The vineyard also escaped the effects of the long, cold winter, he said: “We’ve been very lucky in this corner of the country. With the frosts in April and early May we got down to minus two very close to the buds being frosted off the vines. But not quite.”
Now, Mr Barnes said he was hoping the weather stayed dry for the harvest at the end of September.
Apples growers have also enjoyed the hot, sunny weather, but said the recent downpours were welcome.
Sarah Calcutt, business development manager at Norman Collett, which markets English fruit from its base in Paddock Wood, said the extra light and warmth had been great for Rubens, a new variety of apples.
“I’ve been out looking at orchards today with the National Fruit Show president and we’ve been particularly looking at Rubens.
“We do not know if it will be a bumper crop yet because they won’t be picked until to September, but from an apple’s perspective the heat and sunshine in particular are great.
“Photosynthesis is better with good light because it seeds the tree really well and gives it good energy for feeding themselves next year. A lot of day light hours are wonderful.
“We’ve just had rain in time. One of the farmers who has no irrigation system said this bit we’ve just had came just in time for his young trees, which were starting to look a bit stressed. So the recent downpours have been fantastic.”
However, organic fruit farmer Mrs Martin said that it had been a bad year for some fruits.
“Raspberries are not looking very good this year. It was too hot for them and they were cooking on the plants,” she said. “But a little rain does everything good.”
Dr Chris Atkinson, head of science at East Malling Research Centre, which has been collecting climate data since 1913, said the climate was a big determinate when growing fruit because temperature and rainfall had a big impact on crops.
The climate data shows that the seasons have been getting longer and the winters are getting milder.
“We can even answer sceptics about climate change – no one can argue that climatic data shows it is changing,” he said.