Winter pruning is one of the most technical, expensive, and important tasks in the vineyard year. Vineyard finds out how pruning methods can help avoid potential yield losses from frost, disease, and poor weather at flowering.

Fresh in many of our memories are the devastating frosts of May 2020, and the chills of 2021 – with cruel low temperatures that descended on the new, tender vine tissues causing irreparable damage. With such valuable crops, and to avoid sleepless nights, Vineyard speaks to some of the companies offering frost protection measures. 

We are all very used to hearing the great stories of planting hundreds of thousands of vines and producing millions of bottles of wine each year, but little is heard from the more modest end of our industry. Over the last few years Vine-Works has seen a significant increase in the desire to establish smaller scale projects from people who wish to take a piece of the English wine dream into their homes. 

Imagine steep slopes, drystone walls, wooded valleys and fast running streams and you will be picturing the scenic setting of Woodchester Valley Vineyards, in the South Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty, where their three vineyards – Woodchester, Amberley and Stonehouse are planted. Vineyard discovers a site steeped in history, nurtured by the Shiner family, whose ethos is single estate, hand crafted wines which reflect a sense of time and place.