During a party recently the inevitable topic of house prices came up.  My ears pricked up when a local estate agent said she had been approached by a keen buyer who wanted a house in Herefordshire with the usual requirements - old house, lovely views, good-sized garden... and a vineyard.

There is a long tradition of growing vines in our area.  The Domesday Book recorded 42 British vineyards in two main parts of the country: the coastal area of the South East and the counties of Somerset, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.  Now Herefordshire contains a number of award-winning vineyards including Coddington, Lulham Court and Treago.

But 2007 will go down in the annals of English wine production as an annus horribilis.  The hot early spring in April encouraged hope for a repitition of the bumper year of 2006 when over 3.3 million bottles of English wine were produced compared to 1.7 million in 2005.  Then in June disaster struck, the heavens opened and washed away the flowers and any hope of pollination for many vines.  For some local vineyards, yields were down as much as 90 per cent; but salvation may have come in the form of better quality as sugar levels were high.

So why would anyone consider taking on or planting their own vineyard?  Land planted with vines in the UK increased from 793 hectares in 2005 to 923 hectares in 2006, and many of the big vineyards in the country are planning huge growth, encouraged perhaps by reports of our weather getting warmer.  But you need to move quickly as, depending on UK production over the next three years, an EU commercial planting ban may come into force in 2010.

Pruning vines on a beautiful spring day is like a little bit of heaven.  There is something continentally romantic, and organisationally very satisfying, about neat rows of vines curving down a hillside.  You don't have to do all the work yourself: it is possible to grow the grapes and send them off for processing: they come back bottled and ready to drink.  You just slap on your own label, chill, open and enjoy.

Growing vines as a hobby can be a different way to use a paddock now that the children's ponies are no longer grazing there;  and on a commercial basis it can be a useful way to use spare land.  Growing and making your own wine also contributes to reducing food miles.

At Tarrington Court we have 225 Madeleine Angevine vines planted about 18 years ago, which will be good for another few decades if maintained well.  They occupy around a quarter of an acre on a sloping, south-facing site with a brick wall on two sides.  In winter maintenance of the vines is minimal - prune before the end of the year then nothing much until the buds start to show in March or April.

In my experience the best way to keep vines healthy is applying the same principles as growing tomatoes - make sure that there is good airflow around the plants to minimise the risk of infections, particularly fungal infections such as downy mildew and botrytis which just love cramped damp corners.  In vineyards this is known as canopy management.  This winter because of the extremely damp condistion we will spray with Cuprakylt, a copper-based fungicide (approved by the Soil Association in limited doses). 
Regular fortnightly spraying may be necessary in the summer.  This takes us about ½ hour with a good backpack or spryer attachment fitted to a ride-on mower.

Pruning has to be done at least three times during the growing season with a final removal of leaves around the bunches of grapes in late summer to allow for good ripening, but leaving enough leaves for photosynthesis to feed the grapes.

Unlike tomato plants, vines are unlikely to need feeding.  Indeed it can be positively harmful to rape production, leading to masses of vegetative growth at the expense of the grapes.  Nor do established vines need watering.  During the drought of 2006 we did not wter our vines at all.

Newly planted vines will need watering until established but this should be heavy watering, infrequently.  As with a new hedge, you don't want to encourage the tap roots to stay near the top of the soil by watering too lightly.  THe roots need to sink deep into the soil to have a better chance of survival and provide a solid base to minimise wind rock.  New plants will aslo need protection from deer, rabbits, badgers - even wild boar; and the fruit may need protection from the birds.

We consider the picking to be the fun bit - mainly because we make a party of it.  With relatively few vines at Tarrington Court, we like to weigh and record the yield from each vine to see how it varies each year.  We follow with a pickers' lunch and an inaugural tasting of the previous year's harvest - 500 bottles in 2006!

In 2007 the early-ripening varieties such as Siegrebe, Madeleine, Riechensteiner, Rondo and Regent generally fared better than for example Seyval, which has been popular for quality sparkling wines.  Other grape varieties planted locally include Pinot Noir and, in very good sites, Chardonnay.  If this seems a daunting choice, plenty of advice can be had from local experts.

Costs of planting a vineyard vary hugely, partly due to whether you pay someone to do it for you or if you do it yourself - but if you are doing it commercially you should still price in your time.  With an established small vineyard like ours, we reckon our wine costs us in the region of £3 per bottle to produce depending on the yield each year, including paying a local winery, Three Choirs, to produce it for us. 

But larger-scale commercial vineyards would have very different ecomonmics.  To establish a commercial vineyard costs about £7,000 - £8,000 per acre, spread over two years, and operating costs are around £1,000 - £2,000 per annum per acre.  Yield on average can be around 3 tonnes per acre or 2,700 bottles.

Like a lot of gardening projects, the plants are not the main cost, amounting to a few pounds each depending on the numbers purchased.  You will need to spend more on protecting the new vines, probably with plastic sleeves or by surrounding the vineyard with a vermin-proof fence.  Trellis costs can mount up, although this need not be put in until the second year.
And of course you are unlikely to have your first batch of wine available to sell until year four or five, since the vines take about 3 to 4 years to produce a commercial yield.  English wines are rarely drunk until at least the year following harvest and we reckon that ours is much better if left in the bottle and not drunk till the second year.

So where can you get help and advice?  I have yet to find a really good book covering everything you want to know about growing vines in the UK, so we have relied heavily on the kindness and expertise of other local growers.

The best thing we ever did was to join the South West Vineyard Association ( www.swva.info ) which provides a forum for vine growers to keep up to date with ever-changing legislation, acceptable sprays to use and a wealth of advice for growers.  They also offer the opportunity to visit some wonderful houses with fabulous vineyards, run by generous people.

We are fortunate in this area to have professional consultants available locally, including Simon Day of Vine and Wine in Putley  ( simon@vineandwine.co.uk ) and Brian Edwards who holds the magnificent National Vine Collection at his vineyard in Ewyas Harold and supplies a huge variety of vines, given with a corresponding huge amount of advice (vinenursery@hotmail.com).

So for a New Year resolution with a difference - make your own wine, serve with unusual home-grown vegetables such as tomatillos and chiogga beetroot to really impress your guests, and who knows, add value to your property!