Bothy Vineyard to cease wine production

Bothy Vineyard in Oxfordshire is to grub up its vines and cease wine production after 42 years due to ongoing issues with late spring frosts.

As reported by The Herald, Bothy Vineyard’s owners, Sian and Richard Liwicki, have decided to call time on their vineyard venture in Abingdon.

The Liwickis have been growing grapes at the vineyard, which was founded by Roger and Dorothea Fisher in 1978, for the last 18 years. According to The Herald, vines at the estate will be grubbed up in the coming months, and will be replaced with 850 oak and hazel trees.

“This year has been memorable for all the wrong reasons. Covid-19, political upheaval and the two nights of -5C frosts on May 11 and 13 devastated the flowering shoots of our vines.

Sian and Richard Liwicki are grubbing up their vines at Bothy Vineyard

“We have decided to grub up our vines. We are leaving just two long rows representing all the varieties that we have nurtured on site,” the couple told the paper.

They will continue to sell their bottled wines until they run out of stock. One of the key factors behind the decision was ongoing frost issues.

“Climate change has not been kind to us. Milder winters encourage early bud burst, but there has been no let-up in the short and hard frosts in May, which often disappear before most people have arisen.

“In the past 10 years we have had some degree of frost damage every year. Frost protection measures are expensive and often not very environmentally friendly. The whole block needs replacing, but this investment in a frost-prone site is just not sensible,” the Liwickis told The Herald.

The oak and hazel tree planting will begin early next year. The goal is to increase biodiversity at the estate and to help fight climate change.