The award-winning Yorkshire Heart Vineyard near York has begun its grape harvest for 2025, a month earlier than last year.

Wednesday, 17 September 2025 17:46

By Darren Greenwood

This family-run vineyard in Nun-Monkton was established in 2000 and is home to over 29,000 vines, which are lovingly nurtured across 18 acres to produce its range of red, white, rosé, varietal, and sparkling wines.

This year’s harvest, which began yesterday (Sunday), sees three generations of the Spakouskas family, along with a team of dedicated volunteers, harvesting 20 different varieties of grapes across the vineyard.

Tim Spakouskas, Director of Yorkshire Heart Vineyard, said after the first day of harvest:“We’re a month earlier than last year, mainly due to the long, hot summer weather, and so we’re predicting a really great harvest!

"We believe the wines produced from this year’s crops may be even better tasting than last year’s - and we’ve had a bumper year of awards for those, so far!”

Immediately after harvest, the grapes are processed in the on–site winery, overseen by chief winemaker Gillian Spakouskas, who carefully monitors the wines during a 12-month fermentation and maturation period.

They are then stabilised before filtering, bottling, labelling and packing in-house. From grape to glass, everything is done on site.

It’s been a busy September already for Yorkshire Heart Vineyard, as they scooped Best Grower and Producer at the WineGB Midlands & North Members’ Day, plus a host of other awards for their wines.

All seven wines entered won medals, with Latimer White scooping their second-ever Gold.

They also won several more trophies for Midlands & North.

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