PICTURES: Vineyard near York hails 'bumper harvest' as volunteers help picking
Alex Calvert of Pontefract, who does the vineyard's social media, saying picking grapes is therapeutic. (Image: Darren Greenwood)
IT'S shaping up to be a bumper harvest and a great vintage at the Yorkshire Heart Vineyard and Brewery near York.
The vineyard, which started over 20 years ago, just outside Nun Monkton, is halfway through its harvest, which began a week ago.
When the Press called by on Thursday, the several dozen volunteers had broken off for lunch, but they were happy to say how much they have enjoyed picking the grapes.
That morning they had been picking Regent, a grape variety that will be used to make a rose.
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Ailsa Johnson of Doncaster enjoying the grape picking. (Image: Yorkshire Heart)
Alison and Martin Johnson had travelled up from Doncaster for the day.
They have visited Yorkshire Heart regularly since reading about it in the Yorkshire Post five years ago and attended a tasting session.
David Lewis of Thirsk picking the grapes. (Image: Darren Greenwood)
Alison said: “We have done every part of the process apart from bottling. It’s a out in the open. It’s a day out and so socialising. You walk through the vines talking to someone and then you meet someone else.”
“And because you can pick at weekends, those at work can join in too!”
Plenty of volunteers enjoy lunch with Yorkshire Heart wines and beer (Image: Darren Greenwood)
Martin said: “I have got to learn so much about wines and vines here, more than from our many visits to France.”
Sara and David Lewis of Thirsk have been visiting the vineyard for three years, starting when they were gifted a tour.
“It’s lovely here and they (the Spakoukas’s) are such a lovely family. Picking is great exercise. Its something you can spend a fortune on in Tuscany but it’s right here on your doorstep. It’s a lovely experience to see the grapes being picked and put into a machine (for pressing).”
Alex Calvert of Pontefract, who does the vineyard's social media, saying picking grapes is therapeutic. (Image: Darren Greenwood)
David agreed, adding he loved the exercise and picking being “very social.”
Martin Heywood of Knaresborough was enjoying his first harvest after discovering the vineyard through an afternoon tea experience.
He said: “We were shown around and I was fascinated by how the vineyard began from a back garden hobby. It’s fantastic that a local business has built up to the size it is. I take my hat off to the efforts the family has made.”
The grapes go in for pressing (Image: Darren Greenwood)
“It’s nice to experience the processes of making the wine and in 12 months I might have picked the grapes I have drunk in the wine.”
Martin also had praise for the Yorkshire Heart brewery over the road, adding its beers are also “fantastic.”
Carol and David Thompson of Newcastle first came across the vineyard after receiving a gift voucher for a tour.
Sara and David Lewis of Thirsk says you don't have to go to Tuscany, it is right here on your doorstep. (Image: Darren Greenwood)
They thought a day out in the fresh air picking grapes would be fun, and it was.
Carol said: “You can lose yourself in what you are doing. There’s the regenerative nature of it. It helps you clear your mind.”
Yorkshire Heart’s winemaker Henry Spakouskas says everything is shaping up well in 2026.
He added: “The grapes are well good quality, with plenty of juice, plenty of sugars and some good flavours. It’s a bumper harvest. We are sure to make lots of great wine this year.”