IT is mid-January 2025, in the depths of a frosty winter, the solstice a memory and the welcome news of longer daylight hours and the promise of Spring.

The guardians of Monmouthshire’s established vineyards are braving the freezing temperatures, selecting, and carefully pruning vines to ensure new growth and a bountiful harvest for this year.

Robb and Nicola Merchant at White Castle Vineyard, furthering the wine journey with their new state-of-the-art winery.

Others await May to plant their first vines, with new vineyards planned around Abergavenny, suited to the unique terrain and climate.

Let’s rewind the clock to the warmer temperatures and the grape harvest of late summer/early autumn last year and reminisce about a time when the sun was shining and the skies were blue.

Last year was tough for the UK wine harvest, with cold-climate grape yields down 30 to 50% of the previous year. This is expected, as the nature of global cyclical climatic influences effects local weather patterns. Fingers crossed for the next few years; these should be bumper crops.

Lucy and Dan Alford, the owners of The Dell, are well-versed in selecting a harvest date for the Pinot Noir, Solaris, or the other grape varieties cultivated.

In a perfect season, the Pinot Noir would be around 20 to 22 Brix (the scale to measure sugar levels, fermented by yeast into alcohol) producing a sparkling Welsh wine. Pinot Noir, a black grape, produces a ‘blanc-de-noirs’ (white-from-black). A ‘blanc-de-blancs’ would be a white grape such as Chardonnay (white-from-white.)

With the sugar levels, the ripeness at selection, and acidity influencing the style of wine, its aging properties, phenols, and other factors, we enter the magical realm of winemaker choices, (a different article and process entirely.)

Both viticulturists and winemakers agree that quality grapes produce high-quality wine.

The previous year, low yields, and increased rainfall levels, (that can swell and break the skin of the grape,) coupled with an unusual -1°C temperature resulted in UK vineyards harvesting one or two days earlier, to avoid this last-minute peril. For a vineyard owner, this is frustrating, as all strive for perfection.

This is when community spirit springs into life. The vineyards around Abergavenny have volunteers to help with harvesting and The Dell is no exception. Many are local to the area and wish to assist. Volunteers, such as Bea Turton - a sommelier from Whitebrook restaurant, Monmouth, teamed with Julian Lobley a Raglan resident, experiencing his first harvest.

Volunteers come to meet new people and form new friendships. Hayley Dunlop and Paul Eggleton volunteered for the experience. While Samantha Morgan a level 3 WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) wished to further her knowledge, with her partner John McIvor, on a ‘promise of a bottle and the pulled-pork lunch’ supplied by Dan and Lucy.

Others came to see the vines they had sponsored. This is a widespread activity in all UK vineyards, known as ‘adopt-a vine.’ For a small amount, this includes a bottle of The Dell’s Welsh wine or gin, a certificate of vine adoption for a year, a personalised Welsh slate vine tag, and an invitation to harvest.

This source of income is essential for both new and established vineyards. The Dell Vineyard donated this prize to Match for Mind. Organised by Gavin and Liam Trinder (Whiskey Barrel Brothers) and Will and Eoin Duggan (The Dugout Bar) Abergavenny.

The charity football match raised a staggering £10,500 for Motor Nerone Disease Association (MNDA) and Mind Monmouthshire, with local businesses participating not only in fundraising but play in the match itself. The lucky winner of adopt-a-vine was Danielle Phillips of The Gaff, Abergavenny.

Twenty volunteers attended the Pinot harvest, all with their own reasons to help this young vineyard flourish. This community spirit is vital to Monmouthshire’s growing wine sector and if you wish to experience a harvest, please contact your nearest vineyard.

What to expect? Well, you receive snippets to cut and harvest, buckets or crates to place the grapes, (which Dan collects.)

It is important to sign and keep hold of the snippets. As the grapes are transported to the winery, at Three Choirs Vineyard, any snippets entering the winery equipment, could damage machinery resulting in a fine to the vineyard owners.

It is a hugely fun day out and an opportunity to meet new people and essential to new and established vineyards.

Shortly after the harvest of the Pinot Noir, Dan loaded and tied down the crates of grapes onto the trailer and we set out to Three Choirs winery. Here we transferred the grapes and weighed the harvest.

The grapes were immediately processed to ensure freshness and retain quality, whereby Jack Abbots, an exceptional winemaker, transforms the grapes into a local Welsh wine (a separate process altogether) to cherish and savour.

So, raise a glass to the 2024 vintage and the expectation of a fruitful and plentiful harvest in 2025 for all of Monmouthshire’s blossoming vineyards.