An award-winning English sparkling wine producer has begun its earliest harvest with the grower “optimistic” that the warm and sunny spring and summer will lead to a “top-quality” vintage.
The grape-picking of the 375 hectares of land across Nyetimber’s 11 vineyards of West Sussex, Hampshire and Kent is set to take up to three weeks and is expected to yield about 2,000 tonnes of fruit.
The harvest, collected by a team of 500 pickers, should be enough to produce 1.8 million bottles of sparkling wine which is triple that produced in 2015.
A spokeswoman said: “This year’s growing conditions have been favourable for the region, with a very warm and sunny spring, then a hot and dry June.
“Nyetimber’s winemakers had already drawn potential comparisons with the record-breaking harvest of 2018, and now that harvest is here, the quality of the fruit is proving similar to that of seven years ago.
“Analysis by the winemaking team over the past few weeks has resulted in optimism about the prospect of a top-quality vintage, and now that the grape-picking has begun it will soon become clear whether these predictions will come true.”
The harvest comes after Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs 2016 Magnum won champion sparkling wine at the International Wine Challenge which is the first time this trophy has been awarded to a sparkling wine from outside the Champagne region.
Head winemaker Cherie Spriggs also won sparkling winemaker of the year for the second time with Nyetimber’s prestige cuvees also picking up awards at London Wine Fair’s Battle of the Bubbles in May and the Real Review’s Wines of the Year awards in September.
Ms Spriggs said: “When making wine in a cool climate you can never get ahead of yourself, as nature will always have the last say.
“However, we are entering this year’s harvest with an optimistic outlook and are looking forward to welcoming a dedicated team of pickers to our vineyards.
“The reputation of English sparkling wine is continuing to grow around the world, and in tandem there is increasing interest in participating in our harvest.
“There is a lot of work to be done over the next two weeks, but this is a very exciting time of year for our team and we can’t wait to see what our vines have produced.”
Eric Heerema, Nyetimber’s chief executive and owner, said: “The south east of England can offer fantastic sparkling winemaking conditions, but it can also pose challenges. It is wonderful, therefore, to know that 2025 will produce some outstanding wines.
“We also expect this to be a vintage year, when we could make some of our vintage-dated wines such as Blanc de Blancs, Tillington Single Vineyard, and our 1086 by Nyetimber prestige cuvees.
“Our vintage wines are winning an increasing number of prestigious awards each year and our ambition is to continue crafting these to world-class levels.”
Nyetimber, which was founded 37 years ago, was the first producer of English sparkling wine to exclusively grow the three celebrated grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier.
