Warmer weather causing earlier harvests, says manager of Herefordshire vineyard
Temperatures remain high across Herefordshire and Worcestershire, with the West Midlands area in a period of prolonged dry weather as a result of the weather
The weather conditions seen throughout this summer have been of benefit to the likes of grapes and has also led to them ripening earlier, a Herefordshire vineyard has said.
It's as temperatures have remained high across both counties, with three heatwaves being recorded so far this year.
Earlier this month, the Environment Agency confirmed the West Midlands had also moved a step closer to drought status, with it now being declared as in a period of prolonged dry weather.
Angus McIntyre is the vineyard manager at Wythall Estate who planted their vineyard back in 2010 before having their first crop in 2014, he said they'll be having an early harvest because of this year's weather.
"They're ripening earlier, so we're picking in August, early September," he said.
"Rewind a few years, we would be looking at middle to late September, perhaps even into November in previous years, that certainly won't be the case this year."
The estate has around 4 acres of land filled with about 4,000 vines, with the McIntyre family being based there for over 500 years.
Angus said all the wines are made using the fruit from one year only and the warm weather will have been a real help to the grapes.
"We've seen real sort of similarities to regions perhaps a bit better known such as Burgundy and so on, we're now benefiting from a similar climate to that, and that's obviously improving the wines," he said.
"A summer like this will give us higher yields, higher sugar levels and lower disease pressure.
"So overall, it should be a vintage one to look out for, which would be very similar in a way to 2025 where we had another hot, dry summer."
Their vines go onto make on average around 5-6,000 bottles of still and sparkling wines each year, he added.