A Season of Pressure: The Vineyard in 2026
This season has certainly tested us at The Secret Vineyard.
Every year in the vineyard is different, and that is one of the things we love about growing grapes. But this year, the weather has really made its presence felt. After an exceptionally dry period, the lack of rainfall has put our vines under considerable pressure.
Vines are remarkably resilient plants, and one of the fascinating things about growing grapes is seeing how they respond to the conditions around them. But there is a point where resilience becomes stress. With very little rain, the soil has dried out and the vines have had to work much harder to find the water they need.
For a young vineyard like ours, this is particularly significant. Our vines are still establishing themselves, and their root systems aren’t yet as extensive as those of an older vineyard. We’ve watched closely as the leaves and shoots respond to the heat and lack of water, knowing that the vine is constantly having to make decisions about where to put its limited resources.
And ultimately, the grapes are part of that equation.
When vines are under moderate water stress, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, some degree of stress can be beneficial for grape growing and can help produce concentrated, characterful fruit. The challenge is when that stress becomes too severe or lasts for too long. Then the vine can struggle to ripen its crop properly, and both yield and quality can be affected.
What does this mean for English wine?
It also makes you think about the future.
English wine has traditionally benefited from a cool, marginal climate. Our relatively long, cool growing seasons have been particularly well suited to varieties such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier — the varieties that have become synonymous with English sparkling wine.
But climate change is beginning to change that equation.
We often think of climate change simply in terms of temperatures getting warmer. For vineyards, it is much more complicated than that. We’re seeing increasingly unpredictable weather patterns: warmer temperatures, periods of intense heat, prolonged drought, followed by the potential for very heavy rainfall. The challenge isn’t simply that England is becoming warmer — it’s that the growing conditions are becoming less predictable.
For English vineyards, this could bring opportunities as well as challenges.
Warmer summers can help grapes ripen more consistently and open the possibility of growing a wider range of varieties. Some of the conditions that were once considered marginal for grape growing are becoming increasingly favourable.
But drought and water availability could become a much bigger issue.
A vineyard needs water at the right time, not necessarily lots of it. Too much rain at the wrong point in the season can cause its own problems, while prolonged dry weather can put vines under significant stress. And unlike a field of annual crops, a vineyard is a long-term investment. The vines we plant today could still be producing grapes several decades from now.
That means we have to think beyond this year’s harvest.
Watching and learning
One of the most interesting parts of running a small vineyard is that we are constantly learning from the land. We don’t have thousands of acres of vines to hide behind — every row, every vine and every change in the weather is noticeable.
This year has reminded us just how dependent we are on the elements.
You can prune at exactly the right time, nurture the vines, keep the canopy healthy and spend countless hours tending to them, but ultimately you cannot control the weather.
All you can do is adapt.
We’re keeping a particularly close eye on the vines this year, watching how they respond to the dry conditions and thinking about what that might mean for the future. As the climate changes, vineyard management in England will inevitably have to change with it — from the varieties we plant and the rootstocks we choose, to how we manage the soil and water and protect the vines during increasingly extreme weather.
For now, though, we’re enjoying watching the grapes develop and hoping that the vines can carry us through to another successful harvest.
Every vintage tells a story.
And this one is certainly going to have a story to tell.
From our little corner of Sussex, we’re keeping everything crossed for a good finish to the season — and looking forward to seeing what 2026 will bring.
