Last week, Nyetimber announced it was not going to be picking any grapes this year. The Vineyard generally produces up to 400,000 bottles of sparkling wine, all made from grapes grown on its 430 acres in West Sussex. Cancelling the harvest has shocked the English wine world.

Since it’s 1993 vintage, the Nyetimber sparkling wines have consistently won top International awards. Just two years ago their 2001 Blancs de Blanc took home a gold medal in the International Wine Challenge.

Paul Mériguet, who grew up in Cognac, France, and is now the Assistant Manager of the House Bar on Blue Bar Street in Oxford, recently visited Nyetimber. “It’s very good sparkling. It is equal to some of the best Champagnes, and much more affordable.”

Due to bad weather, the grape quality and volume are too poor produce the wine this year. In a released statement, Nyetimber spoke of the difficult decision, but that they “focus not on years, but on generations.”

Our two local vineyards, Bothy and Brightwell have just started their harvest this past weekend.

Sian Liwicki from Bothy vineyard says, “volumes were very low – as low as 20% of what we would have been expected from the varieties that we picked.  We put this down to the cold weather killing off flower buds even before they could open, and then rains impeding fruit set.”

She is still optimistic about the quality of wines they will produce. “This may be a year for making sparkling wines and also rosés instead of reds.”

Bob Nielsen from Brightwell Vineyard agrees, “It’s certainly been a difficult year, being about the coldest spring and summer for 100 years. So much for the global warming myth!”

He continues, “What has proved interesting is that different varieties have performed very differently. Some put out far fewer flowers than usual, but some have done ok, just been slower to ripen. We get warm years and then cool years and that’s the way of nature. Still, we have some good grapes and will be making wine.”

Coming up:
Tuesday 30th October, the Oxford Alcademics are celebrating “The day of the Dead” with a Chamucos Tequila tasting at Raoul’s Bar, Walton Street.