Bolney Wine Estate Harvest 2020 – Perfect Weather

Bolney Wine Estate is located on the edge of the South Downs in Sussex, about 14 miles from the UK’s south coast and comprises of five unique vineyard sites.

Perfect weather over lockdown has helped Bolney Wine Estate to produce a beautifully ripe crop of grapes. Which has led us to pick in excess of 235 tonnes of grapes to fill approximately 190,000 bottles.  A variety of grapes are grown at Bolney, which helps us to produces an array of award-winning sparkling and still wines.

As a third generation family business, at Bolney, we have been producing wine since 1972 led by Samantha Linter. Sam, Managing Director & Head Winemaker says “Lockdown has been challenging but the weather has been amazing.  Harvest came in earlier than ever before, starting on 14th September and finishing on the 7th October. The future of English Wine continues to be very promising.”

We have always been pioneers and are constantly looking for ways to innovate wherever possible which is why, after successful trials last year we have used state-of-the-art harvest machine for the first time (not commonly used in England) as well as handpicking this harvest.

There will always be a place for handpicking for making sparkling wines, when whole bunch pressing is an important part of the process. The Bolney team have been busy picking the three sparkling varieties (Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) by hand.