The 2026 vintage was my fourth harvest in the UK at the effervescent Ambriel in West Sussex, and what a harvest it was. Having roasted in our hot, dry summer, the 2026 harvest was concertinaed into a short window that seemed to come and go in a blur of grape skins, wet boots and burnt faces.

This vintage will go down in the record books. The verdict is still out on what it will deliver in terms of quantity and quality, but it’s more than likely to make a few new records no matter what.

I love harvest. It’s the time of year when you can get up close to the vines and appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that go into the art of making wine. If you’re thinking of getting involved in a grape harvest, go for it!  Yes, it’s hard work, but it’s so rewarding and never quite what you expect. Here are a few tips from my time helping out at harvest:

Forget the glamour

Wear dark clothes, a hat, boots, long sleeves and gloves. You can spot a newbie (or a journalist) a mile off - usually dressed in white or wearing a dress. Really the grapes don’t care how good you look and your camera/ mobile won’t appreciate the sticky grape fingers in any case.

It’s a workout

Picking grapes is back-breaking stuff, so a reasonable level of fitness helps, as does the occasional yoga stretch between the rows. Good company helps even more. There’s nothing quite like the laughter and babble of different languages drifting over a vineyard at harvest.

Harvest T-shirts are a badge of honour

And the best ones get worn with pride long after the last grape has been picked.

Vineyard dogs make everything better

When they’re not eating the grapes or getting under the winemaker’s feet.

Harvest meals are the best

I lost two kilos this year and it wasn’t from lack of eating my body weight in full English breakfasts and hearty lunches every day.  Thanks to our harvest chef, Wendy!

There’s always something new to marvel at

Every year at Ambriel, there’s a new bit of tech or a gadget for us all to get excited about. This year, it was Dolly, the electric platform trailer that made our picking so much easier, faster and quieter (allowing banter between the vines to flow without any interruption from a noisy tractor).

Finding the bunch of the day never gets old

Picking perfectly-formed, clean bunches of grapes never loses its buzz, and the competition to find the best is very real.  

Biodiversity is part of the magic

It’s a privilege to work in a vineyard buzzing with life. Birdsong, the occasional near-miss with a badger hole, finding frogs and the odd spider are all part and parcel and a reminder of what a healthy vineyard looks and sounds like.

The first-press is a reward in itself

Tasting the fruits of your labour straight from the press is a thrill. Yes, it’s grape juice, but this is no ordinary grape juice, this is the start of English sparkling wine and premium at that.

Sunshine is never a given

Harvest usually falls in autumn, so blue skies and warm temperatures are never common. This year, though, we were treated to the last of rays of our incredible summer, picking around three weeks earlier than usual. No complaints from this Aussie.

Here’s to the 2026 vintage. Now the wait to taste that summer that was in a garden in a summer to come.