On a sunny (if slightly bracing) Spring Bank Holiday Saturday afternoon I headed over to Greyfriars Vineyard at Puttenham, near Guildford.  Keen to avoid the queues on the A3 I followed my satnav across country via Farnham but, even though Greyfriars is stored under my "favourites" it still managed to send me on a detour through Puttenham village and nearly across the golf course before I managed to find the back way in. Next time I will follow the directions on the website.

David's vineyard talk was animated and highly informative. There is truly no substitute for learning from someone who is both knowledgeable and passionate about their subject.  David opened with a brief history of the vineyard. The oldest Chardonnay vines are from 1989 and, since Mike took over in 2010, planting 10000 vines per year, Greyfriars now has 80,000 vines on three sites in the picturesque Surrey Hills and is aiming to produce 100,000 bottles annually by 2020. 

Our guide then proceeded to explain how the vines were ordered in from a nursery in Germany, grafted onto US rootstock that is resistant to Phylloxera. Low graft is less expensive but high graft is easier to manage and involve less bending at harvest time! Greyfriars is one of the few uk Vineyards using high graft vines. Greyfriars plants "Single gear" vines which flower and fruit on only one side of the vertical shaft. This produces less fruit but increases ripeness.

Spring came three weeks early in 2017, but an air frost in late April/early May wiped out about 10% of this year's crop. It could have been even worse but heroic efforts were made to minimise the impact of the frost. Other local Vineyards were even worse hit. Greyfriars was "3 leaves unfurled" when the temperature at Shere went from +3 Celsius to -1 at 3am overnight.

The team caring for the vines is far smaller than I expected; just David and his assistant vineyard manager, initially laying canes and pruning. Teams of 25 arrive for the harvest which takes 10 days. David explained that the yield changes year on year. Last year the Sauvignon Blanc yield was really high but generally Chardonnay is most consistent. David describes himself as OCD about keeping the vines healthy; following the recent heat and thunderstorms he is on the lookout for downy mildew. Currently the established vines are doing really well in this weeks heat. "But you don't want a drought in the first year of planting" so the new vines are under careful scrutiny.