Guide to Growing Grape Vines in the UK

Please find below a guide to growing grape vines and the difference in grape growing in the UK

Growing grapes dates back to the beginnings of the development of human civilization. The process of how to grow grapes has been perfected over centuries of trial and error and if known, today it enables us not only to find, but also to make ourselves, high quality wines that delight our palates.

Growing Grape Vines Process

Before enjoying your very first self-made bottle of wine, learning to grow grape is the initial step to complete. Before planting, you will have to select the type of grape to grow between two common kinds.

Select Your Cultivars According to Climate

Whether you choose to harvest red or white grapes, you will pick between European grape varieties and Hybrid grape varieties.

European grape varieties are most often used in traditional wine growing areas such as Napa and Sonoma Valley, in California. These places have characteristic warm climates, with extended growing seasons, which is perfect to grow grapes in.

In those places where growing seasons are shorter-lived due to cooler weather, hybrid grape varieties are the more efficient to grow. In addition to a higher resistance to cold weather, hybrid grapes also offer great tolerance to disease.

Establish Optimum Growing Conditions

Giving your grape vines a lot of sunlight and a nutrient deficient soil is vital for the harvesting of a healthy grapevine with fruit suitable for wine-making. While sunlight will aid in the grapes sweetness, a nutrient-poor soil will stress out the vine. This will force the grapes to grow smaller and maximize the amount of skin, the key to the color and flavor of the wine. Large grapes on the contrary, are more suitable to eat since they offer more juice and less skin – a friendlier scheme for our palate.

Determine the Prime Harvesting Time

In order to determine if it’s time to harvest your grapevine, you will need to measure the acidity of the fruit in each vine. When harvesting, it is essential that you stabilize acidity levels before adding the yeast to ensure proper fermentation. You can find acidity measures and acidity stabilizing chemicals at your local wine making supply store, as well as bottles, corks and wine fermenting yeast.

The Fermentation & Finishing Process

While there are several different yeast types that can be used to ferment your wine, each type will offer different subtleties in flavor and bouquet. Finding the one that is the best for your taste might take a bit of research or testing, but it may just be the taste change that you are looking for.

As soon as you control the acidity levels, you can move on to adding the yeast for fermentation to take place. Fermentation takes about a week, after which the wine is ready to age. Ageing varies in length, from several months to numerous years, to complete.

When the wine turns clear, it’s time to bottle. Then a second, and final, ageing is done to prepare the wine before its consumption. When it comes to ageing, be patient and remember the popular saying: the longer the ageing, the better the wine. In time, you will taste the difference.