Europe's most
northerly vineyard
If reference
is made to our climate and geology page, it will be seen that Acomb Grange is
ideally suited to viticulture (the growing of vines for wine production), even
though it is much further north than many vineyards.
Also,
historically , it is known that good wines were made from grapes grown on
vineyards in the vicinity.
For these
reasons , in early 1999, it was decided to plant a small number of one year old
vines on a trial basis . The vines chosen were an assortment of varieties, both
red and white. The vines were planted on a south facing slope, protected on the
east and north by a belt of trees and open on the west, in classic method. The
soil of the field in which they were planted is sand mixed with clay and small
cobbles, again classic vine growing conditions.
During the
spring of 1999 there were some unusually heavy frosts, and a very late frost in
April. There was also an atypical hailstorm in June 1999. From late June to mid
September 1999 , there was virtually no rainfall. This therefore means that the
newly planted vines had a variety of vicissitudes to overcome. However, despite
this the vines put on substantial growth and there were no losses. All seemed
healthy and vigourous. Of course, it will be a number of years before they bear
a reasonable crop of grapes.
As a result,
a group of friends decided to join together to form a co-operative, initially
on an informal basis , but with the prospect that in due course it shall be a
viable commercial project.We planted a large number of vines in the year 2000 ,
with the intention of harvesting the first crops in 2003 or 2004, and producing
wine in commercial quantities from that time . This will mean that the medieval
vineyards of the County and Ainsty of York will be back in production after a
break of over 650 years.
Unfortunately,
the vines were decimated by a plague of rabbits in early 2002, a risk we had
not foreseen, and we are having to replant with more rigourous rabbit defences.
This has put back our plans by a couple of years, but we have learnt from the
experience.
The vineyard
was successfully replanted during 2006 and 2007, and the rabbits have been kept
at bay. A small harvest of grapes was achieved in 2007, and we are hopeful for
2008
This web page
will be updated as the project progresses.
For more information see our climate and geology page
Last
modified 30/04/08