Friday 2 July 2010

English bubbly beats Champagne in IWC trophy


Camel Valley in Cornwall have won a prestigious IWC trophy for best in class in the Sparkling Rose category, beating off 450 other entries including many champagne houses.

This is great news for English bubbly. Hopefully Albury Organic Vineyard will win an award soon after our first vintage becomes available in 2014!

For the full article in the Daily Telegraph follow the following link:

Daily Telegraph Camel Valley Article

Thursday 1 July 2010

The Vineyard in Summer


Now that summer has arrived the vineyard is looking a real picture. The vines are recovering from the severe frost in May and the whole area is covered with poppies. Whilst pretty, the poppies will have to be cut soon before they seed and invade the woodchip mulch.

It looks like the cold winter and May frost will have killed around 150 vines. Nearly 100 are Pinot Meunier which have already been replaced. During the last couple of weeks we have been taking off the lower shoots that are not needed and bud rubbing to stop unwanted shoots from forming. We have also been tying up the shoots we want to keep so that they aren't mutilated by the tractor!

More spraying of compost teas this week in the hope that they will suppress mildew which we have already detected under the microscope.