As part of our journey here, we wanted to take control of the entire grape-to-glass process. In 2018, we built our own winery just 100 metres from the vineyard, and have been self-sufficient ever since.
It took a considerable amount of bravery to decide to build our own winery. However our family knew that we would never achieve the quality or completeness of story that we wanted if we didn't do the winemaking ourselves. Our vertical learning curve consisted of a course at Plumpton College, mentoring and support from Simon Day, and the sheer appetite to experiment straight away. We were also aided by LEADER funding which helped make our dream a reality. In 2018, our winery was commissioned, and Chris became our winemaker.
Winemaking ethos
Much like the vineyard, it is important for our winemaking to have its own values and direction.
Vineyard, not winery
We know it's a cliché, but we are firm believers of wine being made in the vineyard, not the winery. The winemaker's role is to preserve and reflect the beauty of the grapes they are given. That may sometimes involve extended maceration to extract rare aromas, but often it is about understanding each variety's potential, and then trying to reach it. Winemaking, afterall, is deceptively simple if you produce good grapes.
Quality above all else
For such a small vineyard, we have a relatively large range. This stems from our belief that wines can deserve a place in our range no matter the number of bottles produced. Sometimes we simply must release 70 bottles of something because it's just that good! As such our range fluctuates quite a lot, but it will always consist of the best we can make.
Minimal intervention
Linked to our emphasis on the vineyard is our belief that less can sometimes be more. A copy & paste formula in the winery neither does justice to the grapes we have grown, nor is it always applicable. That's why we tailor our winemaking to each variety, tank & vintage to get the very best we can. We never fine our wines, and avoid uneccessary additions wherever possible. We are not Natural winemakers, but we do believe in low intervention where possible.
Experimentation
You only get one chance a year to make wine, so you need to make it count. Our aim is to be the exciting, boutique producer that many of you want us to be. We have made three orange wines (two with no sulphites), an unusual Sec sparkling wine, and our piquette "Saint Vincent". Whatever we release, we hope you can trust that it will be delicious, if not interesting!
Recent Vintages
2018
The Golden Year for English wine. Perfect in every way. Our first year of winemaking. // Standouts: Branwen, Bacchus, Freya, Sauvignon Blanc
2019
A frustrating followup to 2018. A good year, ended by poor harvest weather. // Standouts: Sabrinna, Bacchus
2020
The dreaded year of frost. Struck by a 1 in 35 year event. But followed by a good rest of year // Standouts: Old Vine Kerner, Madeleine Angevine, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc
2021
A battle for ripeness. No Spring at all. Saved at harvest // Standouts: Sabrinna, Severn Vale, Saint Vincent
2022
The year of drought. Pockets of disease, but excellent overall // Standouts: All variants of Kerner, Branwen, Severn Vale
2023
A challenging year of rain & disease. // Standouts: Severn Vale, Bacchus, Sparkling Kerner
2024
Another challenging year, but successfully managed. // Standouts: TBC