In early 2020 we made the decision to inject some colour into the world. The particular colours in mind were red, white and Rose!
With a considerable amount of input from Vineworks and an in depth process of soil, environment, climate and biodiversity assessments the grape varieties were selected with an emphasis on them suiting the unique combination of Stansted's climate and stoney fields.
Finally, on May 12th 2021 after some valuable assistance from Colemans agricultural with the ground preparation, Vineworks started the laying out and planting process with their combination of GPS guided JCB Fastrak and Wagner planting attachment, completing the planting in a little over four days in perfect symmetry across the field.
With rabbit guards in place and the vines individually staked 2021 turned out to be not a bad growing year and the vines soon established themselves, thankfully out competing the weeds which never give up despite the efforts to keep them at bay.
With guidance from Agrovista's regional Agronomist we kept the spraying down to plant nutrients and fungus protection. This meant more labour on manual and mechanical weed control but probably was worth it to avoid unnecessary (and some may argue environmentally questionable) weed killer, in any event we are glad we were able to avoid herbicide application at the start.
The process of establishing a vineyard is slow, which is probably a blessing as there is a lot to take on and a lot to consider going forward and a lot of work to get done. This first year has been all about root development and restricting excessive growth by trimming and bud removal as part of that root establishment.
The second year will be about developing the trunk and continuing healthy root growth.
By the third or even the fourth year the trunk, arms and cordon from which the canes leaves and grapes grow will have developed and the first wine producing harvest will be with us.
As the new year rolls in we have finished installing the trellis work, which our neighbours (apologies to them) will be aware has been the source of the intermittent rattling as the hydraulic tractor ram pushed the head and intermediate posts into our famous stoney ground (Stansted being the Saxon name for Stoney Place or Stoney Field)
It seems counter productive but the next stage, after all the vines become dormant during this winter, will be to cut all the vines back to a couple of buds above their starting growth at planting. This will allow a choice of the better stem to develop next spring into what will become the vine trunk.
For now it will be a case of completing the trellising and prepping the aisles and headlands for grass seeding next spring.
Keep looking in on us periodically to follow the progress (or setbacks) as we continue on our engagement with nature within this rather lovely part of our countryside around Stansted Mountfitchet.
Regards
Mike Hayton