Lobb Vineyard - Boutique vineyard in North Devon

Lobb Vineyard is a boutique vineyard in North Devon situated in the beautiful hamlet of Lobb near Braunton.

The vineyard is planted on south-west facing slopes with uninterrupted views over Braunton Burrows and the North Devon coast, a stones throw from the famous surfing beaches at Saunton Sands, Croyde and Putsborough.

Established in 2019, we chose North Devon because of our love for the area and the breath taking scenery.

North Devon is the same latitude as the south-east of England where the majority of vineyards are located. We have planted two non-traditional grape varieties (Solaris and Rondo) both with early ripening and disease resistant qualities.

marking out the vineyard before planting the vines

Preparation

Planting

Vines planted were Rondo and Solaris, all vines were planted by hand using augers.

Barn restoration

Beautiful view over Braunton Burrows and Saunton Sands

First years maintenance

The first planting was a test planting to see how things went, go through the learning curve and understand how intensive the full annual cycle would be along with getting a feel of the demand for the wine before seeing how many additional vines to plant. One of the first tasks was shooting

Annual pruning

The first annual pruning in the vineyard took place in February 2020 and had been booked in the diary for some time. The weather was horrendous, don't think we could have picked a worse window. 45 mph winds, driving rain and 5 celcius.

Wildlife push

Big push promoting wildlife in the vineyard this year.

Making progress

There has been good growth in the vines this year. This is the 2nd year of establishment and the plan will be to do a first harvest in 2022, with a small test crop to be taken in 2021 as a tester. We have been focusing a lot on wildlife this year and we

Preparation for more vines

Marking out for more vines to be planted in the spring, we are letting the hedges grow up for wind protection. Ploughing, mole ploughing and rotavating in preparation.

Trellising and planting

Busy few days trellising and planting, thanks to the team at Vineworks for doing a fantastic job.

Testing the equipment

Time to test out some of the equipment ahead of our first harvest

The Grapes

Solaris

Solaris is disease resistant, and ripens earlier than almost any other wine grape. The name Solaris, which means “sun”, is particularly apt, as the variety is used in regions noted for their cool climates and low sunshine levels

*information from www.wine-searcher.com

Rondo

As well as its ability to reliably ripen, Rondo is also well regarded because it is highly resistant to diseases and produces good-quality, full-bodied, deep red wines

*information from www.wine-searcher.com

Gallery

Testing the equipment

Fruit set

Trellising and planting