Chris Haywood
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chrishaywoodwine.bsky.social
Chris Haywood
@chrishaywoodwine.bsky.social
330 followers 130 following 630 posts
English Winemaker at Astley Vineyard (Worcs). Toddler dad. Foodie & nerdy.
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Here’s your starter for producers, professionals, and personalities in English wine.

Let me know if I’ve missed you!
Finally bottling the 2024 sparkling.
4.5 bar
Kerner
QA23
Shop was “lunch is 2 hours late” kind of busy.

Good fun. Good conversations.
Shop was “lunch is 2 hours late” kind of busy.

Good fun. Good conversations.
Opening everything up today to celebrate Taste Worcestershire.

Look at all my lovely, colourful boys & girls 🥹
Flambéd some home grown & home made poached quince in chase marmalade vodka because I’m all kinds of fancy. Served on a hot cross bun 💅🏻
Taking some time off feels weird after 8 weeks of non stop adrenaline.

In the meantime, our last bunches of Kerner are developing some welcome botrytis so that we can attempt a late harvest wine
Try getting a melatonin prescription? Works well when I use it
Kerner hanging on for longer it seems!
The polar jet stream remains weak and amplified across the western portion of the Northern Hemisphere this week.

For the UK, this means that high pressure will dominate and block the more typical rain-bearing low pressure systems from moving into western Europe.
Still pushing on.
Pressing the Pinot today
Why yes, we are playing kids Texas BBQ. Why do you ask? 😅
Getting some skin-on-skin with my babies.

Kerner getting pressed tomorrow (picked Thursday morning)
A phrase I picked up from Ernst Loosen at a tasting always sticks with me “our job is to be a wine clown”. Certainly ticked that box last night 😅
Straight after harvest (💀) I headed to Faun Wine to launch Taste Worcestershire with a room of influencers.

We sped through 5 wines paired with delicious canapés. Fabulous evening! Always nice to see your wine being enjoyed in a beautiful setting
Kerner harvest.
Best we’ve ever had I think.

13%+ abv
Aiming for 40 ish hours on skins.
Should make an amazing wine 🤞🏻
Part of me loves a well done novelty beer. Another part of me hates them sometimes (cough, vault city)(mostly)

This is a banger. Nicely balanced
When you uncontrollably whisper
“You’re on f*cking fire mate 😋”
You know it’s good
Final tour of the year!

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒 620 wine lovers
🍾 558 bottles opened.
🥂 3720 glasses enjoyed (and washed!)
🍞 31 loaves of Matleena’s bread.
🌱 5.2kg of Chris’s pesto.
🐟🧀Countless kilos of salmon & cheese.
❤️ We collectively spent around 300 hours hosting you

One of the best bits of the job
Late harvest Kerner approaching.
Hoping to hit 14% abv.
Reminder: this is basically Riesling grown in Worcestershire 😯
13% sauvignon blanc 🤷🏼‍♂️😦
£700k pre tax loss says a lot about the state of big English wine atm
Chapel Down has pulled the plug on a flagship winery development, citing planning delays and shifting market realities. The move raises questions about growth in the English wine sector – even as producers remain confident about the long-term future.
English wine is booming – so why has Chapel Down scrapped plans for a £32m winery?
Chapel Down has pulled the plug on a flagship winery development, citing planning delays and shifting market realities.
www.thedrinksbusiness.com
Pineapple juice coming out the press.

Mammoth day. All sorts of jobs done. Nailed it, but tired
Sauvignon Blanc day.

After a bit of a rough patch with the rain, this vintage is really picking up again. Making me think about our last pick of Kerner…
1.092sg/92oe
11.7ta

Nice numbers
Kerner press today after a night macerating.

To coin a phrase used by Tommy of Langham - I believe this counts as Brown Juice Club 😅