A Dorset wine estate is set to bring in a bumper harvest, almost double the volume of last year.

Picking began at Langham’s Crawthorne vineyard site, about 11 miles from Dorchester.

Langham is predicting a crop of 90 tonnes, similar to that of the legendary harvest in 2018, and more than a third up on the 55 tonne yield last year.

The main harvest began on October 6.

However, the vineyard team kicked off with the early ripening clone Pinot Noir Précoce the previous week and brought in 1.8 tonnes.

Justin Langham, Owner of the Langham Wine Estate, pictured left, said: “The précoce was only planted in 2018 so with vines taking two to three years to establish, the first real harvest that’s worth counting was last year, where Langham took in 708kg; so it’s definitely off to a good start!

“We’re still on track for around 90 tonnes overall, which is similar to the legendary harvest of 2018.

“The long, hot and dry summer has been good for the English wine industry as a whole, and particularly fortuitous in Dorset.”

Despite the extreme heat, Langham didn’t struggle with the drought because of the benefits of their vineyard’s soil structure and the longer growing season in the South West, compared to other winemaking areas in the UK.

Tommy Grimshaw, Langham’s Head Winemaker, pictured right, said: “Our soil structure of chalk, limestone and clay loam offers good water retention when needs be and our vines have fared well in the long dry periods this summer.

“Also, being in the South West, we have a slightly longer growing season and we’re only just starting harvest this week.

“A longer growing season means that our grapes have had longer ‘hang time’ to build up the all-important phenolic ripeness, which leads to wonderful fruit character.

“So, in some cases whilst the sugars may be up, and the acids may have lowered, the grapes could benefit from slightly longer on the vine to reach optimum phenolic ripeness which changes bitter flavours from the skins and the seeds to softer fruit flavours.

“This year we have reached amazing levels of ripeness on our large yield.”

A team of up to 35 local pickers are expected to bring in nine tonnes of grapes per day for the next two and a half weeks.

Planted in 2009, the Crawthorne vineyard spans 12 hectares planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier .

It’s located on a sheltered south facing slope 90 metres above sea level.

The soil consists of a shallow clay loam, containing flint, over deep Cretaceous chalk and Coralliferous limestone.

The chalk soils provide the award-winning wines with a fresh, saline character and by reducing intervention both in the vineyard and winery the Langham team strive not to cloud these characters.

The Langham vineyard was originally established by John Langham on a very small scale.

In 2009 John’s son, Justin, decided to develop his father’s rudimental vineyard into a commercial venture, and planted 30 acres at their Crawthorne Farm.

To keep up with the increasing demand for English sparkling wine, a further 45 acres of new vines were planted in May this year.

The boutique winery currently produces between 50,000 and 60,000 bottles of sparkling wine per year priced from £29.50.