Harvest Report 2022: England

Optimism is high for the 2022 vintage

• Sunshine hours were double the average and rainfall was low.
• Importantly, the picking period was also relatively dry.
• Essex saw Pinot Noir fruit with 14% potential alcohol.
• More still wine will be made this year, including more red wine being produced.

Ridgeview

Vintage 2022: One of the biggest to date

2022 marked one of Ridgeview’s biggest harvests to date. “The fruit tasted exceptional. Lack of rain has made the yields slightly lighter, which has allowed more intensity and complexity in the berries,” reports Simon Roberts, head winemaker at Ridge

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Roberts adds: “Excitingly, it looks like a particularly good year for Chardonnay. Unlike most years, we picked our Chardonnay first due to such an unusual year with extremes in the weather, with some of the hottest and driest temperatures experienced.” 

“The bunches look very clean, with weights variable in volume due to smaller berries than usual, with concentrated flavours. The sugars are excellent, particularly on the Chardonnay. Acidity is slightly lower than usual, which means very minimal chapitalisation was required, pleasingly.”

Unlike many other vineyards at home and abroad, Ridgeview did not begin its harvest early. “That’s the secret with England,” said Mardi Roberts, director of communications at Ridgeview. As a result, volumes for the estate are above average, at 500-600 tonnes.

Roberts concluded: “So far everything we have had in is producing very complex flavours, reflecting on the length of our growing season, and the time the grapes have been able to remain on the vine, while the good weather has remained.”

Balfour

‘Expecting complex and interesting wines across the board’

Owen Elias believes that we should be making more still Pinot Noir, as it’s truly one of the many things that English wine can do well. “Yes, I repeat, we can make really good Pinot Noir. Just check out our Gatehouse 2020 and you will understand that even at a marginal 51 degrees north, with the correct clones, and careful handling in the winery, you can produce something very special.”

“There is a lot of excitement in our winery regarding this year’s harvest,” Owen says. “But it’s not just Pinot, our still Chardonnays are shaping wonderfully too.” 

2022 is certainly going to be known as the year of the summer heat. After the heat, which did bring about a few drought concerns for the country’s younger vineyards, the rain began to fall in late August and early September. This is never good for disease pressure, but Balfour reports they were still able to bring in some really great quality fruit.

“What was unusual about this year was that Chardonnay was ready to be picked before our Bacchus. This has never happened before,” says Owen.

“Although the rise in temperature, caused by global warming, has allowed us to ripen fruit in a way that wouldn’t be possible just a few decades ago. The subsequent ‘climate chaos’ means that each vintage is unique with its own individual challenges.”