The grapes start to ripen towards the end of August. The grapes require an average temperature of 15C to ripen sufficiently and the units of sunlight are extremely important.

To determine the ripeness of the grapes, a random pick of grapes from various rows is taken and they are crushed into a bucket. A Refractometer is then used to measure the sugar content. Ideally the sugar content should be in the region of 80 oechsle, which can be difficult to achieve in England due to the late summers and cool climate.

Before harvest commences, a last check of the vines and grapes is carried out. All diseased bunches are cut out and taken away from the vineyard to minimise the fungus over wintering in the wood or soil. Only the clean grapes are picked and sent to the winery.

To obtain the maximum benefit from the sun and to ensure maximum ripening, the harvest in Danebury usually commences during the first week of November. Normally the first leaves have started to drop and the vine has started to winterise. Without leaves there is no photosynthesis and the sugar conversion has halted.

The harvest begins in the early morning and the grapes are therefore picked when they are cool. This reduces the effects of the warm sun from starting the first stages of fermentation when the grapes are picked into the shallow containers. Even with the care taken to not crush the grapes, there will always be a certain amount of damage and the juice will naturally start to go through the first stages of fermentation.

The grapes from the Auxerois and Rulander vines are used to make the sparkling wine. The whole fruit is loaded into an oxygen depleted press and approximately 400 litres of juice are extracted per tonne of grapes, by pressing with minimal press rotation. This is called the first run off and is used to make our quality sparkling wine.

The Schonburger grapes are picked with the same amount of care, but on arrival at the winery the grapes go through a de-stemmer (the wine-making process of removing the stems, or stalks, from clusters of grape berries) and then go into the press already broken.

After harvest the last of two sprays is applied to the vines. Usually a copper mixture, to prevent the over wintering of the three fungus; Botrytis, powdery mildew and downy mildew. The last spray is a tar wash.

Mid autumn to the end of winter is a quiet period in the vineyard. The vines lie dormant and so maintenance work is carried out.