I am aware that the last note I posted on my website was for December 2021.
It’s not that ‘nothing has happened’, simply the business of running a small vineyard is full of distractions.
So hello, thank you for your visit - enjoy the late arrival of Peter’s Notes, May 2022.
To date this year the weather has been kind, to the vines and those working in the vineyard. Very little rain, which will not trouble established vines, and the danger of late spring frost damage has passed.
My June Note will include two new wines from the 2017 vintage, a Chardonnay/Pinot and a Seyval Blanc. They will appear on my website, but I am still awaiting professional bottle-shots, hence the delay.
So, Peter’s Note for May champions ‘other wonderful things’, a step away from viticulture and oenology – Lambing my small flock of twenty ewes this year has been remarkable, and the star photo goes to Daisy with her quads. She has managed to rear them all – an amazing mum, and two other ewes have triplets.
An important Spring moment for me is the return of swallows to Breaky Bottom. They arrived on 15th April after their incredible 6,000-mile journey from South Africa. Without hesitation they began re-furbishing last year’s nests, so they are clearly from families that have ‘been here before’. (I talk to them - over the years I have learnt those with a South African accent were probably born in SA!)
Fifty-five years ago, when I first moved to Breaky Bottom from Fen Place Mill, Turners Hill, I took with me a Wild Cherry sapling and planted it just outside the house. It has grown into a massive tree, and every year provides a feast for the birds. I noticed last year, and again this year, an amazing fungus growing on its trunk. Research tells me that it’s Chicken-of-the-Woods, a thick, fleshy bracket fungus that grows on the trunks of old trees, favouring oak and cherry. It’s a vital species supporting a host of wildlife including specialist beetles (the hairy fungus beetle!) which only feed on bracket fungi. Chicken-of-the-Woods is edible, although it does not agree with everyone – harvested carefully, it is enjoyed for its chicken-like flavour and texture!
As a footnote, I revert back to oenological matters – I have just heard that the Breaky Bottom 2016 Seyval Blanc, Cuvée Marraine Pooks, has been awarded a Gold Medal the 2022 International Wine Challenge! Good news…..