Help & Advice from Bedfordshire's Wine Making Experts

 

Wine Making Seasons:

The best wine makers time their activities to coincide with those of the grapes. That's why we take our holidays in February and July when the grapes are budding and ripening respectively.

The guide below shows what fruit/vegetables are at their best for making wine each month.
 
January
  • Oriental Fruits: figs and dates
  • Barley
  • Citrus: grapefruit
  • Maize
  • Dried Fruit: raisins and prunes
 February

Grapes: Bud Break

  • Tinned Fruit: peach, nectarine
  • Nuts: coffee or almond
  • Citrus Fruits: orange, tangerine
  • Parsnips
 March
  • Carribean Fruits: bananas and pineapples
  • Peaches
  • Rice
 April
  • Flowers: dandelion, gorse and primrose
  • 'Bees' Wine (this is not made with honey, rather bees refers to the type of yeast used)

May
Grapes: Vine Flowering

  • Hedgerow Flowers: hawthorn, elderflower, nettle
  • Mead
  • Vanilla

June
Grapes :Fruit Setting

  • Currants: blackcurrant, redcurrant
  • Gooseberries
  • Herbs: parsley, sage

July
Grapes : Veraison

  • Cherries
  • Flowers: honeysuckle, marigold
  • Vegetables: marrow

August
Grapes :Ripening

  • Berries: strawberry, raspberry, plum
  • Rose petals
  • Root vegetables: carrots
  • Green Fruits: gooseberry, greengage
  • Ginger Beer
September

Grapes : Harvesting

  • Berries: raspberry, blackberry, loganberry
  • Sparkling Mead
  • Apples & Pears
  • Rose hips
 October

Grapes: Destemming

  • Berries: hawthornberry, bilberry, mulberry
 November
  • Berries: cranberry, sloe
  • Sloe Gin
  • Port
  • Winter Vegetables: celery,ginger, parsnips
  • Hops
 December 
  • Spices: Ginger, spiced beetroot
  • Mulled Wine