The Optimism of New Growth  and Export to Norway

Now that the clocks have changed, sunshine has made a welcome return, and our vines are starting to burst into life, Spring now feels like it has properly arrived in the UK – and ‘vintage 2021’ has begun! And with hospitality businesses reopening and visitors returning to vineyards, now is a really exciting time for us.  

Hello once again friends. We hope that everyone is very well, and that there is the same sense of optimism where you are. We’re back with another little update for you on busy times at our East Sussex wine estate, so settle down with a cup of tea and a piece of Silviakaka…

At this time of year the vines wake from their winter sleep and start their work growing grapes, and of course it’s our job to care for and nurture them 24/7 to help them do this – the vines are our babies.

But Spring here is often cold at night, which means the dreaded possibility of frost. If the buds ‘burst’ too soon, and frost hits, they can become damaged and will produce no fruit that year. So like all English vineyards we have been frost fighting. Fingers crossed, we have not been affected so far this year, but we’re not in the clear yet.

You might be interested to know that our Chardonnay tends to emerge first, and the picture you can see above and here is a pink ‘wooly bud’, which is the stage just a little bit before ‘full burst’. We’ll share their progress on our social media of course.

We’re also so pleased to share some news from wine competitions: Our Brut 2018 was among only a handful of English wines to be awarded ‘5 Stars’ by Harpers Wine Stars, and both Brut 2018 and Rosé 2018 were awarded silver medals by the London Wine Competition. Thanks to them both, and to their judges!

We have also continued our happy trick of appearing in the media, with a lovely piece about our vineyard by Anthony Rose entitled ‘Busi Jacobsohn’s eco-friendly sparklings’. And then the wine journalist and broadcaster Olly Smith chose our Brut 2018 as his wine of the week for this week in the Mail on Sunday’s You Magasine.

This week also sees a landmark for us, as tomorrow we send our wines for export for the first time. The lucky country is… Norway! Right, that’s all from us for now, but we are excited to say that we will soon be able to see you very soon, as we welcome visitors from the beginning of May. Until then…

Skål!