Winter Pruning and Planning

There are a few freak daffodils pushing up in the garden at the moment, far too early in our books and especially strange as we have been in an icy, snowy, Narnia-esque world for the last two weeks.

Like the vines, the team here at English Vineyard Tours go into a winter dormancy, only when the buds have well and truly burst do we really start going again. Our intrepid wine tourists are sometimes so surprised when we explain the life cycle of a vine and how, at around this time, the vines will be pruned back leaving only the trunk and one year old wood.

It leaves the vineyard looking rather barren but winter pruning, in our eyes, is the very start of the season, the pivotal prep work to ensure this year’s growth and ultimate vintage. While the vines quietly rest, surviving on the stored carbohydrates in their roots, we reflect, plan and do the ground work for the tour season ahead. We learnt a lot last year, the main thing was ‘be flexible’ – navigating the restrictions, social distancing rules and lockdowns made it near impossible to plan from one month to the next but we managed and loved welcoming guests to the vineyards when we could.

This year we hope to start tours back up at the very beginning of May with more vineyards across Surrey, Hampshire & Sussex but we know we need to be patient and flexible. As soon as we are confident of what we can deliver this year we will let you know and remain hopeful a glorious 5 months of vineyard views and wine tasting with ensue.   

Chin up, don’t complain, just wine.

See you on a vineyard soon.