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The Stressed Yeast Society
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WSET School, London
Lavinia Cremonese / Florence
Lynn de Vries / Amsterdam
Mark Haigh / London
Irene López / Bilbao
Sophie Milnes / London
Miguel Silva / Lisbon
Peder Sortland / Stavanger
Jennifer Thörn / Stockholm
Ben Thuriaux-Alemán / Brighton
Margriet Vande Zande / Beaconsfield
4.9 - 5.0
Stellar+
4.6 - 4.8
Stellar
4.3 - 4.5
Remarkable
4.0 - 4.2
Worthy
3.5 - 3.9
Decent
(Ad-hoc)
Disappointing
Logroño (La Rioja)
Spain
18-23 June 2026
The Greyhound Beaconsfield
UK
2025
Madeira
Portugal
2024
Barahonda
D.O. Yecla
YeclaCENTURY-OLD & FORWARD-LOOKING
[More...]
Dominical R
2021
Prior Lucas
BairradaEVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT PLACE
[More...]
The Corridor Pinot Noir
2019
Authentique Wine Cellars
Willamette ValleyOREGON, COMPOSED
[More...]
2014
Egon Müller
Mosel
STEEP SLOPES AND PRECISE FRUIT
[More...]
THE PICKING BEGINS
16.09.2026
After a week of preparation and relatively leisurely mornings, the decision is made: tomorrow we harvest. First light is just after 6 am and we line up at 7 am. I'm still unsure of what to expect and what’s expected of me, all I know is that we are starting out in one of the vineyards first thing.
I know harvesting is tough work, but I was not prepared for how hard it actually is. I’m quickly humbled by the professional pickers, whose job takes them from vineyard to vineyard. Their speed and stamina are impressive. While the winery team is dressed in sun hats, hiking clothes and boots, the professional pickers are in jeans, barely even wearing gloves. I feel almost like a kid playing dress-up.
The morning goes by quickly and soon we're back at the winery, this time with grapes. Suddenly, all the cleaning, moving, washing and setting up of the previous week makes sense. The sorting line, which has spent the previous week standing like an abandoned skeleton, is suddenly the star of the show. Everyone takes their positions and off we go. I’m stationed at the first section, next to Eva, who has been a consulting winemaker here for over 20 years. Eva doesn’t speak much English, but with a little English mixed with Italian and plenty of hand gestures, I understand what to do. Music pumping from the speakers, shears in hand, gloves on - the sorting line is live. It’s easy to get into the flow and I quickly learn to identify what bunches to discard.
Boxes keep arriving from different parcels across the estate and for a while it feels never-ending. Eventually, though, the final bunches pass us and the sorting line comes to a stop. At Valgiano, all the red grapes are foot-trodden, which means two of my colleagues are excused from cleaning duty and told to change into shorts ‘they don’t mind too much about’. Then into the open vats they go.
In my head, foot-treading still looked a little like the Portuguese lagares I had learned about: people standing arm in arm, treading in a long line, perhaps even singing. The reality in front of me was Charles and Riccardo breathing heavily, sinking further into the grapes with every step, the resistance increasing the deeper they went. Another bit of wine theory that looked considerably easier on paper.
- JT