Harvest 2025: A Vintage to RememberHarvest Round-Up 2025

Wednesday 10th September marked a milestone for us – the earliest harvest we’ve ever had. It’s no surprise, given the incredible long, hot summer we’ve enjoyed. While we anticipated a smaller crop this year due to rain during the 2024 flowering (which affected bud counts for 2025), nothing could have prepared us for just how perfect the growing conditions would be.

From March onwards, mild and dry weather set in and stayed with us through spring, allowing bud burst to happen without any frost risk. For English winemakers, flowering is often the nail-biting stage – usually around Glastonbury and Wimbledon, when rain can wreak havoc. This year? Glorious sunshine. Pollination was excellent, and some UK vineyards even reported flowering in early June which is unheard of!

Summer continued its winning streak right up until a week before picking. With rain on the horizon, we carefully planned our harvest and community pick days, settling on 10th September. Our early varieties – Madeleine Angevine and Pinot Noir Précoce – were perfectly ripe, and thanks to our vineyard team and local volunteers, we brought them in within days.

September and October stayed warm and dry, despite a few chilly nights, giving us the chance to push our later varieties for maximum ripeness. We picked the last fruit on 13th October, and we’re hopeful this could be a standout year for English reds.

As we speak, blends for our New Release are finalised, and we’ve bottled our first-ever nouveau red – ‘Chub’ Nouveau – joining the Don’t Feed the Ponies range. This was only possible thanks to the early harvest.

Ferments are wrapping up, and wines are settling into their vessels, quietly developing into something special. So, what can you expect from the 2025 vintage? Super-ripe fruit, rounded acidity, and some promising reds.

We launch New Release 2025 and ‘Chub’ Nouveau 2025 on Thursday 20th November. These early-release wines are always a great indicator of the vintage to come. Both are available to pre-order now in our online shop – don’t miss out!