Sorry – I’ve come over all smug because my grape harvest (vendange) has been formidable this year.

we have been growing the vine up the back of the garage on a south facing wall. Those of you who have been following my previous posts will have shared my tentative foray into the pruning and training of grape vines.

It has all paid off and thanks to some timely netting I have not had to share the harvest with blackbirds or wasps. A warm sunny autumn has also helped although I have had a keen eye on the weather forecast as the fruits have slowly ripened.

We picked one bunch and only the really purple grapes were sweet – the rest were still a little sour so we had to be patient and hope they would all ripen. There’s nothing quite like adorning a cheese board with your own grapes.

Now that November is knocking on the door I did harvest them all which left me with a dilemma since we couldn’t eat 6 lbs of grapes in one go without consequences…

I decided to make a batch of grape jelly and I don’t think I have ever made a preserve that came out quite such a beautiful colour.