023. It wouldn't have been as special, fun, and joyful without your presence. So here's a special thank you to Richard W, Marion, Tara, Sally, Pippa, Sarah, Clay, Paula, Nigel, Debbie, Robert, Caroline, Kirsty, Trev, Wilf, Nathalie, Dominique, Diane, Sheryl, Nick, David H, Chris, Jason, James, Richard B, Gill, David I, Evelyne, Amanda, Lorna, John, Helen, Mick, Vicky, Vartan, Rafe, Ashley, Mike G, Alan, Andrew E, Richard R, Nina, Jacqueline, Fiona, Fabio, Arnaud, Felix, Oscar, Claude, Lynda, Amelie, Jez, Bob, John, Keith, and Jen.