(TDB) - As the uncharacteristically long and hot UK summer continues, winemakers are hopeful of a “dream harvest”, according to trade body Wine GB, with producers recording one of the earliest harvests on record with picking starting last week.

Having benefitted from a long hot summer, which is expected to continue into October, high yields are predicted with early ripening resulting in large volumes of healthy fruit, bringing harvest forward by an average of two weeks, while more acreage coming in to production has also boosted potential yields.

In July, the drinks business reported that English winemakers were on track to produce their best and biggest vintage ever, following an extended period of hot, dry weather in the UK, with those predictions becoming increasingly well founded as we approach harvest.

Three Choirs Vineyard in Gloucestershire, for example, has already received the first grapes for harvest, the earliest that an English commercial vineyard has started harvest, it believes, following what it describes as an “incredible growing season”.