And Jersey’s winemakers are no exception with vineyards in St Mary on track to harvest two weeks ahead of schedule and to produce a high-quality and high-quantity crop.
However, Tim Crowley, managing director of La Mare Wine Estate, said that he would not be able to relax until all his grapes had been processed.
‘It is very unusual that we get two great years like this in a row and we will have our best ever year if this weather continues. This is really as good as it gets,’ he said.
‘In general, every vineyard in the UK is having a great season and it is essentially as if we are south of La Loire right now. We are experiencing some extreme conditions.
‘Having said that, nature has a funny way of slapping you in the face and I will not be completely happy until it [the wine] is in the tank.’
Mr Crowley added that the warm weather had meant the company had not had to interfere with their crops by using pesticides and other disease-control measures.
He also said that unlike many crops, grapevines did not suffer when there was a lack of rain and their roots grew between 15 and 20 ft underground to find water.
The winemaker also said that his delicate grape varieties were thriving and the business could make 9,000 additional bottles of sparkling wine compared to last year if the season continued to go according to plan.
‘When you do not have to manage the vines and let them do their own thing you generally get a better crop,’ he said. ‘Even varieties like Pinot Noir, which we use in our sparkling wine, is normally quite a difficult crop to grow but it is growing perfectly.
‘We generally only make sparkling wine three times in every ten years and this will probably be the best out of those three years in this decade.’
The boss of the UK’s largest and most well-known wine estate, Chapel Down, said that the country was experiencing its best wine season in 18 years.
Speaking to ITV News, Frazer Thompson, chief executive, said: ‘The flowering has been completely uninterrupted and early, and the bunches look regular and superb, and the forecast is also good.
‘Every single vineyard that could go right has gone right and often we get the right weather, but not in the right order, but this year we have had the right weather in the right order – ‘14 was the last vintage that was a bit like that and it produced staggering wines.’
