Will it rain for Wimbledon?

The Queen's Club tennis tournament is under way - this is the precursor to the Wimbledon tournament and, more importantly (in my humble opinion), to flowering in UK vineyards. If it rains in the second week of Wimbledon pity the vinegrower who has his or her fingers crossed for calm, sunny and dry weather. I've not posted for a few weeks thanks to a protracted house move, bottling in the winery and furious bud-rubbing in the small vineyard of which a colleague and I have taken over the management.

An under-row herbicide was applied well before budburst, to complement the black plastic mulching already in place. Mowing has been done, and we are about 3/4 of the way through the 41 rows removing the watershoots from the trunks and thinning the heads of unwanted shoots. Doing it after a full day's work in the winery or laboratory and working around family commitments, including a house move is tiring, but it is a joy to be in the vineyard during these long June evenings. An advantage of being so far north is that the sun doesn't go down until nearly 10pm at this time of year, giving us extra time to get on with the job.

Cuba watching me doing all the work

It gets harder and takes longer to do each row as we get further into June. The shoots are growing at an alarming (but welcome) rate. I reckon if you sat in the vineyard for a day you'd see them grow before your eyes. Cuba the Westie has tested the perimeter of the vineyard - if there was a small dog-sized hole he would have found it by now. This means we won't be troubled by rabbits or badgers. On his arrival at the vineyard each time he makes at least three full patrols of the fence-line. Before he settles down in either a shady or sunny spot depending on how warm the day is. It's a dog's life.

 

 

Off to patrol the perimeter once more