Kent vineyard faces climate crisis

KentOnline / KMTV

After a wet spring, dry winter and late summer a vineyard in Ashford has recognised that its been a challenging year for farmers across Kent.  Kristin went to the vineyard to find out more.

Transcript

00:00The Biddington Vineyard in Ashford are noticing changes in their business with the increase of extreme weather conditions in the past year,

00:07like wetter springs, more flooding, late summers and warmer winters.

00:12Last year, like most vineyards in Kent, they gathered well over 100 tonnes of crop,

00:18but this year the harvest has reduced to 40, just below their normal intake of 50 tonnes.

00:24Although Tom admits that this year's crop has been less than that of previous years,

00:29he says that his family are well used to adapting, and that it might actually be beneficial for the grapes

00:34as they get a chance to change in flavour every year.

00:36For vines, for characteristics in making wine, weather factors, stress factors,

00:43they all bring different flavours, they bring different characteristics to wine, so that's a good thing.

00:47So each year is different. Kent's the place to be for growing vines.

00:51We went to a launch party at the main everyone's last week,

00:55a big French champagne name, and they've decided to be in Kent, and that's where we are.

01:00So as a group, Wine Garden of England, I think we're in a really strong position

01:05and really excited for where it's all going.

01:07Tom states, however, that the company has been affected by climate change in a variety of ways,

01:12but he seemed optimistic that he will continue to adapt and diversify his methods of farming.

01:18On the tourism side, we've seen increasing numbers of people wanting to come and see us,

01:24but the spend has been slightly down. Is that to do with the weather?

01:29Yes, I think people are coming and sitting in the yard, going for a walk around the vineyard

01:33and having a bottle of wine or a glass of wine.

01:36If the weather's not quite as sunny as it was last year,

01:40they're not staying for that second bottle of wine or second glass.

01:43So I think it affects us in that way.

01:46From a growing point of view, it's been a really, really tough year right from the start.

01:51I'm still waiting to see summer, and we're the first of October.

01:54I'm not really sure if we're going to see it, so we're straight into autumn.

01:58But you go with what you've got, don't you? You can't change the weather.

02:02With the rise of economical pressures, he also mentioned how farms across Kent

02:07are considering changing from manual labour to machinery in order to reduce costs.

02:12So with all this in mind, it seems that the people at this vineyard are optimistic

02:16as they continue to cope well with the increase of extreme weather conditions.

02:20But while grapes can benefit from these stressors,

02:23it seems the future of farming in general will be forced to change slowly but surely.

02:28Kristen Hawthorne, KMTV in Ashford.

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