GRAPES OF QUAFF: Northern vineyard toasts perfect weather

Five pickers have been busy for a week bringing in the grapes at the prize-winning Leventhorpe Vineyard, near Leeds, where, Mr Bowden says, the weather has been kind.

But he dismisses predictions of an Indian summer this weekend, saying: “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

He says: “In agricultural terms, it has been a first class year – warm but not too wet. The weather up here in general has been better than the South East where they have had drought and tremendous downpours, whereas we have had occasional rain.”

The modest five-acre Leventhorpe Vineyard was founded in 1985 and began producing in 1990. It is set on a well-drained south-facing slope and produces several whites and a red.

Mr Bowden’s wines have won regional awards and plaudits from the likes of critics Oz Clarke and Rick Stein.

He supplies selected farm shops, restaurants and hotels throughout Yorkshire. His wine was also given a royal seal of approval a few years ago when the Duke of Kent visited and enjoyed a tipple.

Picture: Simon Hulme.