Creating A Vineyard This Far North Of The Equator

It has always been a dream of mine to create and maintain a vineyard for the production of grapes to be turned into wine. The very nature of vine culture with its variety of specific maintenance tasks meant that as a horticultural learning and assessment resource it gave scope for developing varied bedrock horticultural skills.

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At first I had my doubts as to whether we could produce grapes both of red and white varieties to a satisfactory standard for making wine this far north. So I tried to put my doubts to rest and visited a South Staffordshire vineyard where they showed me their operation and allowed me to taste their red, white and rosé. All were produced to a high standard and easily matched some of the top brands sold in the supermarket. It was pointed out to me that Germany, parts of northern France and even New York State (USA) have produced some serious contenders with much harsher winters that we would experience. It was also pointed out to me that we used to grow a lot of grapes in this country, look at some of the old road and street names s in the ancient towns and cities of this country there are examples of signs bearing identities such as ‘Vine Street’ or ‘Vineyard Lane’ in the Medieval areas of towns  as far north as Yorkshire.

So I began looking for the perfect site on the college estate grounds and could not find one. Every area I looked at was either too exposed too sheltered or not available. The advice given to me was to choose a spot that was south facing with some shelter from trees quite a distance away. If the air remains too still then the vines would become susceptible to fungal diseases. The movement of air was an essential form of cultural disease control.
Sun light is very important, in fact too little and too much are now the big problem. Especially (believe it or not) too much this is in places closer to the equator like southern Spain, Italy and Greece where land at a high altitude is now in great demand for establishing vineyards. They are finding that the vines are producing too much sugar which makes the wine high in alcohol and this conflicts with the current trends of people trying to control their weight and the drink driving laws becoming more severe. The other issue is dampness vines don’t produce good grapes if their feet are wet. So finding the perfect site to suit all of these requests was becoming difficult.

Finally when I discussed my proposals with an older colleague who had been here for many years he pointed out a site that could fit the purpose. The area was at the bottom of the nursery and was on the south facing side of the walled garden (perfect I thought) the area was protected from northerly winds. There was shelter belt planting at the required distance of about 30 metres away. The only issues were that it was at the lower end of the nursery and was prone to some flooding and was currently buried under seven feet of green waste (no wonder I missed this area in my original search). Many years ago it was used to (successfully) grow peaches the spot now seemed just right and work went on the way to clearing it.

The main issues that needed to be solved were drainage, rabbits and frost pockets. Frost pockets were an easy problem because there was a lower area in front of the vineyard for the cold air to sink into. Vines on the whole are cautious Mediterranean plants and tend to bide their time before coming out. By the time the vines bud in this area (April - May time) most of the heavy frost pocket weather on the whole is no longer an issue. So I began planning how I would cultivate and protect the site before planting the vines. I also had the task of choosing appropriate cultivars that would thrive and produce a good wine making quality of grape.

The wall provides protection from northerly winds and will help to radiate the heat of the sun throughout the day and into the evening and adds a nice ‘rustic’ feature to the site.
 

By Jonathan Ensell
Lecturer in Horticulture
Rodbaston Campus
South Staffordshire College