Wine

DID YOU KNOW? It takes around 600–800 grapes to make a bottle of wine, depending on the variety, soil and climate

HEARD IT ON THE GRAPEVINE

When you think of drinks made from produce grown in the Shire region, cider and ales come to mind, mead, maybe fruit liqueurs – but many would assume it’s just too cold here for wine. They’d be wrong. In North and Mid Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire, there are a surprising number of vineyards producing the most delicious English and Welsh wines!

Let’s take a look at some of them…

It’s said that the occupying Romans brought vines with them so they’d have a taste of home whilst in Britain, but when they left the British had no love of wine and their vineyards gradually disappeared. But over the past few decades, the wine market in this country has grown and grown, and luckily so have the number of enterprising folk who are establishing vineyards here, and making wine that can challenge that from anywhere in the world. As well as beautiful surroundings, guests at Carden Park Hotel & Spa near Chester have a very special treat – the hotel has its own three-acre vineyard where they grow two grape varieties, Seyval Blanc and Pinot Noir, producing rose and white sparkling wine. “We started growing vines in 1988, and the vineyard was reinstated in 2008,” Exclusive to Carden Park Hotel & Spa Dan Rennie, Carden Park’s marketing manager told us. “The wine is only sold at Carden Park and it is Cheshire’s largest commercial vineyard, therefore it acts as a relatively exclusive feature for our guests.”

A team of greenkeepers manage the crop, with harvesting taking place over a number of days in October.

“It is unusual to have a vineyard in a hotel so far north,” added Dan. “Many guests comment on this unique aspect of the Carden Park experience. It is also a beautiful area to explore, especially in summer!”

Wroxeter Roman Vineyard is situated alongside the ancient Roman city of Uriconium (Wroxeter), between the upland of the Wrekin and the town of Shrewsbury. This family-run winery, headed by Martin and Amanda Millington, occupies a sandy, sheltered site near the River Severn at around 180ft above sea level. The vineyard was planned in 1987, when vines were ordered and the land prepared,

and they were planted in 1991, with the five varieties grafted onto a range of American-descended root stocks.

Vigour and suitability

The vines, varieties and root stocks were chosen for their vigour and suitability of the site. The plantation is north/south so that the morning sun catches one side and the evening sun the other, benefiting from maximum sunshine on the rows.

It must work - Wroxeter’s Noble Roman 2010 and Shropshire It must work - Wroxeter’s Noble Roman 2010 and Shropshire Gold 2010 have both won silver medals in The English & Welsh Wine of the Year competition.

Red Wharf Bay Vineyard is wonderfully situated, overlooking the bay from which it takes its name, in the Traeth Coch Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on Anglesey. Owner Kevin Mawdesley first planted vines here in 2010, on a whim, after he had stumbled across somebody else who had planted a few vines in North Wales.

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on Anglesey. Owner

Harvest time on the slopes

A Spanish ethos

“I didn’t know what I was doing and totally mismanaged them for the first five years, eventually producing a very small amount of unremarkable wine,” Kevin said. “Then I was made redundant from my day job in IT and was wondering what to do next, and I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be fun and so much easier to grow grapes somewhere with a bit more sun and make wine there?’ Like southern Spain, where grapes just, well, grow instead of having to be teased into ripeness in the marginal climes of Anglesey!

“So I had the idea of planting my vineyard in Andalucía. A year of misadventure followed and, finally thwarted by the Common Agricultural Policy, I came back to Anglesey and learnt, courtesy of agricultural collage, how to work in this delightful, infuriating profession properly.

“Sometimes it feels very complex, sometimes it feels very straightforward. There are many variables that need to be taken into account and you have to work out how they interact in your

Produce of Anglesey

“If you are a gin producer and you need more produce, you just put on another ‘brew’. With a vineyard you have to wait for the annual harvest, so I have to balance sales quite carefully to ensure that I don’t run out.”

vineyard. What works in one vineyard may not work in another, and you have to get to know your own land.”

But Kevin brought some of Spain back with him! “I couldn’t plant a vineyard in Spain so I turned the idea on its head and planted the vineyard in Anglesey and imported other things from Spain to sell in the vineyard shop – ceramics and leather and the like. This is the result: a Welsh vineyard with a distinctly Spanish ethos.”

Red Wharf Bay Vineyard currently has 400 vines growing Solaris and Rondo grapes, making Llain Gam Solaris (a white wine) and Llain Gam Rondo (a light red). They are varieties adapted to cooler regions, and Kevin has plans to increase that to about 1,200 vines.

“I think of it as a micro-vineyard, in the spirit of micro-breweries,” he said.

Kevin sells direct from the vineyard, at food festivals and craft fairs, and to a limited extent online.

“I don’t sell via other retailers at the moment as I don’t have enough produce. If you are a gin producer and you need more produce, you just put on another ‘brew’. With a vineyard you have to wait for the annual harvest, so I have to balance sales quite carefully to ensure that I don’t run out.”

“In victory you deserve Champagne. In defeat you need it.” Napoleon Bonaparte

Jai Chahal of Rodington Vineyard

A lifetime’s dream

Rodington Vineyard near Telford is an award-winning, family-owned vineyard, run by brothers Jai Chahal and Sagreev Dev Chahal, and their father Ram Dass Chahal.

It had always been the family’s dream to have a vineyard – they come from an ancestry steeped in farming in India. Having been in England for three generations, they longed to connect with this heritage in the beautiful fertile soil. In 2009 they bought the ten-acre plot at Rodington, recognising the natural, untapped potential of the land, which they could see would make a perfect vineyard.

After many years of planning, planting and nurturing the vines, they had their first harvest in 2013 and officially opened their gates to the public in October 2015.

In the short space of time since, they have achieved a bumper harvest of international, national and local awards, including the prestigious International Silver Medal from the International Wine Challenge, two Silver Cup Trophies from the Mercian Vineyards Association, the Welland Valley Trophy for the Best Rosé Wine, and the Best Medium Dry White Wine Trophy.

Montgomery Vineyard in Powys started life as a rural bolthole. Back in 1970 the Lennard family bought the property as a country retreat – it came with nine acres that had never had any agricultural use and had become natural meadow.

In 2011, Denise Lennard, with a lifetime interest in wines, combined with a degree in geology, became aware that the natural terroir was potentially viable for a vineyard.

“We consulted our agronomist John Buchan, who took soil samples and confirmed the ground would be 100% suitable,” she said. “We also consulted Martin Vickers from Halfpenny Green Winery for his expertise, and then we started work. For three years we prepared and cultivated the ground and installed the infrastructure – roads, windbreaks, fencing and drainage.”

Cool-climate vines

Armed with the Stephen Skelton viticulture volumes that are the industry’s bible, in 2014 the family hand-planted 3,800 vines, consisting of 1,000 Solaris, 1,000 Rondo and 1,000 Seyval Blanc, along with 600 Pinot Noir Precoce and 200 Bacchus, giving them their own chosen collection of cool-climate vines and allowing them to develop their own style of wines.

“We took our first crop and that was the start of our journey into the viticulture world,” Denise told us. “Since then our vintage has sold out each year.”

The vineyard is located in Montgomery, the heart of Mid Wales, 275metres above sea level. It occupies a five-acre site, with over three acres under vine, and is on a natural hillside, free-draining and south-facing, with the vines planted directly north/south. The terroir is made up of flinty, glacial deposits – again, good for drainage, which is the key to their success. The vineyard is a naturally sheltered amphitheatre created by the contours of the hillside.

“We are a tight-knit family business, 24/7,” Denise told us. “Everyone has a role within the family. My dad and uncle are in the vineyard taking care of the viticulture, Mum is the office manager taking care of the day-to-day business. My brother looks after the accounts and my sister supports the IT and media for the business. “A“As a director, my role has developed over the years as the business has grown. My main focus now that we are well established is working to maintain the standard and quality of the wine from vineyard to winery, also monitoring the coordination of distribution, and our exports. Also, to establish new client relationships and maintain present ones with trust.”

“Our Seyval & Solaris blend white pairs perfectly with line-caught seabass or a fresh goats’ cheese salad; our Rondo red is excellent with Welsh lamb, and our sparkling white is refreshing served as an aperitif or to accompany risotto”

The perfect accompaniment to a celebratory menu

There are challenges to growing grapes in Mid Wales, but taking the time to choose the correct vines and site, developing the infrastructure, cultivating and creating the right microclimate within the mesoclimate goes a long way to help mitigate this.

To make the wine, Montgomery Vineyard has partnered with Halfpenny Green Winery, “because of their unwavering support and superb wine-making skills,” said Denise. “Between Martin Vickers, Clive and Ben the process of vine to wine has been seamless.

“Because we grow cool-climate vines at such high altitude on virgin ground, the result is smaller, more intensely flavoured grapes, which produce wines of exceptional quality and taste and complexity. Our Seyval & Solaris blend white pairs perfectly with line-caught seabass or a fresh goats’ cheese salad; our Rondo red is excellent with Welsh lamb, blue Stilton and game dishes; and our sparkling white is refreshing served as an aperitif or to accompany risotto.”

The vineyard’s accolades are impressive. As well as gold, silver and bronze awards nationally and internationally, and mentions on TV and radio, wine critic Matthew Jukes described their Montgomery 2018 Bacchus & Solaris, as “in the top 50 most influential wines in the UK”.

Pant Du Vineyard is located on the slopes of the Nantlle Valley, Snowdonia. It is a family-run vineyard and orchard, established in 2007 by Iola and Richard Huws. Pant Du produce includes wine, cider, apple juice, spring water and honey, and over the years has won many awards and accolades for its unique Welsh products.

DID YOU KNOW?

We have Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-65) to thank for the green wine bottle. Previously wine was kept in goatskin bags!

Rich in history

Nine acres of vines have been planted on the former farmland, transforming the slopes of Dyffryn Nantlle. There are six different varieties: Seyval Blanc, Siegerrebe, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Frühburgunder/Early Pinot Noir and Rondo. These were specifically chosen to work with the soil chosen to work with the soil and climate conditions in North Wales, and produce white, red and rose wines in return.

Just north of

Shrewsbury, and moulded by the glaciers of the Triassic Age, the land upon which Hencote Vineyard sits is rich in history Direct from Snowdonia: Pant Du and the glacial till that forms its soil.

With the first 18,000 vines planted in 2016, the vineyard has grown to comprise 23,000 vines today, and aims to consistently produce award-winning, international quality wines.

The land gives Hencote wine its unique character, and the team does their utmost to preserve the land’s distinctive microclimate: no herbicides, minimal pesticide use and traditional, hand-picked harvesting. They prefer to let the conditions of the land take a leading role in dictating the kind of wine that is created, and believe that this pragmatic approach means the very best outcome for every vine.

Hencote comprises a restaurant, vineyard tours, a Georgian farmhouse holiday home and luxury glamping lodges – you can even get married there! Their wedding venue features a 180degree panoramic view that takes in the Welsh hills in the west to the Wrekin in the east.

So next time you’re shopping for gifts that you want to reflect your home region, why not consider some of these amazing wines. Who wouldn’t want to receive a bottle or two?