All over the southeast of England, grass is struggling with the dry weather, but the vines with their deep root systems are able to tap into moisture and are doing fine.
This time in four weeks, the bright, hard, bullet-like grapes pictured will be purple-black, and will have swollen to twice the size, creating dense clusters of fruit. The sugar levels will have skyrocketed and the leaves will have started to enter their last stage, turning a pale yellow-green.
This year, fruit is less abundant than you might assume - in part due to the wet weather last summer which informs the fruit bud initiation for this year - if the conditions are anything less than perfect, then the potential crop is reduced for the following year.
Bunch sizes look a little smaller than normal, but that's no bad thing - in fact, it bodes well for fruit quality as each vine will have slightly less to ripen and can put more energy into each bunch.
This year, we had a little bit of wet weather during flowering but other than that, conditions have been great. That means, all being well, we can expect a larger crop next year.
