VINEYARD

Our beautiful vineyard is planted on gentle slopes on the southern edge of the Sussex Weald, itself an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Situation

The choice of site is vital for the success of a vineyard. A gently rolling, south-facing slope (which we have here) is the ideal, to ensure maximum exposure to any hours of sunshine and to minimise the potentially damaging effects of late spring/early summer frosts. Although we are lucky and have a sunnier micro-climate than much of the UK, we initially planted fast growing white poplars to act as windbreaks to protect the vines from cooler, stronger winds that can blow in from the sea. In fact, they grow so well, that we are now removing them from the area we are replanting as they have grown too large, and overshadow too great an area of the vines. However, we are planting up new windbreaks in the newer, 16 acre site, which has a greater exposure to these winds.

There are two main advantages to the site; soil and climate:-

Climate

The climate is all important to English vineyards as we are right on the northern limit of accepted global vineyard areas. Considering that our latitude here is 50º55’ north it may be thought that our site is too far north to be able to grow vines. The equivalent in the southern hemisphere are the wilds of southern Patagonia. This means we have to look to every advantage to increase temperature and ripening that we possibly can.

Firstly the UK benefits from the Gulf Stream which brings warmer temperatures than we should have at this northerly latitude. As an island we are also surrounded by sea which helps to maintain and moderate temperatures well into autumn. (The vineyard is to be found only 5 miles from the coast). Our northerly latitude also provides us with a longer growing season.

Our location in the far south eastern corner of the country allows us to enjoy some of the warmest and driest conditions in the country. We are only about 40 miles from the continent. The generally cool climate for vines, long growing season, and slow ripening into autumn means that our English grapes, as well as producing crisp light wines also possess a concentration of delicate aromatic fruit not to be found in more robust wines from warmer climates.

The fields are predominantly south facing so benefiting from increased sunlight interception which aids ripening and importantly the altitude is quite low, at about 40 metres above sea level which means we profit from warmer temperatures. The site is well sheltered by surrounding hedges and trees as well as windbreaks which all help in creating a warmer vineyard climate.

Soils

The soils are essentially clay loams over a sandstone subsoil of the Hastings beds. The clay component adds good aromatics to the wine where as the sand aids the free draining of the soil so maintaining healthy roots. The roots are thus encouraged to plunge deep down into the soil in search or water and essential nutrients. Within the sandstone traces of iron ore can be found which has a higher mineral content. This contributes to the distinctive fruity flavours in our wine.

Trellising

At the moment the majority of our vines are grown on a trellising system called Geneva Double Curtain. This is a high wire training system that brings the vine cropping zone and main trunks up to about 5 feet above the ground. It also allows us to develop a bigger vine plant which absorbs some of the vigour of our fertile soils. We have quite a low planting density at about 450 plants per acre, but the larger plants mean we can still crop at economic yields. The height of the plants also takes the vulnerable leaf area away from damaging spring ground frosts. A big advantage of this system is that it is easy to manage, responds well to some mechanisation and allows all hand work to be carried out at eye level rather than the knee level and back breaking height of most European vineyards.

Snow on the vines in February 2009

Varieties

At the time that our vineyard was originally planted the concept of growing grapes in England was still in its infancy and there was a fair amount of experimentation, luck, instinct and hearsay surrounding the issue of which varieties would ripen in the U.K. It has to be remembered that up until this point there was no historical precedent to guide us and certainly no varieties indigenous to the U.K existed. The pioneering work of Ray Barrington Brook and Edward Hyams had led the way and German varieties were considered the most likely to ripen. Much research involving vine crossings had been carried out in German viticulture institutes in their search for more reliable fruiting and ripening and the U.K. has benefitted from that. However, these relatively ‘new’ varieties were given names unfamiliar and at times unpronounceable to a wary U.K. wine drinking public. However, about 8 varieties were selected for our vineyard and this is what we have grown for the last 35 years.

1) Reichensteiner – probably our most successful variety in terms of reliable cropping and ripening and grows very well on our site. The wines in most years tending to be only slightly aromatic, they blend well and can make some good sparkling

2) Schonburger- a pinky tinged grape when ripe with a lovely perfume, this variety, although not always a large cropper can make some excellent dry wines with good fruit overtones.

3) Muller Thurgau – once considered a must have in English vineyards we have found the vines quite prone to fungal disease and the wines lacking in character. Occasionally and with a bit of luck from the weather it can surprise with a wine of substance and fruit

4) Gutenbourner – This variety can crop well and reliably and the grapes if managed well and treated gently in the winery can produce a full bodied and slightly spicy wine. Very little is grown in the U.K but it has been successful on our site.

5) Huxelrebe – Full of problems and character both to grow and in the bottle. Quite prone to Botrytis the wines can turn out a little over powering. A rich wine in ripe years but often best blended.

6) Kerner – Can be a little difficult to ripen well and the crops are not always very big but the wine can be of high quality with a mineral edge and elegant fruit

7) Dornfelder - A favourite red variety with good ripeness and flavour used in our rosé

8) Dunkelfelder - With red juice this can provide some good colour to our rosé. In 1990 we planted up another 16 acres on a neighbouring field that as well as Reichensteiner and Schonburger contains;

9) Ortega - An early ripener with a distinctive peachy/grapey flavour, it can achieve good alcohol and well balanced acids. Mostly contributes to our 1066 wine.

10) Wurzer - When ripe can have delicious gooseberry, herbaceous flavours with racy acidity but this can be hard to achieve. I wish it cropped and ripened better. Occasionally blended into the Alexis when at its best.

11) Bacchus - Slowly becoming established as the quintessential English variety it needs careful management in the field but the results are worth it. Aromatic and grassy it can make a superb and balanced dry wine.

12) Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier - The classic champagne varieties of which we have a small area, which are blended into our sparkling wines. With the knowledge we have gained in growing these we intend to increase their area in the near future.

As our vines have aged and matured it has become obvious that there were successes and failures in the original choice and the time has come to consider replacing them. In the winter of early 2009 we began the first step in a ten year plan of replanting the vineyard and grubbed out 4 acres of Schonburger and Huxel. New Bacchus vines have just been planted but we won’t see the results in bottle for another 4 years yet. Look out for further changes.

Original Plan of Varieties

The first grapes that we planted were predominantly varieties that were developed for the cooler climes of northern Germany, and many therefore have wonderfully guttural, unfamiliar names. However, cloning and root stock technology is continually progressing and evolving, and more traditional varieties are being developed with earlier ripening abilities that make them more suitable for our climate.

Original Vineyard Map

Huxelrebe = Chasselas x Courtillier Musqué Schönburger = Pinot Noir x (Chasselas Rosa x Muscat Hamburg) Gutenborner = Müller-Thurgau x Chasselas Napoleon Kerner = Trollinger x Riesling Müller-Thurgau = Riesling x Riesling Reichensteiner = Müller-Thurgau x (Madeleine Angevine x Calabreser-Frölich) Pinot Noir = Pinot Noir Chardonnay = Chardonnay Pinot Meunier = Pinot Meunier Würzer = Gewurztraminer x Müller-Thurgau Ortega = Müller-Thurgau x Siegerrebe Bacchus = (Silvaner x Riesling) x Müller-Thurgau

WINERY

The original farm site possessed some old stables and out buildings which lent themselves perfectly to a conversion into a winery. The buildings are over 100 years old and have a very traditional feel.

The winery is kitted out with a 2 tonne pneumatic Willmes press, Seitz filtration unit and approximately 25 fermentation and storage tanks.

The winemaking aim is to keep the handling and movement of the juice and wine down to a minimum to retain the fresh fruit flavours and allow natural clarification through the cold winter months. The new wines are tasted in early spring to determine any further treatment and to evaluate any blending required. The still wines will be bottled by the end of April and the sparkling wines by the end of May as the weather starts to warm up. In between the summer work on the vineyard the fruit wines are also made and bottled. The sparkling wines that are maturing in bottle are tasted regularly to determine the right time for yeast removal or ‘disgorging’ – and the disgorging procedure can take place at any time of the year. All the winemaking processes and procedures are carried out on the vineyard estate which gives us much better control over the quality of the final product.

THE WINES

The general style of our wines is light and delicate with subtle aromatic fruit and refreshing acidity. The drier styles are great matches with local seafood and shellfish and the sweeter wines great by themselves, as aperitifs or with cheese.

The sparkling wines show refreshing clean flavours, elegant fruit and racy crispness. With our unique cool climate for vine growing, these styles are found no where else in the world. A great benefit of our wines are the generally lower alcohols they contain and we like to think that we offer a wine style that is perhaps more socially responsible, easier drinking and possibly kinder to you than the current crop at 15% to be found from abroad.