#veraison is when the grapes change colour and start to ripen. It has just begun at Brissenden. One (of our many) next jobs is to remove the (hurtful but pretty) thistles that are growing between the vines as they are stealing their nutrients. As the grapes 🍇 ripen they will become increasingly attractive to wasps and birds. 🐝 and 🐦 will join the thistles on the ‘hurtful’ list and we shall go into battle against them too! Luckily for us we have some beautiful local 🦅 of prey who help us out with scaring the smaller berry/grape eating birds away! #ripen #wasps #smallbirds #grapeeaters #birdsofprey #beautiful #naturalpredators #teambrissenden #onwards

The Boss can always be relied upon to say it how it is! 20 seconds probably is about the extent of her leaf plucking. But she has kept me company with her merry chatter whilst I did a couple of rows! #herecomesthegeneral #themomentyouvebeenwaitingfor #theboss #iwishshewastheboss #wewouldgetloadsofbreaks #andicecream #stillleafplucking #forever #sunshine #mysunshine #kent #ukvineyards

Bribery is often key in motivating the work force but every leaf 🍃 plucked is one less for me to do! And ⚽️ based incentives work well with this one. #headofinfantry #thewall #letthesunshine #mysunshine #leafbyleaf #2down1togo #summerchallenge #vineyard #kent

The leaves really do make a satisfying snapping sound as they come off. Beautifully demonstrated here by a key and highly dependable member of my army. #headofcavalry #snap #leavesbegone #dontneedyouhereanymore #moresunshine #grapes #ripening #mysunshine #englishrose

Leaf plucking is well under way! But there is still so much more to do. Luckily we have a plan (or an army incoming!) #phew #moresunshine #summerjob #englishvineyard

The summer team is busy removing the leaves around the grapes. We are doing our Pinot Noir first, followed by our Bacchus, because Bacchus are more inclined to get sunburnt! (If I was a grape I might well be Bacchus!) The more sunlight the grapes get the better, for ripening. The fewer leaves around the grapes the better, for disease control and as an added bonus it makes picking them quicker at harvest time, because they are easier to see! We leave plenty of leaves higher up the vine for good old photosynthesis. Leaf plucking can be done by machine, but as with most things at Brissenden, it is done by hand! The helping hands here have been lent to me by my French cousins (merci!) @remiii_lds & Juliette! #summer #workexperience #sunshine #seethelight #tangled #vineyard #ripen

Civilians, a soft perimeter AND people having fun! Brissenden Spy Trail has it all! Solve clues that at first can’t be seen 🔦 🔎 learn codes like ‘pig pen’ (there are 6 code/ clue styles in total) and gather ‘intel’ from each station. Or ignore all of that and take a leisurely stroll through the grounds! Email info@brissendenvineyard.com to book your summer holiday trail. £5 per person. #summerholidays #kent #treasurehunt #thingstodoinkent #kidsactivity #ukvineyard #fun #spy #welcome #pigpen #morsecode #brissenden 🕵️‍♀️🕵️‍♂️ 🥂🥂🔎 🔍🧃🧃… - - - … 🔦🔦

It’s time to give the vines a haircut. We trim the tops to focus the energy of the vine into the fruit zone! It also reduces the weight of the canopy so the wire trellis can keep the shoots nicely spaced; the tractor can get through easily to mow etc and plenty of sunshine can get through. (We give this an extra boost by thinning the leaves). There are still plenty of leaves left for good old photosynthesis to do its thing. We are currently tucking and topping so that we can press on with leaf plucking next. That will all help ripen the 🍇 in the ☀️ and ripe grapes help to make delicious wine! 🥂 😁 #trim #topping #haircut #neatandtidy #healthy #aeration #sunshine #englishvineyard #kent #bacchus @brissendencamping

🥁….Our seasonal trail is back by popular demand! (That and - a lovely journalist highlighted our trails in a national newspaper; 🤩 📰 - a wise woman @ajsharpflavourfanatic gently confirmed it was indeed time ⏰ for another and - we have a mild spy 🕶 obsession in this house!) So… #brissendenvineyard brings you our 🔎 🍇 🕵️‍♀️ SUMMER TRAIL 🕵️‍♀️ 🍇 🔍 brimming with coded messages to solve. Stations are dotted around the vineyard with interesting facts about 🍇 (These stations also hold a coded message that the spies require to succeed in their mission. There is no need for spies to read the fun 🍇 facts if they don’t wish to! They can just collect their code and move on). You can choose how to navigate between the stations, depending on your interests… 🚶🏽 take a leisurely stroll guided by our map 🗺 with no need to worry about clues 🔎 borrow our UV torch to read hidden messages that will tell you how to get from one station to another 🕵️‍♀️ decode clues to work out your next set of directions and reach your secret destinations! 🏃🏽‍♀️ without clues, without a map! (Good luck!) Or a mixture of them all! All options can be enhanced with a refreshing tipple 🥂 (for over 18s!) 🥤 otherwise! 🧃🍾 is a great way to reward yourself during or after spy school! So whatever your enthusiasm for wine, vines, maps and codes, we hope you will enjoy your time with us. Trail bookings by appointment (email please) and payments in advance of visit. Trail price £5 per person. Trail dates: Saturday 30th July Sunday 31st July Monday 1st August Tuesday 2nd August Wednesday 3rd August Thursday 4th August Friday 5th August Saturday 6th August Monday 8th August Saturday 20th August Sunday 21st August Monday 22nd August Tuesday 23rd August Wednesday 24th August Thursday 25th August #summer #thingstodoinkent #brissendentrail #vineyardtrail #spyschool #myspy #myspies 😎 #spynextdoor #spiesindisguise 🤜 #secretcodes introducing soon the #brissendenbunch 🍇 can’t wait!