For vineyards across Kent, the arrival of October means it is time to start the grape harvest. Now grape picking is one of those activities that sounds rather lovely in theory, but if you have to do it all day you quickly realise it is actually pretty tiring work. Fortunately, some of Kent’s vineyards now offer members of the public an opportunity to try their hand at grape-picking for just a few hours at a “Harvest Experience” day.
What is a “Harvest Experience?”
A Harvest Experience is essentially an opportunity to come along and help pick grapes at a vineyard, but without having to commit to doing it all day! Typically, this means 2-3 hours spent among the vines doing the actual picking, followed by a hearty lunch, washed down with a few glasses of the vineyard’s own wines.
Susannah Ricci and her brilliant team at Yotes Court Vineyard, a 75-acre vineyard located between West Peckham and Mereworth, have these harvest experience days down to a fine art – very well organised, with just the right balance of learning, grape-picking, eating, drinking and socialising. If you are looking for an interesting and enjoyable outdoor activity (and one which offers lots of Instagram opportunities), then this is definitely for you. My wife and enjoyed picking Pinot Noir grapes at Yotes Court on a beautiful sunny day last October, so we signed up to do it again this year, along with about sixty other people.
The Day Begins
Our Harvest Experience began at 10.00am with everyone assembling for tea, coffee and biscuits in a large open-air building overlooking the vines, providing one of the most spectacular views in Kent. Susannah welcomed the group to the vineyard, then Tony Purdie, the Vineyard Manager, gave us all some safety tips and an overview of how the day was expected to pan out. Everyone then lined up to receive a pair of gloves, their vine snips and a bucket.
With all the grape pickers suitably kitted out, Tony then led us up to the top of the vineyard and gave a brief explanation about how bunches of grapes should be picked and what to look out for in terms of imperfections. Then we were all sent to work picking along several rows of Pinot Blanc.
Picking Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay
As we picked the Pinot Blanc, a very efficient “bucket-running” operation was established. As a tractor moved along the rows of vines in tandem with the pickers, members of the vineyard team ran up and down the rows emptying full buckets of grapes into a giant pink hopper on the back of the tractor and gave pickers back empty buckets.
Our group managed to fill a couple of these hoppers with Pinot Blanc grapes quite quickly. Tony seemed genuinely impressed with the large quantity of grapes we had managed to pick. After a short break, we all followed Tony on a short walk down to another part of the vineyard. Here we spent another hour or so picking Chardonnay grapes.
Time for Lunch and Wine
At around 1.30pm, by which time it was evident that energy levels among the grape-pickers were beginning to flag, we got the call to empty our buckets for the last time. We then headed back up to the vineyard’s main building for a group photo, lunch and wine.
Naturally, everyone was keen to sample the Yotes Court wines. The wines being served were their 2021 “On the Nod” Bacchus (White), 2022 “Best Turned Out” Pinot Meunier (Rosé) and 2022 “Starter’s Orders” Pinot Noir Reserve (Red). All the wines produced by Yotes Court have names derived from horse-racing, as Susannah is heavily involved in National Hunt horse-racing and owns a number of successful horses.
The Precious Porkers food truck was on hand serving delicious pulled pork rolls and sausage and apple burgers, along with some vegetarian options as well. By now the Yotes Court Cellar Door had opened and a generous £20 discount was being offered on a 6-bottle case – this proved popular with our group.
How Do I Sign Up for the Harvest Experience?
By the time you read this, the grape harvest will be over. If you want to take part next year, tickets for the Yotes Court Harvest Experience usually go on sale in early September (you will need to make sure you are on their emailing list) and cost £40 per person. Yotes Court is not particularly easy to reach via public transport, so it is best to come by car – they have ample car-parking available.
In addition to the grape-picking, a tasty lunch, good wines and lots of brilliant photo opportunities, each participant also receives (in about 18 months’ time) a bottle of wine made from the grapes picked on the day. I would say that is a pretty good deal – our group certainly seemed to enjoy their harvest experience.
