Vineyard May 2021 by KELSEY Media

VINEYARD for viticulturists in Great Britain ™

MAY 2021

Enticing visitors to hidden secret

INSIDE ◆

Value of wine tourism

◆

Beneficial fungi

◆

Blending wine

◆

Meet the people behind the wines

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Wines of the month from Matthew Jukes

VINEYARD CONSULTANTS

• Vineyard sales & acquisition • Planning applications • Business plans • Environmental schemes • Grants •

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Matthew Berryman 07710 765323 matthew@c-l-m.co.uk

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VINEYARD for viticulturists in Great Britain

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NEWS 10 New wine tourism cluster 13 Diversification Farm of the Year 2020

VINEYARD Kelsey Media, The Granary, Downs Court Yalding Hill, Yalding, Maidstone, Kent, ME18 6AL 01959 541444

14 A pioneering Worcestershire

EDITORIAL Editor: Jo Cowderoy vineyard.ed@kelsey.co.uk

REGULARS

GRAPHIC DESIGN Jo Legg Flair Creative Design jo.legg@flair-design.co.uk ADVERTISEMENT SALES Jamie McGrorty 01303 233883 jamie.mcgrorty@kelsey.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHER Martin Apps www.countrywidephotographic.co.uk MANAGEMENT CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Steve Wright CHIEF OPERATING Officer: Phil Weeden MANAGING DIRECTOR: Kevin McCormick PUBLISHER: Jamie McGrorty RETAIL DIRECTOR: Steve Brown RENEWALS AND PROJECTS MANAGER: Andy Cotton SENIOR SUBSCRIPTION MARKETING MANAGER: Nick McIntosh SUBSCRIPTION MARKETING DIRECTOR: Gill Lambert SUBSCRIPTION MARKETING MANAGER: Kate Chamberlain SENIOR PRINT PRINT PRODUCTION MANAGER: Georgina Harris PRINT PRODUCTION CONTROLLER: Kelly Orriss DISTRIBUTION Distribution in Great Britain: Marketforce (UK) 3rd Floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9AP Tel: 0330 390 6555 PRINTING Precision Colour Print Kelsey Media 2020 © all rights reserved. Kelsey Media is a trading name of Kelsey Publishing Ltd. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except with permission in writing from the publishers. Note to contributors: articles submitted for consideration by the editor must be the original work of the author and not previously published. Where photographs are included, which are not the property of the contributor, permission to reproduce them must have been obtained from the owner of the copyright. The editor cannot guarantee a personal response to all letters and emails received. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Publisher. Kelsey Publishing Ltd accepts no liability for products and services offered by third parties. Kelsey Media takes your personal data very seriously. For more information of our privacy policy, please visit Kelsey Media takes your personal data very seriously. For more information of our privacy policy, please visit https://www.kelsey.co.uk/privacy-policy/ . If at any point you have any queries regarding Kelsey’s data policy you can email our Data Protection Officer at dpo@kelsey.co.uk.

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vineyard is placed on the market

18 Matthew Jukes

There is nothing nicer than a countryside walk coupled with a winery visit and a lovely lunch.

34 Meet the people

behind the wines

Profiling the careers of people working in UK vineyards and wineries.

38 The agronomy diary

Refine fertiliser plans with tissue testing.

40 The vine post

Charge rate calculator for labour user rates.

44 Oxygen: Friend or foe?

How oxygen management influences all sensory attributes of the wine.

46 Representing you

Working with government.

49 Machinery

New self righting site light

FEATURES

16 In conversation

The Oxford Wine Company is an award-winning independent wine merchant that has evolved into a flourishing wine café and a chic piano bar. Knowing that wine is more than the liquid in the bottle, wine tourism has been added to the business portfolio.

30 The Buchan ‘Midas Touch’

Many of the most successful vineyards in the UK have something in common – they have been planned, planted and managed by John Buchan.

41 All pumped up!

With such a vast array of pump types and options, it is easy to get bogged down.

Front cover image: Hencote © Martin Apps, Countrywide Photographic

 vineyard.ed@kelsey.co.uk twitter @VineyardMagGB facebook VineyardMagGB

CONTENTS Features Shropshire’s best kept secret

Vineyard speaks to Mark and Andrew Stevens about the family’s mission to create an outstanding and unique luxury tourist destination.

The value of wine tourism

After a year of lockdown restrictions, we are desperate to be set free. Vineyard finds out how wineries can embrace the benefits of the wine tourist and achieve visitor experience excellence.

To dip or not to dip?

The benefits of good mycorrhizal fungi associations with vine roots to support nutrient and water uptake are well known. Vineyard asks if inoculating with a root dip at planting helps early growth.

A winemaker’s guide to blending

Blending still fundamentally relies on the capability of the winemaker, their palate and experience – and is a skill which must be learnt.

Jo C

specialists Hutchinsons offers specialist Viticultural agronomy advice, guidance on nutrition, precision soil mapping and soil health. We supply all production inputs and a range of sundry equipment for vine management, together with a comprehensive range of packaging materials. Our professionalism is coupled with our commitment to customer service. With a highly experienced Horticultural agronomist team and dedicated Produce Packaging division covering the whole country, we have all the advice you want and all the inputs you need, just a phone call away.

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TRURO

From the editor

Quenching the thirst of the wine tourists.

The Vineyard

ALNWICK

eroy d ow

www.hlhltd.co.uk

Vineyards have the opportunity to shine this summer – to open their cellar doors and quench the thirst of the wine tourists. The mounting desire to buy quality produce and support local businesses, along with an awareness of provenance, concern for sustainability and discovery of the riches that our beautiful island oﬀers – means our vineyards are perfectly placed to take centre stage. The emergence of several tourism groups or clusters is evidence of the realisation that tourism is a vital component of the industry’s future – and in the wise words of international wine tourism guru, Dr Steve Charters MW: “Sell the experience, not the wine!” The Wine Garden of England in Kent is a leading example of visitor experience excellence. Other regional groups include Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey Hills with more emerging such as Yorkshire and the very new Rother Valley. Many vineyards offer alternative style accommodation such as glamping, shepherd huts and even hobbit houses! I have been fortunate to experience glamping at Hencote’s luxurious site overlooking their vineyard in Shropshire – a very enjoyable stay under plush canvas. ‘Staycationers’ may not be aware of our hidden vineyard gems but brilliant social media campaigns such as the #bigenglishwineeaster – inspiring wine lovers everywhere to share photos or videos of their favourite wines – help to tell the world. As I write our garden vines are showing signs of life and budburst looks to coincide with some dramatic dips in temperature – nature can be so cruel. Vineyard managers are going to be glued to their temperature monitors for the weeks ahead and no doubt suffering sleepless nights. Fortunately, there is plenty of monitoring technology around now – many years ago we just had a thermometer dangling out of the bedroom window – and the alarm clock set to keep checking it. Easter was an opportunity in our household to open some wines we had not tasted before and each became a new favourite. We concluded that there is nothing finer than a glass of English sparkling in the spring sunshine – and we appreciated each glass, all the more, after a long winter of lockdowns.

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6 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D 20235HUT~Update_existing_Vineyard_Specialist_Advert(93x270).indd 1

09/10/2020 10:24

Send your thoughts and comments

by email to vineyard.ed@kelsey.co.uk

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NEWS

New Countryside Code to help people enjoy the outdoors A new refreshed Countryside Code was launched on 1 April 2021 by Natural England and Natural Resources Wales, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the creation of the first Countryside Code booklet, originally published in 1951. The code has been revised to help people enjoy the countryside in a safe and respectful way. This update - the first in over a decade - has been shaped by nearly 4,000 stakeholder responses to an online survey, which sought views on best practices for visiting the countryside and protecting the natural environment. Key changes to the Countryside Code include: ◆ New advice for people to ‘be nice, say hello, share the space’ as well as ‘enjoy your visit, have fun, make a memory’. ◆ A reminder not to feed livestock, horses or wild animals. ◆ To stay on marked footpaths, even if they are muddy, to protect crops and wildlife. ◆ Information on permissions to do certain outdoor activities, such as wild swimming. ◆ Clearer rules for dog walkers to take home

dog poo and use their own bin if there are no public waste bins. ◆ A refreshed tone of voice, creating a guide for the public rather than a list of rules – recognising the significant health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in nature. ◆ New wording to make clear that the code applies to all our natural places, including parks, waterways, coast and countryside. Natural England Chair Tony Juniper said: “The Countryside Code has been providing an excellent guide for people on how to get out and enjoy the outdoors safely for over 70 years. “With more people than ever before seeking solace in nature, this refresh could not come at a more crucial time. We want everyone to be aware of the Code, so people of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy the invaluable health and wellbeing benefits that nature offers, while giving it the respect it deserves.” The pandemic has changed people’s relationships with nature. Evidence from Natural England highlights the importance of nature to people’s health and wellbeing, with

85% of people surveyed saying that being in nature makes them happy. However, Natural England’s People and Nature survey findings show some groups have been able to spend more time in nature than others. Promotion of the refreshed Code will aim to tackle those inequalities and encourage more inclusive access to nature for minority communities and those with diverse physical and sensory needs. Natural England are also setting up a longterm Countryside Code campaign to increase awareness of the Code through 2021 and beyond.

The updated code can be found on the website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-countryside-code

The Knight Who Invented Champagne Due for publication mid-April, ‘The Knight who invented Champagne’ is the story of how developments in the British glass industry in the early part of the 17th century led to

the production of strong glass bottles, the so-called verre Anglais, by Sir Kenelm Digby. Author Stephen Skelton MW comments: “These ‘shaft and globe bottles, strong enough to contain the pressure of a second fermentation, led to the production of bottle-fermented sparkling wines and ciders. “King James I, Admiral Sir Robert Mansell and Sir Kenelm Digby (and a few others) all played a part between 1615 and 1632 in revolutionising the production of glass, which could withstand the pressure caused by a secondary-fermentation in the bottle. By 1662 we know that it was a common practice by cidermakers, vintners and coopers to add raisins and sugar to wine and cider at bottling to start a secondary fermentation in the bottle. “All of this happened several years before

8 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

Dom Pérignon, often credited with ‘inventing Champagne’, took up his position as cellarer at the Abbaye Saint-Pierre d'Hautvillers,”Skelton added.

A full colour limited edition (signed or unsigned) of 100 copies only will be printed and available for sale at £25 each if ordered pre-publication. To order email: mail@stephenskelton.com

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9 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

New wine tourism cluster Rother Valley Vineyards is a collaboration of vineyards producing wine in the beautiful Rother Valley in East Sussex. The vineyards will work together to encourage visitors into their unique area. The founding members of the cluster are Charles Palmer Vineyards, Oastbrook Estate and Oxney Organic Estate. The Rother valley is part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and within the wider district are the historic towns of Battle, Bodiam, Rye and Winchelsea. The Rother Valley has a terroir of sand, clay and silt alluvial deposits over sandstone bedrock. Formed from the old and current river valleys, the area not only shares similar soils but also a microclimate with excellent grape growing conditions. The vineyards are a mix of conventional, organic and sustainable producers making sparkling and still wines from mostly noble grapes. These three vineyard destinations are complimented by a collection of local restaurants and bistro pubs making it a perfect gastronomic experience. Vineyard accommodation includes Oastbrook’s hobbit house, pond house and glamping, Oxney Organic Estate’s shepherd’s huts, converted barns and cottages and Charles Palmer’s two wings within Wickham Manor, a 16th century home. The vineyards all host tours and a variety of events during the summer. The area is well served by public transport with train stations all the way from Tunbridge Wells to Hastings and from Hastings all the way along the coast to connect with HS1 at Ashford International.

More information can be found on the newly launched website: www.rothervalleyvineyards.com

> Oxney Organic Estate

> Oastbrook Estate

> Charles Palmer Vineyards

Essays on English Sparkling Wine

This new book collates and presents recent essays on English sparkling wine written by Plumpton College wine production and wine business students. The essays cover a broad range of viticulture, winemaking and wine business topics related to sparkling wine and have been separated into four sections. The first section begins with the sites selected for growing grapes destined to end up in English sparkling wine. The next section is a selection of essays on ‘the vine’ itself: the varieties, clones and rootstocks used

and how management affects the yield and the compositional quality of fruit. This is followed by a section on the key wine making processes and options used in winemaking and, finally, the essays address the future of the English sparkling wine industry from a business and marketing perspective. The project giving rise to this book was an initiative of the Worshipful Company of Vintners and Plumpton College thank the Vintners for their generous financial assistance and encouragement. The book presents a

Contact Dr Gregory Dunn for information: greg.dunn@plumpton.ac.uk

selection of essays on key aspects of the English sparkling wine industry, and it is not intended to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject of English sparkling wine.

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11 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

NEWS

Board changes at WineGB Peter Gladwin is to retire from the WineGB Board at the next Annual General Meeting, currently planned for 27 May 2021. The process to identify a replacement for Peter as a Director will begin immediately. His position as Deputy Chairman will be taken by Nick Wenman (Albury Vineyard), who has been on the Board for a considerable time and who contributed enormously to the development of WineGB’s marketing function last year. Simon Robinson, Chairman commented: “I must pay tribute to Peter Gladwin. He has been a tower of strength as Deputy Chairman, having led the old UKVA team in the merger with EWP and thereafter putting a huge amount of effort into enabling WineGB to grow and succeed. He has been particularly responsible for our finances, the planning and execution of our annual awards and the appointment of, and relationship with, our sponsors and partners. He will be greatly missed and deserves our thanks.”

The Drinks Community is now live The Drinks Trust’s new skills sharing, networking and wellbeing platform, is now live and already has over 700 industry professionals signed up. The new platform is dedicated to creating connection where drinks professionals can share knowledge on work and wellbeing and raise sector-specific questions. It is also a space for drinks professionals to pull together and support one another at a time when connection will be key to the recovery of the industry, post-Covid-19 lockdown. The Drinks Trust has also launched the Drinks Community Mentor Programme and is calling for applicants for both mentors and mentees, with the next round of the programme launching in June 2021. Sign up now to the Drinks Community: www.members.drinkscommunity.org.uk

Equipment for Vineyards

Sussex by the Glass Sussex by the Glass, by award-winning wine writer Liz Sagues, focusses on one county and two pioneer winemaking families, both rare in the modern history of English wine, being multi-generation businesses – and now headed by the daughters of their founders – Sam Linter, Bolney Wine Estate and Tamara Roberts, Ridgeview Estate. Liz Sagues has had privileged access to both estates, interviewing many of the people involved in creating two major brands in English wine. The result is a fascinating account of why and how they were founded, the tribulations and triumphs on the way to current success and the prospects ahead. It also focuses on sustainability issues and opportunities to visit and stay on wine estates and includes a month-by-month account of activity in both vineyard and winery. The book is published at a celebratory moment: Bolney Wine Estate will reach its 50th birthday in 2022; Ridgeview Wine Estate toasted 25 years in 2020. Importantly, it stretches beyond those individual stories to explain the past and present significance of Sussex in England's fastestgrowing agricultural sector. The county is the first UK wine region in line for protected designation of origin status, affirming the quality of its products. Sussex is also the home of Plumpton College, whose Wine Division is a world-respected teaching and research resource.

Sussex by the Glass is published by Tanwood Press, ISBN 978-1-5272-8442-5, £12. Available from www. bolneywineestate.com, www.ridgeview.co.uk or direct from the publisher: tanwoodpress@icloud.com

Save the date! ■ ■ ■ ■

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Set to be a major highlight of the year, the Vineyard & Winery Show will take place on 24 November 2021 at the Kent County Showground. It will be a great opportunity, after harvest, for wine producers to network with industry suppliers, attend seminars, see machinery and equipment demonstrations – and taste some of the top wines in the country. Nearly half of the exhibitor space has already been reserved and tickets for Matthew Jukes’ charity tasting have just been released.

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www.lameng.com M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

For further information see the show website: www.vineyardshow.com

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Little Wold Vineyard, East Yorkshire, has won the prestigious Farmers’ Weekly Award for farm diversification 2020. The fourthgeneration family farm is 80 hectares, including hillside land planted with 14,000 vines. The award represents a near 10 year journey for the Wilson family. The idea for a vineyard was born back in 2011 after a visit by owners Henry and Heather Wilson to vineyards and wineries in South Africa. Henry and Heather then started setting up the vineyard at Little Wold in 2012, taking advantage of the chalk soils and the southern facing slopes, and planted their first 2000 vines. They hosted tours of their vineyard sites which began to expand the knowledge of this venture in the local area. Knowing that it was four years before any grapes would arrive, they set about planning the wine brand and creating the right space to host wine events and weddings. As the vineyard idea took hold, Henry’s son and daughter Tom and Alice returned to the family farm. Tom had worked on large scale farms for a number of years and brought his knowledge to the viticulture side of the business. Alice had been a primary school teacher but with a keen eye for design and marketing, led the development of the business. Over the next five years the farm embarked on an ambitious plan to plant 2000 vines per year as well as take on the management of an established vineyard in Doncaster. In 2016 the first vintage of Little Wold wines were released. Little Wold now produces five still wines and two sparkling wines with a third sparkling to be added in 2021. The wines are blends of grapes that are suited to the more moderate climate, and are hardier and more resistant to disease. The wines have continuously won awards including a WineGB Midlands and North trophy for the Poppy Hill Rose in 2018. A further 3,000 vines will be planted this year. With the expansion of the wine business the farm is currently undertaking a huge building programme and 2019 saw the completion of the first tasting room. Alice Maltby, Marketing Director, has overseen the development of the wedding business, after marrying at the vineyard herself. 2021 will see the start of a huge extension to the tasting room to double the capacity for wedding and wine events – to make use of the beautiful vista and allow visitors to learn about what makes the wines in the Wolds so unique. Little Wold is also close to completing a winery, as it has been the ambition of the family to take control of all aspects of the wine production. The families long standing farming knowledge has seen the planting and vine management roll out consistently for nine years – having the winery on site is the next step in building and developing the quality and quantity of the wine range. Alice Maltby commented: “To be shortlisted for a national award came as quite a surprise. To win in this category was simply incredible. I think it brought home the sense of how hard the whole family has worked to put us in a position to be considered. I look at the size and scale of some of the people we were against and the sense of pride and emotion at winning was such a shock. We can’t wait to display our award in our new tasting room.”

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M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

PROPERTY

Preparing to step back A pioneering Worcestershire vineyard is set for a sparkling future aﬅer being placed on the market. SHRAWLEY

| WORCESTERSHIRE

GUIDE PRICE: £1,250,000

Farmer John Ballard, who has farmed 120 acres at Shrawley for more than 50 years, established the Sixteen Ridges Vineyard in 2008 as one of a series of successful business ventures at Church Farm. The thirty-plus tonnes of grapes grown each year are turned into a variety of wines – red, rose and sparkling – by Haygrove Evolution in Ledbury, and are sold under the under the Sixteen Ridges brand. But now John is preparing the step back from farming life and is marketing the 12-acre vineyard and the remainder of the farm through Worcesterbased rural business experts Fisher German. John said: “We really had no choice but to diversify as we are not a large farm. We have been involved in dairy and a wide range of arable over the years, but also with more unusual crops such as asparagus and salad onion. “We opened a farm shop, sold dried flowers and also ran a variety of courses. We also developed a successful wedding venue, and originally, we thought that would be the perfect platform for us to market wines produced on site.” John’s wife Anne, who started and ran many of the non-farming ventures, died in 2006 and the family decided to sell the wedding venue but to press on with the vineyards. “We have the right sort of soil, and the fields involved are south and south-east facing and that combination has proved very successful,” John added. “We had intended to produce wine and we have what is needed to do

99.76 ACRES

that, but the partnership with Haygrove Evolution has proved mutually beneficial and the wines are highly-regarded.” Simon Day, Managing Director of Haygrove Evolution, played a key part in the establishment of the vineyard when he acted as a consultant to Church Farm. “I advised John from the very early days when I was working as a consultant and really, we established our wine brand to ensure that we could use the grapes the vineyard has supplied rather than the other way around,” he said. “All the factors for producing wine, such as soil type and aspect, combined with the superb management of the land, mean that the vineyard produces what we regard as the finest fruit in the UK in terms of quality and consistency, and we have developed a very close working relationship which has resulted in many award-winning wines.” The farm also includes two agricultural buildings, 62 acres of arable land and amenity woodland. Tom Pike, of Fisher German who is handling the sale, said: “Church Farm is a very good example of rural entrepreneurship. The Ballard family have used the assets of their land to create a valuable crop which provides a very good income alongside more traditional farming. “Sixteen Ridges is nationally renowned for producing some of the best wines in the UK and much of that is directly attributable to the work at Church Farm.”

> Left to right: John Ballard, Tom Pike (Fisher German) and Simon Day

Details of Church Farm: www.fishergerman.co.uk/residential-property-sales/land-for-sale-in-shrawley-worcester-wr6/36384

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A 171 acre farm with great potential

totalling 99.76 acres Productive pasture land in a strategic location

• • • • •

Grade II Listed period house 3 reception rooms, 5 principal bedrooms Separate cottage converted to office use Substantial range of buildings with development potential Fertile and productive agricultural land

Guide price – £2,750,000

Stafford 01785 220044 Worcester 01905 726220

• 12.5 acres of planted vines

Pasture land and woodland in two distinct parcels • Early pinot, pinot and seyval varieties Subject to three short• term Business AwardFarm winning wines Tenancies Edge of town location • Two large useful buildings In all about 66.73 ha (164.89 acres) • 62 acres of quality arable land Available as a whole•or in two lots accommodation Mobile home

Guide price – £1,200,000 as a whole £ Guide price – £1,250,000

Ashby-de-la-Zouch 01530 410858

worcesteragency@fishergerman.co.uk

15 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

SALES AND MARKETING

In conversation...

dS e T

andbach

The Oxford Wine Company is an award-winning independent wine merchant that has evolved from relatively humble beginnings to boast a highly successful wine school, a team of expert advisors, a flourishing wine café and a chic piano bar. Knowing that wine is more than the liquid in the bottle, Ted’s son Will has added wine tourism to the business portfolio. VIND is a unique website for exploring the world’s best vineyards in England and abroad, and Vineyard finds out more. The Oxford Wine Company

Recently named as number three in Harper’s Top 50 Independent Wine Merchants 2020 we are proud to offer a high quality, diverse and interesting range of wines supported by advice from highly trained staff – and this includes wine from England. If fact, we are all huge advocates of English fizz and do our best to market and support the local industry.

How has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted your business? We have seen a massive increase in our online sales – which has basically saved our bacon – as previously 75% of our business was to the trade. The five shops have done really well too, and all this has opened up a whole new audience. We now need to capitalise on this and ensure we do not lose them when life returns to normal. We have seen such loyalty for buying local and almost everyone I speak to has expressed a desire to support local businesses of all descriptions.

The English listings

We have about 40 sparkling wines from 15 or so producers and a further 15 still wines. Unfortunately, there is still some poor quality wine about so we must sort out the wheat from the chaff, but we aim to keep improving and evolving the range. We have a group of buyers and meet weekly to assess new samples and taste in clinical conditions. We are looking at a wide variety of styles and price points, but quality (and price ratio) is always the most important factor. We have had two MW wine buyers and now our head of marketing, Emily Silva is taking her MW exams too. We also have seven WSET diploma holders and a wine educator – so there is no shortage of tasting skill and experience.

How can producers help you sell their wines?

It makes such a difference to the customers to hear the vineyard story and taste the wine with the producers, so personal appearances and specialist wine tastings are always the best way to promote a wine.

The future of English wine?

I think the future is very encouraging – Bacchus is the still wine star at the moment but there is a long way to go, and global warming could throw up some interesting possibilities. Larger plantings may help to keep the price affordable – this is currently the main issue for us.

Favourite wines

Rathfinny and Nyetimber do well in the trade, and my personal favourites are Rathfinny and Gusbourne – the everyday cuvées are excellent and regularly beat Champagne in our blind tastings.

Other than wine, what interests you?

Rugby and watching the Exeter Chiefs, long walks followed by a decent pub lunch, scrabble, gardening and getting away to the Caribbean or our cottage in Devon.

ill S

andbach Not for geeks

VIND aims to be the ultimate wine tourism platform – however it’s not for wine geeks or those who want to spend a lot of money on a bespoke wine holiday. It's one for the growing number of tourists that are interested in wine, as an experience – for lunch, tours and tastings as part of their holiday.

Wine tourism in England

What prompted VIND?

I was on holiday with my finance Abbie Roden in Bergerac, France and we wanted to find a vineyard with a nice restaurant for lunch – but it was so frustrating as it was impossible to find any listing of places that offered lunch, tastings, tours or other facilities. This seeded the idea and on our return home we started VIND – to create a website to make it easy to find and experience the world’s best vineyards and wineries.

England has great wine tourism experiences, and not many people realise that these destinations are literally on their doorstep – especially for Londoners. People are increasingly interested in their local producers and being proud of the wines they produce. Travel restrictions could mean a lot of interest in visiting vineyards in the UK.

Future plans

It is currently free for wineries to join VIND as we build the numbers to 2,000 or 3,000. For our English wine tourism entries, we have started to link with some of the excellent tour operators such as Vine & Country. We are building up the educational areas, adding articles and features on accommodation, food, tours and tastings, along with top wine tourism tips from guest writers.

Get listed

If an English or Welsh winery wants to join VIND, they just have to fill in the form on the website or message @vind via Instagram.

> Will and Abbie

1000 and growing

We launched VIND in January 2020, but it took 18 months of preparations. Abbie is a professional photographer, so the website has amazing imagery that makes you yearn to visit a vineyard. VIND now has over 1000 vineyards and wineries from all over the world and is growing fast. The wineries upload and keep up to date their entries as they have log in details. Visitors can search by facility such as restaurants, accommodation, tours and tastings.

17 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

WINE REVIEWS

w es Juk

Green and pleasant

Mat h e

There is nothing nicer than a countryside walk coupled with a winery visit and a lovely lunch.  www.matthewjukes.com paper-plane vineyard.ed@kelsey.co.uk

While we are inching closer to being allowed out of our houses to enjoy ourselves, it appears that holiday travel abroad, this summer, is far from certain. Having gambled last year, and lost, the Jukes family has decided to play safe, make the most of our green and pleasant land and stay closer to home for the foreseeable future. Emails have started popping up in my inbox from wineries that are setting their dates for reopening and this is very positive news for our industry. There is nothing nicer than a walk in

the countryside coupled with a winery visit and a lovely lunch. By the nature of the business, most wineries are situated in our beautiful countryside and so I expect them to be busy this summer. Mini-breaks formed around an indulgent winery tour and tasting ought to be high on the list of things to do for those city-dwellers desperate for some fresh air. Let the train take the strain and you will be able to drink as much as you like, too. Wine tourism is starting to find its feet in the UK with investment being lavished on smart cellar

doors and even winery accommodation. Let’s hope that a welcome by-product of this miserable pandemic is that our own wine tourism industry will receive a welcome boost this summer. To that end, I have selected three phenomenal wines from wineries situated in particularly stunning surroundings. I hope that all of our wineries ramp up their social media and advertising activities in an effort to reach more prospective customers especially given that there will presumably be the largest captive audience in history staying in the UK this summer.

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2020 Biddenden Vineyards, Gribble Bridge Dornfelder, Kent £12.90 www.biddendenvineyards.co.uk

I have a distant, personal connection with Biddenden Vineyards – I lived not far from the estate when I was a teenager, and I remember cycling past this lovely winery and marvelling at the picturesque vineyards laden with fruit. I called in a mixed case of samples recently and there is no doubt just how far this estate has come over the intervening 35 years! I have a particular penchant for the brand new 2020 Schönburger (50cl £12.70). This is a delicious, honeyed sweetie which will soon appear on the shelves, but the star of the new 2020 releases is this lusty Dornfelder. With a dark hue, weighty impact and spicy attack this is a proud red wine and one with unexpected depth and juiciness. Shaped like a feisty Morgon, this will be a beautiful summer picnic wine, so jump on the train to Headcorn and book yourself in for a tour, tasting and lunch. You will find a very warm welcome from the Barnes family when you cross their threshold.

NV Langham, Corallian, Classic Cuvée, Dorset £27.50 www.langhamwine.co.uk £27.50 reduced to £25.75 each in a case of six bottles

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It is very rare that a wine estate sends me a collection of their latest releases and then every wine ends up being a contender for a write-up. Langham’s 2017 Rosé (£29.90) and NV Culver, Classic Cuvée (£27.50) could well have featured on this page because they are both thrilling wines and it is worth mentioning that each gained a gold medal score in my notes. While Culver is the Blanc de Noirsshaped wine, my headliner, Corallian, leads with Chardonnay. Based on the 2017 vintage, with a 62% Chardonnay, 29% Pinot Noir, 9% Pinot Meunier mix and a tweak of 10% reserve wine, which certainly makes itself heard, this is a strongly perfumed and robustly flavoured sparkler with a serious attitude and a world-class stance! Opening on 14 April for tours and tastings, this beautiful estate is based in the stunning Dorchester countryside and I cannot think of a more rewarding way to spend a relaxing afternoon when lockdown gradually eases.

2016 Raimes, Blanc de Noirs, Hampshire Approx. £35.00 www.raimes.co.uk £33.99 www.thenakedgrape.co.uk £37.49 www.grapebritannia.co.uk £35.99 www.tivoliwines.co.uk £37.50 www.hawkinsbros.co.uk £31.00 www.farehamwine.co.uk). If I were to name the most picturesque place in the UK, it would have to be Itchen Stoke Shallows. My mother was born in Arlesford and she lived in the Fulling Mill as a child. As a young boy we would drive down from our house in Old Basing to visit the Shallows – I thought it was the most magical place I had ever seen. Raimes is a short drive away from this idyllic spot and the thought of enjoying a bottle of this 52% Pinot Noir, 48% Pinot Meunier sparkler, sitting on the riverbank, is simply too good to be true. This is a full-flavoured creation, packed with ripe fruit, and it is offset with grippy acidity and an impressively long finish. This is a smart wine with a larger frame than many, but sensational balance keeps this ebullience in check and it makes it a thoroughly irresistible creation.

19 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

EDITOR'S VISIT

Ed itor

Shropshire’s best kept secret

Jo Cowdero y

The Domesday Book of 1086 lists Hencote, meaning a ‘high homestead’– but if the early inhabitants could have glimpsed the future, they would be astonished by the Hencote of 2021. Vineyard speaks to Mark and Andrew Stevens about the family’s mission to create an outstanding and unique luxury tourist destination, set in the stunning Shropshire countryside.

“The soil and aspect were considered excellent.”

The vineyard first started as 200 vines in the Stevens’ family garden in 2009, planted by Dora Stevens a keen gardener. “It was just for fun. The grapes were made into wine, in demijohns, but it really wasn’t drinkable,” Mark laughed. Mark’s father Andrew worked abroad for many years, but he kept noticing the rise in popularity of English sparkling wine and the positive press coverage of the fast-growing UK wine industry. So, on his return to the farm, he asked John Buchan, viticultural agronomist, to assess the land’s suitability for vines. “The soil and aspect were considered excellent, so we planted in 2015,” commented Mark. Hencote is family run, by Andrew, Dora and their four adult children: Mark, Vivienne, Charles and Susanne – all with different roles within the business. Mark is involved with anything wine related and marketing. Charles looks after the finances and the accommodation. Vivienne runs the events and weddings, and Suzanne manages the restaurant. “Andrew oversees business strategy and is the final decision maker and Dora, will roll up her sleeves and help with anything and everything – and be an extra pair of hands

> Mark Stevens when needed – in the vineyard, at harvest, or even at bottling,” explains Mark. Mark initially started his career as a paralegal in the City of London, but he found that he would sit outside in the sun on his lunchbreak and not want to return inside to the office. “I wanted to be outside, so I decided to try working in the vineyard to see if I liked it.” Mark then attended the International Cool Climate

Wine Symposium, hosted by the UK in Brighton in 2016. “I wasn’t even a wine drinker then, and the symposium was way over my head, but I was intrigued and so decided to study the foundation diploma in wine production at Plumpton College and also took the WSET level 2 exam. Despite his relative youth Mark is now running a successful business and has just >> become the father of twins.

Photos: Martin Apps, Countrywide Photographic

Tourism is key to the business

The Hencote business focus is solely sales direct to public, with no sales into either the trade or merchants. “We want people to come here and have a fantastic meal in the restaurant and stay in our luxury holiday home or the glamping lodges – this is our primary goal for selling our wine,” explained Andrew. To entice visitors, Hencote has an exquisite wine bar, an opulent lounge, a stunning glass-fronted restaurant called ‘The View at Hencote’ and the al fresco ‘Balcony at Hencote’, with panoramic views of the Welsh hills, Wrekin hill and the historic spires of the market town of Shrewsbury in the middle. The Hencote logo is inspired by the beautiful 200-year-old white sycamore tree that is a prominent feature on the estate. “A local joiner has crafted many of the pieces of furniture for the restaurant from white sycamore. Our landscape was carved out by glaciers and the vineyard is over sandstone with glacial till, which is evident in the old course of the River Severn sitting below the vineyard,” explained Andrew. In keeping with the local natural resources some of this aggregate has been used to create the flooring in the restaurant, set in polished concrete. Best practice, low input and sustainability is a theme throughout. “Our wines are grown on site, made on site, consumed on site, what could be greener!” Andrew added. “Our mission is to produce authentic, quality wine reflecting our location,” adds Mark. “We are not copying others or trying to produce certain styles just because they are popular, we aim to reflect where we

are. To achieve this, we use minimum intervention and best practice in the vineyard and all the work is done by hand. We have the same philosophy in the winery, and our winemaker Gavin Patterson allows the wines to express their natural characteristics by avoiding intervention. The visitor experience is key to the business and the team work hard at Hencote to create a seamless service for the discerning guest who is looking for a superb venue where they can celebrate, relax or indulge in a luxurious, romantic setting. The website is simple to navigate, and it is easy to book the restaurant, tours, tastings or accommodation. It is straightforward to buy wine, gift vouchers, adopt a vine – or even plan a wedding in a breath-taking setting.

The vineyard and the wines

The vineyard sweeps down the hill in front of the restaurant and balcony. It is south facing and planted from 50m to 85m and covers 6.7 hectares. There are 23,000 vines, of which more than half are Pinot noir, along with Pinot meunier, Chardonnay, Seyval blanc, Solaris, Rondo and Pinot précoce. “In the vineyard we have burgundy clones of Pinot noir, so that we can produce still reds and rosés, as well as sparkling whites and rosés, depending on the fruit ripeness and the year. As the wines are sold to visitors or online a range of wine styles are made. Not everyone wants to drink sparkling, so we make still red, white and rosé – and with both premium and estate blends there is a wine for everyone,” explains Mark.

Hencote sought expert advice for establishing the vineyard. “John Buchan carried out the initial assessment of the land, including the soil analysis. He also helped us source the vines, and then Vine Works carried out the planting. Ian A’Court also provided some consultancy for a while before Gavin arrived as winemaker and viticulture director, and I finished the course at Plumpton College,” said Mark. “Gavin is assisted by Marco, who is from the prosecco region of Italy – but he has no plans to make a Charmat style wine.” Originally from Zimbabwe, Hencote’s winemaker Gavin Patterson has worked in South Africa and many wine regions around the world. When visiting the UK with his own wine brand a few years ago, Gavin was impressed by the developing industry and was keen to get involved. Having British heritage, Gavin moved to the UK and joined Hencote in 2018 for the first harvest. “It was a fantastic first harvest and proved to me the huge potential of viticulture in the UK, in the right site,” said Gavin. Along with his experience as a winemaker, Gavin brought from South Africa five Tuscan clay amphorae. “I have worked a lot with oak barrels and really like the results of fermenting in a natural vessel, and I have found that

the amphorae results are even better – and particularly suit the delicacy of English wine. Amphorae are used by biodynamic producers and I have now witnessed that the wine does change with the moon phases. The turbulence and movement will cause a clear, settled wine to become cloudy with its lees in a natural stirring process, and then will settle again. Its fascinating. The amphorae also allow some very gentle microoxygenation to take place. “In 2018, which was a fantastic year, we fermented Pinot noir and Chardonnay in the amphorae. Both were spontaneous wild yeast fermentations and produced two fantastic wines. However, 2019 and 2020 did not provide us with the same conditions, and the wine fermented in the amphorae became excellent additions to our blends. As we want to avoid too much intervention or manipulation of the wines, we sometimes do not make certain styles in certain years.” Hencote’s Amphora Pinot Noir 2018, released last year, was awarded a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge 2020, becoming the first red wine outside of Kent to be awarded a Gold at an international competition. The award is the crowning achievement of Hencote’s 2018 >>

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<< vintage which has now seen every wine released awarded a bronze or higher. “We were thrilled with the results and have had lots of lovely customer feedback on the website – hopefully tempting others to order,” said Mark.

The impact of the pandemic

As a business that focussed on hospitality the pandemic has had a huge impact Mark explained: “All events, private parties and weddings were either cancelled or postponed. Fortunately, we launched our new online shop just before lockdown in March 2020 so we are actively developing our online sales and offering free local deliveries to our customers. We have a team of 25 people employed in the business, so sadly most of them have been furloughed, with just the vineyard and winery team able to work at the moment. But we are looking forward to having the whole team back, as soon as possible.” The pandemic pushed many businesses to consider alternative activities and at Hencote Mark found that their virtual wine tours went really well. “They particularly suit corporate events, and this is something we will continue to offer after the pandemic.” The Hencote website has a clear visual roadmap to re-opening and visitors will soon be able to make bookings for tours and tastings, the restaurant, accommodation and enquire about weddings. “We are cautiously optimistic for the summer and at least, this time, we are able to plan for re-opening. The first facility to open will be ‘The Balcony at Hencote’ as it is outdoors and set up for groups of six, then the glamping

> Gavin Patterson by the amphorae in the winery

village with self-contained accommodation, and the wine tours and tastings. Our space is perfect for weddings and although this is a new addition to our business, and only just on the radar, there are lots of enquiries already. “Hencote is proving to be a really sought-after special occasion and celebratory venue for birthdays and anniversaries, especially as the glamping village is the perfect place to stay over to avoid driving. ‘The View at Hencote’ has become a popular business breakfast conference destination as well as the go-to place for corporate canapés.”

The future

As Hencote sell all the production to visitors there are no plans to expand the vineyard. “Our first harvest was in 2018 and we produced 30,000 bottles and eight styles of wine. We are a young business, and the vines haven’t yet reached maturity, so it will be interesting to see how the varieties develop in different areas of the vineyard and our production increases. “Like most vineyards we suffered in 2020 with the late frosts in May, but all being well, we hope for 40 tonnes this year. We used a Shur Farm’s cold air drain in the vineyard in May, but as it was an advective frost there was no warmer air to invert, so it was unable to work and sadly the temperature in the vines dropped to – 5°C in places. We are looking into better methods for frost mitigation. We are part of the NIAB EMR vineyard research consortium and are trialling a few rows with heated wires,” commented Mark.

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SALES AND MARKETING

The value of wine tourism Aﬅer a year of lockdown restrictions, we are desperate to be set free. There appears to be pride in buying local products alongside an emerging appetite for supporting local businesses exploring the wonders and uncovering the treasures of our beautiful isle. Wine tourism ticks so many of these boxes and Vineyard finds out how wineries can embrace the benefits of the wine tourist and achieve visitor experience excellence. Tourism has become a buzz word amongst Britain’s wine producers over the last couple of years and is fast being recognised as a vital part of the industry’s future. Wine tourism may even be a positive outcome from the pandemic, with ‘staycations’ and a desire for outdoor experiences – and this provides an excellent opportunity for British vineyards to shine. A well organised and eﬀectively delivered wine tourism experience can benefit the visitor and business alike. In response to this growing area of the industry, WineGB held a three-day virtual

26 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

conference in March, ‘UK Wine Tourism: The Roadmap to Success’, with a stellar line-up of speakers including experts from VisitBritain, the travel industry, the emerging UK regional wine clusters, some best examples of regional wine routes in other countries – and commentators on achieving excellence. WineGB members are able to view the recordings from the conference on the WineGB website. The value of wine tourism is well recognised in established regions across the globe. “There is a wealth of evidence-based research that highlights the economic importance of wine

tourism for wineries and vineyards and how it can help develop brand loyalty,” explained Dr Steve Charters MW and Professor of Wine Marketing at ESC Dijon/Burgundy School of Business. “Wine tourism also has a positive impact on the local economy increasing footfall for coffee shops, pubs, restaurants and hotels. But remember, it is the experience you are selling, not the wine,” Steve added. Mark Harvey, Chapel Down Chief Commercial Officer heads up the WineGB tourism working group. Speaking at the WineGB conference he highlighted the importance of the wine tourist stating: “A recent study from New Zealand shows that the domestic wine tourist spends 32% more than the average tourist and that the international wine tourist spends nearly 80%

Opening thevineyard door to UK Vineyard Experiences Is your on the map? more than the average tourist. “Not only can wine tourism generate more income for the vineyard or winery, but it boosts the local economy through increased visitor numbers, visitor spend, employment and other ancillary businesses.” Janet Uttley, Head of Business Support Transformation at VisitBritain is anticipating a good domestic tourism spend in 2021. “According to VisitBritain’s annual tourism forecast, the UK will hopefully see a recovery of domestic tourism spending in 2021, with the predicted figures suggesting that spending will be up 82% compared to 2020. This value of around £51.6bn, includes £37.6bn which is earmarked solely for leisure day trip spending, on activities such as vineyard visits and tours.” Understanding visitor caution due to Covid-19, VisitBritain are providing tourism businesses with a free official mark ‘We’re Good to Go’ to display on their publicity and at their venue. According to Janet 35 vineyards have already qualified to display the mark. The application can be found on the VisitBritain website in the business hub section, where it explains that this official UK mark signals that a tourism and hospitality business has worked hard to follow Government and industry Covid-19 guidelines and has a process

in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing. According to the website, if the business welcomes international travellers it is possible to update the application to include the ‘Safe Travels’ stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council. VisitBritain in recognising that there is likely to be an increased interest in domestic tourism, has also launched a new domestic campaign, ‘Escape the Everyday – at Home’ to inspire consumers, with a website area with toolkits and logos for businesses.

Working together: the Wine Garden of England

The UK has several emerging wine tourism clusters including Vineyards of the Surrey Hills, Vineyards of Hampshire, Wineries of Sussex, the very new Yorkshire Wine Trail, and soon to be launched Rother Valley Vineyards. However, leading the charge on collaborative joint ventures is the Wine Garden of England, formed of seven leading Kent producers, just over three years ago, who quickly recognised the value of working together. It was a Twitter exchange between Charles Simpson, co-owner of Simpsons Wine Estate and Charlie Holland, winemaker at Gusbourne Estate in 2016 that started the conversation



about how the Kent vineyards might benefit from working together. Very soon tourism emerged as a clear winner – as all the vineyards would benefit from driving footfall to Kent. The first official meeting of the inaugural members took place at Chapel Down in February 2017, with representatives from Simpson’s Wine Estate, Gusbourne Estate, Chapel Down, Biddenden Vineyard, Hush Heath Estate and Domaine Evremond, with Squerryes joining as the seventh member a few months later. Charles is the current Chair of the Wine Garden of England. “Our aim, or mission, is to significantly increase momentum behind wine tourism in Kent by collaborating as a partnership, in order to add value to the efforts of individual brands in this specific area. We also knew that we wanted to keep it simple. We wanted to make sure that booking would be super easy for a complete seamless experience – a vineyard visit, a lovely restaurant, maybe another vineyard or other local attraction and transportation, in just a few clicks,” explained Charles. As wineries and vineyards their business focus is wine production. “We realised that we all know about growing grapes and making wine, but not much about the tourist industry so >>

> Biddenden Vineyard

> Simpson’s Wine Estate

SALES AND MARKETING

WINEGB BEST PRACTICE GUIDELINES 1. To create a regional wine culture rooted in local history heritage, food and natural attractions 2. To create a sustainable offer – environmentally, economically and socially 3. To achieve excellence in service by meeting or exceeding visitors' expectations in service, sales and hospitality 4. To co-ordinate the offer - bringing together wineries to work together to ensure the most effective access to their region or sub-region through co-ordinated efforts 5. To establish best policies and procedures for wine tourism experiences 6. To offer a broad range of experiences 7. To be mutually supportive 8. To ensure an effective social media presence 9. To ensure that the visit to the region for tourists is made as accessible and enjoyable as possible 10. To enable regional champions to emerge who will work for and with the region

> Squerreyes << we reached out to VisitKent – who were delighted to work with us as they also saw lots of opportunities,” commented Charles. VisitKent were a huge help in the initial stages getting the group off the ground. “Although they haven’t directly funded us, they have found funding for our branding and the website and have helped us link up with other potential key stakeholders, including South Eastern Railways – whose campaign is to get Londoners out into Kent for weekends. They have even provided signage on their stations. The name came from a brainstorm with the seven vineyards, but it was actually Lynn Murray at Hatch Mansfield/Domaine Evremond who blurted it out – as we thought of every possible anagram of Garden, England, Wine, Kent etc,” Charles added. Knowing that they were the worst people to give an unbiased view on their own venue’s tourism offers, the Wine Garden of England members decided to bring in some expertise. “We invited Steve Charters, one of the world’s leading authorities on wine tourism, to visit each of our estates as a ‘tourist’ – but not quite a mystery shopper. He assessed each venue, what was good, bad, different or unique and provided feedback to us as a group – with warts and all. Steve also spoke of the attributes that made other wine regions successful, the value of the wine tourist, and importance of putting the geographic brand above the estate’s own.

> Hush Heath Estate

> Helter skelter at Simpson’s Wine Estate

> Lunch at Gusbourne Estate

“Steve also highlighted that tourism takes time, resources, and skill. We knew that to be successful we needed to employ a dedicated person, and Sally Murphy is our full-time marketing executive to take Wine Garden of England forward to the next phase,” explained Charles. Speaking at the WineGB tourism conference, Charles highlighted key points of the value of working together: ◆ Increasingly profitable cellar door sales ◆ Increase in life-long brand ambassadors ◆ Building a direct customer database ◆ Greater gravitational draw for visitors and journalists to Kent ◆ Greater gravitational draw for other businesses and partners ◆ Access to Local Government and Partnership Funding opportunities ◆ Contribution to wider local economy “We are forming some exciting partnerships and we should be able to announce the addition of a major retailer soon,” smiled Charles. “As there is a natural affinity of fine wine with fine dining, we are really excited to be collaborating with the Pig, Fordwich Arms and other fine Kent restaurants. However, one of our many interesting discoveries has been the story of Gundulf, a monk who was appointed as Bishop of Rochester Cathedral in 1077, who propagated vines and made wine in the grounds. For a while after Gundulf’s death a wine festival was held in his memory – and in November 2018 and 2019 this was recreated by the very enthusiastic current Dean and Chapter of Rochester in partnership with the Wine Garden of England. The cathedral hosted a celebratory dinner, with a blessing of the wine and a public fund raiser the following day, with tastings from the seven vineyards,” added Charles. Wine Garden of England plans to continue this event as an annual celebration. “I would strongly urge other geographic regions to create their own tourism cluster – there is no magic sauce – so the Wine Garden of England is absolutely open to sharing its experiences. When we set up the Wine Garden of England, we realised we needed to be flexible, fast and nimble, so we kept the initial group of vineyards small. We would never have got off the ground with any more vineyards– we would still be arguing. But the group is inclusive and will be welcoming other Kent vineyards soon. Joining vineyards need to have a visitor centre that meets certain standards and be able to contribute financially,” he added.

> Chapel Down

Charles is excited for the season ahead and the future. “My gut feeling is that tourism will bounce back and bounce back big. It’s a perfect storm – with Brexit triggering loyalty and support for local producers and the Covid-19 situation favouring outside activities in safe rural locations.” The Wine Garden of England has now set up its next steps, which Charles revealed at the tourism conference: ◆ Develop an integrated booking platform: VinTrial ◆ Finalise the Wine Tour Charter…a list of ‘boxes that must be ticked’ and a process for policing implementation effectively ◆ The Marketing Manager will implement the 2021 marketing and event plan ◆ Develop strategic partnership with hospitality and transport partners ◆ Develop formal criteria for other Kent producers wishing to join the WGE group

Best practice guidelines

For many vineyards and wineries wine tourism is a venture into a new unknown business – quite different to their familiar wine business - so revised planning and guidance may be needed with new skill sets and strategies to achieve an excellent visitor experience. To help producers to engage with this market, WineGB launched its first Wine Tourism Best Practice Guidelines to serve as a guide to inspire vineyards to achieve the very best in their offerings. WineGB’s industry report ‘Looking to the Future’ in 2018 highlighted that in addition to the increased footfall that tourism brings there is an opportunity for wineries to benefit from the higher margin directto-consumer sales and enhanced online sales – helping the long-term commercial viability for many vineyards. “The ‘Wine Tourism – Best Practice Guidelines’, contains the top 10 recommendations for success, drawing on key themes and guidelines produced from other countries. Each guideline is illustrated by a best practice case study from an initiative in Britain or around the world,” explained Mark Harvey, Chair of the WineGB tourism working group. "The intention is that this document will be periodically reviewed and developed as best practice examples are initiated and as the wine tourism regions in the UK themselves evolve.”

> Hush Heath Estate

GRAPE GROWING

The Buchan ‘Midas Touch’ Many of the most successful vineyards in the UK have something in common – they have been planned, planted and managed by John Buchan, a Viticultural Agronomist with 20 years’ experience. Vineyard speaks to John to find out how he brings his ‘Midas touch’ to vines. Although John has 20 years’ experience in viticulture, his agronomy background stretches back many more years and his strong agriculture, farm management and specialist knowledge of plant nutrition probably places John as one of the foremost agronomy experts in UK viticulture today. John Buchan Agronomy was founded in 2002 and John supplies his clients with a full range of consultancy services – from initial site selection to the creation of full integrated farm management. John has the advantage that he is totally independent of any nutrition, fertiliser, plant protection or other suppliers and so is not limited to the selection of specific products. In fact, with his experience and knowledge, he creates bespoke nutrition and fertiliser combinations for his clients which are formulated for him by selected suppliers. “These are for both conventional and organic vineyards. They are site specific, so that the client can avoid off the shelf formulations – and only needs to apply what is required,” explains John. John Bucan started his career after studying agriculture and farm management at Brooksby College. After 18 years in farm management, he specialised in plant nutrition with two of the foremost nutritional companies. Those being USA based Stoller Chemicals and the German company Stefus Plant Protection, building up the plant nutrition sector in the UK. “In 2001, while working as a plant nutritionist, I met Ian A’Court by

> John Buchan

30 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

chance. Ian is now a viticultural consultant, but at the time he was manager of Sharpham Vineyard in Devon. Ian had asked Stoller Chemicals, where I was a plant nutritionist, if anyone knew about vines. My American boss, with his limited knowledge of UK geography decided that Shropshire, where I was based, and Devon were close. So, I visited Sharpham Vineyard to advise on nutrition and that is when my involvement with vineyards started. Shortly after, my next vineyard visit was to Camel Valley in Cornwall and thanks to the owner Bob Lindo – who passed my name around – I ended up really busy. “After meeting Ian A’Court and Bob Lindo, I realised that vineyard people are really friendly and open, so I decided to focus on viticultural agronomy, specialising in nutrition. I now have over 70 clients – and I will be celebrating 20 years in vineyards in November this year!”

Complete viticulture consultancy

With his unique background in farm management, soils and plant nutrition – and many years specialising in viticulture, John is able to offer a complete consultancy service or tailor made advice depending on his client’s needs. “I can support the client from a vineyards first inception, with a full site assessment, soil analysis with interpretation and recommendations, site improvement and preparation advice, selection of varieties, clones and rootstocks – and the all-important costings. Once the vineyard is planted I

provide bespoke, site specific, nutrition and specialist fertilisers, as well as a fully integrated agronomy service. I also guide clients on machinery as there are so many suppliers of specialist vineyard equipment now – it can be a minefield.”

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John’s top tips

John always starts the conversation with a new client with a reality check. “Vineyards are romantic, and it’s easy to get seduced into planting one. So, the first thing I ask is what style of wine are you going to make? The second question is who is going to make it? Followed by where and who is going to sell it? Marketing is one of the main issues that is so often ignored.” A vineyard is likely to have many years in negative cash flow. “Many people are not fully aware of how long this can be – and if they do understand this, many seem to ignore it. Another mistake I often see is people thinking that they can do – and will enjoy doing – a lot of the work in the vineyard themselves. On a fine day it’s lovely to be out in the vines for a few hours, but I remind people to be realistic about what they can actually do. It takes a long time to prune vines, through the cold winter months. Successful vineyard management is about timing – and this is critical as delays in tasks will affect the vines,” John warns. Purchasing equipment for a vineyard or winery is also time critical. “Planning ahead is key, as lead times on equipment can be many months. So often, people are not aware that these bits of vineyard kit are not available to buy ‘off the shelf’. Sound business planning is also so important for a successful vineyard business, and my advice is to do a plan, stick to it and don’t over-extend.”

jamie.mcgrorty@kelsey.co.uk

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Look after your soil

The soil is a significant part of the vines environment and needs to be managed well to ensure it is physically, chemically and biologically sound. “I always emphasise the importance of a good soil management policy. For a start, avoid compaction and panning to preserve soil porosity and ensure aerobic conditions. Without oxygen, in an anaerobic situation, the roots cannot breathe, nor can the beneficial microorganisms. The above ground plant uses CO2 for photosynthesis, but plant roots and soil microorganisms require oxygen – they respire, just as we do.” Correct soil preparation for planting is so important and often poorly understood, but fortunately John can draw on his farm management experience. “Over the years I have produced seed or planting beds for every type of crop, each has its own requirements, including vines.” Soil and plant nutrition is John’s speciality, and passion. “I recommended soil analysis every three years and sap or tissue analysis during the season at key growth stages. I find that petiole sap analysis is best for giving a snapshot of the vine’s current nutritional status, and with this information the nutrition can be adjusted to a great extent with foliar feeds, but underlying soil deficiencies cannot be readdressed through the foliar route.” Vineyard trellising is often left for the second year of growth, mainly to delay the next expenditure, but John sees this as a mistake. “When planting I prefer to get the fruiting wire up in the first year and attach the support tutor or stake to it. This makes sure the young plant is upright, for light interception – and importantly it stops it moving in the wind, which then creates a hole around the base of the vine, allowing for disease.

Thoughts on the future

The wine production industry in the UK has changed dramatically in the 20 year span of John’s viticultural agronomy career, and he has seen it develop rapidly, going from strength to strength. “The main change in the past 20 years has been the rapid increase of plantings, starting from around 1000/ha, to around the 4000/ha now. The obvious acceptance of our climate change has been indicated by the plantings of vines by >>

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GRAPE GROWING << some of the French Champagne Houses in the south east. I am encouraged to say that there has been an improvement in viticultural practices over the years, through experience and knowledge. In particular there has been an increased acceptance of the importance of knowing your soil with regards to nutritional, biological and physical characteristics. I’m pleased, as this has been my main mission for years, and will continue to be, as we move towards more sustainable methods of soil management.” The wines produced in England and Wales now receive global recognition and acclaim and John thinks the challenge going forward will be maintaining our status in the world as a premium producer of top-quality wines. “We have blown the myth – so now let’s reap the rewards. I predict that the market will become more and more competitive due to increased production, price pressures and the introduction of Charmat method wines. Although all these factors produce a marketing challenge - in the same way they can open up opportunities.” When it comes to viticulture, John sees “the advancement of any plant, be it from yield, quality, growth characteristics or disease resistance as a never-ending process. Thus, the continued experimentation in varieties, rootstocks and clones is paramount. We need varieties that will thrive in our climate and produce top quality wines that require lower input costs, thus allowing profitability.”

Wine and classic cars

John enjoys relaxing at the end of the day with a glass of wine from England or Wales. “I could not possibly name names as to which vineyard’s wine I prefer, as there are too many to mention and so many fantastic English and Welsh wines – the wine I choose may depend on which rugby team I am watching.” John’s other passion is classic cars, he has rebuilt many and continues to do so. “I may well turn up to one of your vineyards in one of them,” he warns.

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32 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

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EDUCATION

Studying wine Max Campbell BA International Wine Business Being a third-year student in the middle of a pandemic has certainly been an interesting experience. Coming back into college for these last few months has really made me realise the hurdles that my teachers have had to figure out. From spending most of the academic year learning through virtual lessons and having to plan things such as a research project amongst other things, the only thing I can say to those in charge of my course is – thank you. There has been support whenever I have needed, and the lessons have been tweaked and adjusted to help keep us engaged and learning. However, I am glad to be back in college, tasting, experiencing, and learning everything that Plumpton has to offer, I am honestly glad that Plumpton is where I chose to study. As for content in the third year – it’s such a great year. We get given fantastic modules aimed at getting us ready for the real-life wine business. We get to undertake research into a field that we want to discover. There is product design and innovation for those wanting to create and market their own ideas. And we delve into topics that I didn’t even know existed a year ago such as Wine & Philosophy, Luxury Wine Marketing and everything to do with ‘Fine Wine’. I think I can comfortably say, content wise it is the most engaging and practical year of study for me - and I think I’ll feel ready to start working as soon as graduation comes.

Kirsten Willis BSc Viticulture and Oenology

Starting a degree at any point in a person’s life can be daunting, but this year we had the added knowledge that we would be trying to negotiate the pandemic and the ever-changing restrictions. Online learning has been beneficial in certain ways, having lectures recorded that I can go back and refer to has been a real bonus. It seems that we have covered so much already, from chemistry, to environmental factors affecting decisions on vineyard sites, and currently working through high-level winemaking practices. Although we have missed out on the natural camaraderie within a lecture hall, I think that this year has created a great sense of ‘team’ amongst

the first-year students. We all know that it has been a year far from normal, and it seems that everyone is there to offer some help whenever someone needs it. Our days out in the vineyard with our lecturer, Tom, are great. I think the combination of learning something new and being outside working together creates a bit of a buzz. And as time goes by, I think it is clear that every one of my fellow students has a real passion and a certain level of ‘wine geek’. Just from the people I have met so far at Plumpton, I think that there is huge potential for what they will add to the UK wine industry in the future.

Edmund Cole BA International Wine Business

The third year of the degree has been rather abnormal as lectures have been transitioned online and the interaction with the overall cohort has been missed. Virtual learning has been an obstacle that all lecturers have overcome and they have been able to deliver a similar standard of teaching to the experience in class. In our final year, there is the need for additional support as students are under pressure from their self-led projects, and lecturers have been exceptional in fulfilling these needs. Personally, I would say that the virtual learning has not affected me as much as I thought it might have done. Accessibility to the library resources could have been a problem, however, with the use of modern digital platforms similar levels of interaction have been replicated online, and this has maintained high engagement from all students. Returning to class has relieved us from the persistent working through a screen. The final year is a lot more theory focused, which has facilitated the transition between in class to virtual sessions. The regional analysis modules of Alsace and Mendoza have provided an additional layer to our wine knowledge and have been critical in improving our analytical skills of data sets. We have been fortunate that the practical tasting sessions were able to be rescheduled - as the tasting experiences are always very interesting and transform the theory into a sense of reality. The product innovation module has been one of my favourite modules as it has allowed a greater level of creative thinking, and an opportunity to explore different aspects of the overall drinks industry. The understanding of the current trends in the industry has also been crucial in the design of the innovative product.

 www.plumpton.ac.uk

34 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

> Edmund Cole > Kirsten Willis

> Max Campbell

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Meet the people behind the wines

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CAREERS PROFILE

Richard Lewis must have one of the best jobs in the world. He works in the beautiful, ancient and diverse landscape of the Kent North Downs, and has the privilege of contributing to the legacy of the farmland and local communities. Richard’s role is a busy one but leaves just enough time for his other passion rugby. n

What does your job involve?

As Head of Viticulture at Chapel Down I oversee operations at our 10 vineyards across Kent, covering 230 hectares. It is everything to do with producing the grapes, assessing land, designing new vineyards and organising the harvest. I have a great team who work incredibly hard, along with some fantastic suppliers.

What do you love about your job?

It’s hugely satisfying to create new vineyards, watch them establish and come into production. I love being involved in the creation of something that is associated with celebration and conviviality, and something so many people derive a lot of pleasure from. One of the biggest challenges I have is balancing my time between the office and the vineyards – I have to be strict with myself and shut the laptop and get out into the vineyards!

Why the change of career?

I was 38 years old when I joined Chapel Down in 2009. I trained initially as a quantity surveyor and site engineer and worked on the EuroDisney project in Paris, plus various management roles with luxury property developers. During the credit crunch things weren’t so rosy for property, but the English wine scene was starting to gain momentum – and I wanted to get involved. I had developed a fascination for wine during many family holidays to the south of France and a working holiday to Australia and New Zealand in 1994. When I started my wine studies at Plumpton College, I also started working part-time at Chapel Down and found working alongside studying hugely beneficial. I completed the final year of the degree part-time as I had become the vineyard manager at Chapel Down by then and graduated with a degree in Viticulture & Oenology in 2013 – I haven’t looked back since.

alongside like-minded passionate people. Much credit must go to Chris Foss who has led the group and been instrumental in getting it to where it is today.

Do winemakers get all the glory?

It used to appear that way. Now there is a massive shift towards provenance, sustainability and buying local. People are seeing a far stronger connection between the final product and the origins of the ingredients. With wine there is an inescapable connection between the product and the vineyard. The winemakers at Chapel Down are the first to acknowledge that the quality of the grapes has a fundamental impact on the quality of the wine. I think those who grow the grapes are getting more recognition for the part they play in the final product - and rightly so.

Favourite wine?

There are so many fantastic wines out there and it seems that every time I try a new English or Welsh wine, I have a new favourite.

Any free time?

Four children, a dog, two chickens and a large veg plot in the garden keep me busy. I am from a rugby-mad Welsh family. My uncle played for Llanelli (now Scarlets) and my father played at London Welsh alongside Welsh internationals and British Lions players – so I had no choice but to love the game. I don’t play myself anymore, but I have been coaching boy’s and girl’s youth rugby for the last 15 years which has been an incredibly rewarding experience.

Future of English and Welsh wine?

We now produce some absolutely stonking wines and have some real trailblazers working in our industry. The pace of change has been breathless and the amount of investment we have seen in new vineyards and wineries has been staggering. We have all seen the shift towards buying local produce over the last few years, so I can only see the demand for English wines growing. However, we are becoming more health conscious and there is a new generation to appeal to, so we are likely to see a move towards ‘buy less, buy better’ – but with the high quality of English wine it is well placed to fill this position.

The importance of sustainability

Sustainability is an important part of all our lives, so I am really pleased to see how well the WineGB Sustainability Scheme has gone. I have been on the working group from the start, and it has been a wonderful experience working

GRAPE GROWING

To dip or not to dip? Planting season is approaching and getting young vines off to a good start is important for a future healthy and productive vineyard. The benefits of good mycorrhizal fungi associations with vine roots to support nutrient and water uptake are well known. Vineyard asks if inoculating with a root dip at planting helps early growth. Viticulturists are increasingly aware of the importance of soil management to ensure healthy, active and diverse populations of soil microorganisms for the vigour and productivity of the vine. Research continues to reveal more about this unseen world. Martin Lukac, Professor of Ecosystem Science at Reading University explains: “It is possible to sequence the DNA of the entire soil microorganism population, and this shows that there are millions of species – the fact is that soil life is very complex.”

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

While plenty of soil bacteria and fungi play important roles in vineyard health and productivity, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are unique as they offer such a broad range of benefits. “These include nutrient uptake, especially phosphorous which is typically less available in the soil, moisture uptake, better tolerance of pathogens, as well as improved soil structure and aggregate stability. This is because the AMF essentially increases the soil volume that can be explored by the vine’s roots,” explained Professor Lukac. The larger roots

> Young vines ready for planting

serve to anchor the vines, but it is the fine ‘feeder’ mycorrhizal hyphae that uptake most of the nutrients. The roots and fungi have a symbiotic or trading relationship, the fungi supply water and nutrients and receive sugars from the vines in return. “The fungus establishes a structure, known as an arbuscule within the vine root which is responsible for the exchange, and this is linked to an extensive network of hyphae outside of the root for taking up nutrients and water,” Professor Lukac added.

Root dip or leave it to nature?

There are commercial products available that provide mycorrhizal fungi in solution for dipping the plant roots prior to planting, with the aim of providing an inoculation that will encourage colonisation of the vine roots. There is a cost involved with purchasing the product and the labour to carry out the dipping – but if mycorrhizal fungi are naturally present in the soil, are dips necessary and do they encourage a quicker establishment of a colony? According to Professor Martin Lukac the decision to use a dip depends on the status of the soil. “If planting into healthy soil with established mycorrhizae

©Ian Pack

species, it will probably make no difference. However, to use an extreme example, if planting into sand with practically no life, then the dip could make a huge difference. If the field to be planted has been permanent pasture and undisturbed for a while, then there should be lots of mycorrhizae species, but populations will be low if the land has been in arable production and the soil worked regularly. So, if the soil has been degraded by previous land use, then a mycorrhizal dip could make a difference.” Duncan McNeill, Viticulture Consultant from McNeill Vineyard Management, looks after 15 vineyards in the East Anglia region as well as his own vineyard. “I used to always dip vines on the day of planting, even though it was such a horrible job and made such a mess. However, a while ago I started leaving some vines untreated after learning about the trials carried out by our vine supplier Volker Freytag at Freytag Nursery in Germany, and I have not seen any difference in vine establishment or longer-term production. “In the trials carried out by Freytag it was found that, in many situations, the inoculated mycorrhizal fungi did not survive at the newly planted vine’s root depth. This is probably why I have not seen any difference in the treated verses untreated vines in the vineyards – so for this reason I have stopped dipping vines at planting. “Mycorrhizal fungi are a vital part of the rhizosphere and incredibly important for the vine, so soil management must focus on creating a suitable environment for it to thrive. This includes increasing the organic matter and considering the rooting depth of the cover crop plants. Just dipping roots at planting does not mean that a mycorrhizal colony can establish.” Paul Woodrow-Hill, Viticultural Consultant and owner of Vine Care UK stated that he discusses the matter with his clients before using a root dip. “I think the general consensus is that if planting into a field that had been arable and farmed intensively then yes, I recommend using a dip, but if the land is healthy and undisturbed then no. I do think that vineyard managers are under pressure to do everything possible to minimise risk to poor establishment, so they may be worried about the consequences if they don’t use a dip. “At one vineyard where I worked, I did a bit of a field trial leaving a section of a vineyard untreated, whilst the rest had a root dip. I actually saw that the untreated vines did better than the treated. I assume that the fungi were taking the nutrients for their own growth.” Will Mower, Vineyard Establishment Manager at Vine Works Ltd, does not generally use a root dip. “It is important to purchase good quality planting material. The nurseries we use treat the vines after grafting with mycorrhizal fungi before they are then field-grown. During this time they should establish an association with the mycorrhizal fungi. The vines are then selected and checked for quality, including the graft unions, before being transported to us. For this reason, we should not need to do a dip with a mycorrhizal fungi solution at planting.” Stephen Skelton MW, Viticultural Consultant added: “In my view it is probably not worth using a root dip, but it does depend on the state of the soil and what has been grown beforehand. In fact, most of the good nurseries will have pre-populated the planting material with mycorrhizal fungi. Vine death is usually due to a graft failure, so the nursery should be ensuring a good graft union.”

Top tips for establishment

Establishing a vineyard involves much business planning, logistics planning – and substantial finance – so it makes sense to ensure that the best growing environment is carefully created, both pre-planting and post-planting, to get the vines off to a good start for a healthy and productive future vineyard. For successful establishment Duncan McNeill suggests deep soil preparation. “This will ensure that the roots are not meeting any resistance from compacted soil. This is the only time that I am in favour of deep soil cultivation, as it disturbs the soil micro-organisms including the mycorrhizal networks, which then have to be re-established. But initial root growth is critical as this increases leaf area. Increased leaf area and photosynthesis means increased root exudates, which are substances secreted by the roots into the rhizosphere that

> Mycorrhizae inside a tree root ©Mark Tibbett, Reading

feed the soil microorganisms. “After planting it's best to avoid disturbing the soil as much as possible to preserve the microorganisms and keep the fungal hyphae networks intact. I have a new direct drill arriving soon for planting cover crops, which are of course beneficial to soil health, and this will avoid cultivation and soil disturbance. Will Mower’s top tip for establishment is also good soil preparation. “The addition of organic matter, the correction of any nutrient deficiencies, and planting a cover crop beforehand if necessary, to improve the soil – even if it means delaying a year. I recommend using a reputable nursery, such as Freytag or Tourette. For the post-planting period weed control is vital. In my experience, it doesn’t matter if the vines are machine planted or hand planted, good soil preparation is the key.” Stephen Skelton agrees that post-planting weed control is key to good establishment. “These small plants really do not want the competition.” Many vineyards use the tube-style rabbit guards, but Stephen prefers rabbit fencing. “I think the tubes create a warm moist environment and promote long internode lengths and weaker ‘hot-housed’ plants,” he said. According to Martin Lukac there is little evidence on the persistence of the mycorrhizae species in the root dips. “It is likely that any population introduced could be out competed by species already in the soil. However, adding a dip is not going to do any harm – it may, or may not be beneficial depending on the circumstances. “It is worth understanding that fungi perform better if the soil is slightly acidic – it’s a simplification, but fungi tend to perform better in acidic soils, whereas the more alkaline soils favour bacteria. Also, a good healthy soil mycorrhizal fungi population is good for locking up and protecting the plant against heavy metals such as copper.”

M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

AGRONOMY DIARY

Early timing

Early flowering is the key timing for tissue testing, although testing again at veraison can help evaluate the effectiveness of earlier nutritional strategies and fine-tune late nutritional sprays for optimal quality and build vine reserves for next season. Petiole analysis has become the preferred test methodology, providing a snapshot of mobile nutrients moving towards the leaf blade, although other tests are available. This season Hutchinsons is evaluating a new comparative sap analysis, which compares nutritional levels in old and new leaves from the same plant. Traditional sap analysis has been notoriously inaccurate for field-grown perennial crops, but this new test should bring greater accuracy by detecting deficiencies in older leaves first as nutrients are redirected to the growing point.

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Many larger commercial vineyards routinely use petiole analysis to identify potential nutritional issues and tailor foliar nutrition to the results, but correct interpretation is paramount. “Hidden hunger” is when a vine is lacking in certain nutrients early in the season, and this can be identified at sub-clinical level before foliar symptoms become visible. This gives growers an opportunity to rectify any problems before yield or grape quality is compromised. Test data can be combined with soil analysis or scanning results to help identify the cause of any observed variability within vineyards, such as between different cultivars or across areas of varying soil type, allowing growers to manage the growth requirements more precisely to crop need. Tissue testing may be particularly beneficial in newly established vineyards where crops need extra support as root structure develops.

Tissue testing around next month’s key flowering period is a valuable tool for finetuning nutrition plans, providing it is used correctly, as Hutchinsons’ Rob Saunders and Chris Cooper explain.

ders un

Refine fertiliser plans with tissue testing

Rob S

For flowering petiole analysis, test providers each have their own protocols, but generally a representative sample (e.g. a handful of 40 petioles) should be taken from the leaf opposite the bunch. Samples are taken along and down the rows, or from areas of vines showing a specific issue. The fresher the sample, the more accurate the results, especially for nutrients like nitrogen, so tests are best done in time for samples to reach the lab before the weekend. It typically takes around five working days for results to be returned.

Highlighting issues

Every vineyard is different, so tissue test results will reflect both the underlying soil properties and the site’s management. Ameliorating vines with nutrients is common practice in vines grown on high-pH calcareous soils prone to nutrient “lock-up”. Similarly for sandy soils where leaching potential is high and pH is known to slip downwards, there is a greater risk of manganese and boron deficiency. Applying boron in the run-up to flowering is fairly common practice for many growers and rightly so given the nutrient’s importance to pollination tube development and subsequent pollen viability. Iron is very important early on as it is essential for chlorophyll formation and photosynthesis. To correct this, it is important to use the correct iron chelate on the soil and the leaf to enhance uptake. Likewise, magnesium is needed for maintaining photosynthesis and deficiencies are often picked up by tissue testing, notably in young, recently established SO4 rootstocks. Tissue testing also provides a good way of checking nutrient ratios are in balance to mitigate potential antagonism. High soil calcium for example, can reduce the availability of magnesium and potassium to plants. Calcium itself is a relatively immobile nutrient, even in calcareous soils, but it plays a key role in strengthening the structure of cell walls, so an early application around flowering when cell division for berries is occurring could help improve resilience to botrytis later in the season. While tissue testing provides very useful information for fine-tuning foliar nutrition programmes, results should be considered carefully. Results are typically presented using a traffic light system based on recommended thresholds for deficient, low, adequate and high/excessive levels of individual nutrients. In the UK there are currently no defined cultivar standards for the exact amounts that constitute an “optimal” or “deficient” level, so results should be used as a guide and discussed with your agronomist. Regular testing helps determine whether there are underlying issues with certain nutrients, and provides a way of monitoring the effectiveness of any management changes.

 www.hlhltd.co.uk paper-plane information@hlhltd.co.uk  01945 461177

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39 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

D’A rcy

GRAPE GROWING

er nd

The vine post

Charge rate calculator for labour user rates. As all business operators will know the National Minimum Wage is to increase in April 2021 from £8.72 to £8.91, this amounts to 2.2% and was based on research by the Low Pay Commission for HMG and announced in October 2020. Clearly most business operators are not fans of increases to their costs especially during our current health and economic crisis but this increase is broadly in line with wage growth across industries. We must also not forget the fact that our fantastic industry is totally reliant on the hard-working guys on the ground pruning vines and harvesting fruit in all weathers year in and year out. All businesses have an ethical responsibility to ensure that workers receive the correct pay and that vineyards and wineries using contract services should ensure that the labour provider pays their staff correctly. With this consideration labour users should always check that their provider is a holder of a GLAA licence meaning they have a guarantee of compliance and their workers will never pay the price of poor purchasing practice. In addition to workers pay rates, labour providers need to run profitable businesses to cover overheads and costs, these have increased dramatically during the Covid-19 crisis with many companies including Vine-Works having to cover additional costs such as quarantine living expenses for workers returning from their countries of origin. Labour users that pay unrealistically low rates are knowingly or recklessly supporting labour exploitation, tax evasion or both, inevitably when this behaviour comes to light these businesses and industries face very damaging publicity to their company and the industry. Unfortunately, there will always be unscrupulous operators ready to take advantage in all industries and ours is no different. Companies accepting the lowest price for agency labour will be at the expense of workers with unscrupulous labour providers undercutting compliant operators by evading their legal responsibilities, such operators have no place in our industry. We have many prestigious brands within our industry and any negative press exposure within the production chain will inevitably filter upwards and impact upon the reputation of the brand, which is a price that is just not worth paying!

To assist labour providers and users our trade advisory body (Association of Labour Providers) and our regulatory body (GLAA – Gangmasters Labour Abuse Authority) issue a charge rate calculator every year so that all costs are visible and transparent for all parties. The costs produced show statutory costs as well as basic overheads (but do NOT account for any profit margin). The guidance takes account of new national minimum/living wages, national insurance thresholds, increased labour sourcing and retention costs, increased transport and PPE. The costs shown in the table are indicative and there are likely to be small variations for each individual but any significant variation should ring alarm bells. The link for this guidance is www.gla.gov.uk/media/6994/glaa-brief-issue-68charge-rate-guidance-march-2021.pdf For a charge rate calculator that allows for information to be input and a calculation estimate produced ALP members can access through the members area at labourproviders.org.uk/ Labour users can also check on labour providers license status by visiting www.gla.gov.uk/ our-impact/who-has-a-glaa-licence/ The ALP have also launched an awareness programme called Fairs Fair which illustrates how unfair recruitment practices can encourage labour exploitation, this can also be found via their website.

 www.vine-works.com paper-plane sales@vine-works.com  01273 891777

David

W in e

roy de w

All pumped up!

h y/

At first glance the duties of a winery pump would appear very simple - to move liquid from A to B. But with such a vast array of pump types and options, it is easy to get bogged down.

P h o t o: To

o mG

Positive displacement

In general, winery pumps should be of a positive displacement type. Which means they can ‘suck’, that their rotor or stator speed is generally low, and they can work to high pressure (as much as 12 bar). The most common pump types used in wineries are eccentric screw, peristaltic, rubber impeller and lobe.

Variable speed

For gentle handling of wine and minimising dissolved oxygen pickup, a variable speed drive on the pump is essential. This can be achieved by a phase inverter or by a mechanical drive. Mechanical drives have more torque at low speeds, but the motor must be running to change the speed. If using a positive displacement pump for filtration, variable speed is essential to keep the filter below the maximum pressure.

Robust

In a busy winery it is inevitable that pumps will get some abuse. The most common errors are letting pumps run dry and pumping against a closed valve. This misuse will damage a positive displacement pump and if the stator is rubber on metal (for example an eccentric screw or rubber impeller pump) can result in burning the rubber – with the risk of tainting the entire tank. However, this can be avoided by opting for a product sensor on the inlet and a pressure switch on the outlet.

Remote

With a remote control (either wireless or wired) topping up a tank becomes a one-person operation. Racking can also be done precisely, especially if the remote can control the speed as well. It is now also possible to get remotes that connect to an app on your smart phone which provides pump control and flow rate info.

Photos: Danbury Ridge Wine Estate

the contents will flow under gravity though the by-pass, without power and unsupervised. I am not a fan of using a by-pass to control flow rate to a filter. The wine will be forced to go round and round the pump unnecessarily and a variable speed pump is much better.

Big and slow

For gentle handling, it is far better to have a large pump running at slow speeds. A small pump thrashing away at 2500rpm may do the same work and move the same volume, but is likely to cause a higher dissolved oxygen pickup.

Minimising dissolved oxygen (DO) pickup

Pumps are often falsely accused of causing DO pickup. However, if there is no oxygen getting into the juice or wine, then there can be no effect of the pump. To avoid DO pickup it is

particularly important to ensure: ◆ All hoses are fully flood filled with inert gas, and that plenty of inert gas is used in both the to and from tanks. ◆ O-rings on fittings are regularly replaced and fittings are tightened with a spanner or key. Hand tightening is not enough. ◆ Hoses are in good condition with no pin-prick holes, and with hose clamps which are tight. Preferably double hose clamps or even better hygienically swaged ends. ◆ Start slowly and finish slowly. These are the times when there will be maximum turbulence in the tank and the highest risk of DO pick up. If all the above is adhered to, a humble centrifugal pump will do the job and they have the advantage of being cheap and robust. If you need any more help selecting a pump, just give us a call.

By-pass

Positive displacement pumps will not allow the product to run though the pump head. A by-pass is useful for primming; especially with a long hose run to the pump. In addition, a by-pass can be used to allow gravity to gently do half the work. This means that when racking or transferring wine to and from tanks of the same size, half

 www.bevtech.co.uk  David Cowderoy 01444 411141 / 07400 208205 paper-plane david@bevtech.co.uk M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

WINEMAKING

A winemaker’s guide to blending Advances in technology and wine science support winemakers in achieving the highest quality wines but blending still fundamentally relies on the capability of the winemaker, their palate and experience – and is a skill which must be learnt. Vineyard asks David Cowderoy, a winemaker of 30 years who has prepared blends for many wine styles all around the world, for some practical tips. The blending process should start with establishing an objective, explained David. “This should be based on factors such as target style, release date, price point, and for sparkling dosage level, such as Brut, Extra Brut, Demi-Sec etc. But as you will need to repeatedly taste the wines, avoid planning to work on too many blends at once, as palate fatigue can be a major problem. “One of the most important starting points for blending is to have a large range of wines with which to work. Creating a wine of complexity with just two or three wines is like trying to paint a picture with just a couple of colours. For sparkling wines, this is an area where Champagne producers excel. “The winemaker has at their disposal numerous tools to achieve this, not just variety and clone but yeast strain, lees handling, oak treatment and so on. Plus, the 15% rule should always be kept in mind - 15% of a previous vintage or a

42 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

different variety (or both) will not compromise the vintage on the label but may help the blend significantly.”

Getting the environment right

The ability to concentrate is one of the key requirements for tasting explains David. “Make sure the tasting room is quiet and free from any background aromas. The lab is not a good place due to chemical aromas and avoid kitchens as they can have lingering food smells. It’s important to allow plenty of time, avoid being rushed, avoid any disturbances – so turn off all phones.” “Avoid taking samples for blending just after any SO2 additions as the aromas will be bleached out and dulled. But at the other extreme, young wines with little or no protection can rapidly oxidise, so I suggest filling the sample bottles with CO2 or dry ice before taking the samples.

WINEMAKING > Chart 2: Ageing curve and variety

Cuvee

Quality

> Chart 1: Ageing curve and pressing fraction

Taille

Equipment and analysis

“Blending requires plenty of identical tasting glasses, a spittoon, 100ml measuring cylinder, a 10ml pipette, sample bottles, a marker pen to write on the bottles and glasses - and I like to have my spreadsheet handy. If the aim is to achieve consistency across vintages, then samples from the previous vintage should be available for cross reference. “An analysis is also useful, particularly for parameters where there are limits and implications, including free & total SO2, copper, TA, Alcohol, VA and residual sugar. “Try and anticipate how the wine will develop – particularly important with sparkling wine where the ageing curve can vary considerably depending on variety and pressing fraction, as shown in charts 1 and 2.” “There are many nuances that will influence the ageing curve but probably the most important is pH. The lower the pH, the longer the ageing curve, but not necessarily the greater the peak quality,” added David. “Aromatic varieties can be particularly hard to blend unless you have prior knowledge of how they will age. Some can have wonderful floral aromas that work very well in a blend when the wine is young, yet totally dominate when the wine has some bottle age. Bacchus from very ripe grapes may be great when young but after time in bottle will become flabby and fat.” “When tasting young wines, it is very easy to become distracted by characteristics of the wine that can be manipulated - in particular acidity. This of course can be reduced in the final blend and do not overlook the drop that will occur on cold stabilisation, which can be substantial. And of course, modification of acidity will also change the pH, with an effect on the ageing curve. “Another distraction can be phenolics, apparent as astringency and/or bitterness. These can be reduced with proteinaceous fining agents but if there is a particularly problematic wine it is better to do this before blending rather than after. However, bear in mind how the wines will develop. Phenolics can sometimes give young white and rosé wines structure and texture but these do not tend to age well. “Also, young wines can often be reduced which can be very off putting. The fruit also tends to be far less expressive when the wine is in a reduced state. This may dissipate with time and processing but for the purpose of blending it is better to treat the sample with copper to remove this. “Young red wines high in dissolved CO2 can be particularly hard to taste as

Pinot Noir Pinot Meunier

Time “If the sample is highly charged with yeast it will not be representative and a good clarity is important. If the tank sample is cloudy filter it through a small capsule filter or at the very least take the sample from just below the top of the tank, where it will have settled more. But do not take directly from the top as this could have a degree of oxidation, especially if the tank is ullaged.

Chardonnay

Time this re-enforces the acid and tannins. Try and remove the CO2 by shaking the sample, sparging with nitrogen or using a flash in an ultra-sonic cleaning bath. “Conversely it is also very hard to extrapolate the effect of CO2 on a sparkling wine post-secondary fermentation. The best route here is to use a SodaStream to carbonate. The bubbles will be nothing like the finished product, but the effect on the trigeminal nerve will be the same.”

Top tips

David suggests keeping an open mind about what will work and what will not. “Sometimes the results can be surprising. An interesting example was a tank of Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux that had a problematic ferment and lacked varietal aroma. My initial approach was to use it in a second label but quite surprisingly it improved the overall quality of the first label, adding texture and mouth feel.” Similarly, small changes to the blend can have a profound effect. “The most striking example I have encountered was a Chardonnay blend from the Languedoc, with which I was struggling due to a lack of aroma. Just 1% of Muscat lifted the nose and significantly improved it – but 2% was too much. “In trying to produce a blend for a flagship wine, it is tempting to start with just the best wines, but this approach often doesn’t work. Just like two solo artists performing a duet – each will vie for centre stage and the overall result will not be as good as a lead singer with good backing.” One of the most difficult scenarios for blending is where multiple products need to be blended from multiple tanks explains David. “The situation can rapidly become confusing with seemingly endless permutations. I have created blends from 1000s of litres to over half a million litres, and I find the easiest way to keep track and visualise is with a spreadsheet, see below a link to my spreadsheet. “Once you have narrowed the blend to one or two possibilities, prepare a larger sample. This should then be evaluated later, in a more consumer like environment; at home or with colleagues. Even with sparkling wine blends the final blend should be something that pleases and is easy to drink.” The winemaker’s palate is their key tool for blending, concludes David. “It is important to maintain and increase your tasting range to avoid ‘cellar palate’, which is a common problem, where winemakers try just their own wines. It is important to try a wide range of wines on a regular basis, including competitors. Trade tastings are particularly useful for this and acting as a judge for competitions can also be very useful for benchmarking your palate against other industry experts. The skill of blending is not an easy one or one that comes quickly but taken step by step expertise will develop to hone what is a very powerful production tool.”

My example of a spreadsheet can be found at: www.dropbox.com/s/pl7xp8pizyqmlrc/Blend%20Spreadsheet.xlsx?dl=0 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

WINEMAKING

n pto

Oxygen: Friend or foe?

M a rk C

How oxygen management influences all sensory attributes of the wine. Oxidation and reduction characteristics in wine are the leading wine faults detected at wine competitions. Many factors are at play when managing oxygen during the winemaking process, from must treatment, filtration, storage and bottling (being the critical point). Having the tools to manage oxygen such as inerting and gas sparging systems, appropriate valves and pumps as well as fining and stabilising agents to manage phenolics which are one of the main sources of oxidative character in wine, is critical. Phenolics react with oxygen to produce quinones which can lead to acetaldehyde creation from Ethanol. Oxidation reactions also contribute to browning or discolouration of wine and ultimately dull the aromatic components, especially Thiol groups. SO2, ascorbic acid and glutathione are wine ingredients used to protect from oxidation as are tannins, either toasted or untoasted, that provide anti-oxidative properties to wine. The risks factor from oxygen are high on the list of the winemaker but it is important not to fully demonise oxygen. It is a critical element that is needed during the fermentation process, managing grape must before fermentation as well as combating reductive wine parameters such as Hydrogen Sulphite. The ability to measure oxygen (Head space + Dissolved Oxygen (DO)) that give Total Package Oxygen (TPO) as well as managing

phenolic content through fining trials and tannin additions is critical. As too is proper gas management and inertion of tanks and most importantly the bottling process.

Inerting practices

Nitrogen is perceived as the best method of inerting and does not react with the wine but it is lighter than air so blanketing with N is not the best choice. Carbon dioxide on the other hand is preferred as it is heavier than air and can act as a barrier between wine and the atmosphere, although correct sparging is critical due to gas turbulence and CO2 dissolves readily in wine. Argon is the best of both worlds but is more expensive. At bottling it is important to inert the bottle as well as the screw cap in a controlled and measurable way. Auditing the bottling operations is an important part of good quality management as is checking oxygen levels. This is a service we offer and our customers can arrange this with the Bruni Erben team.

Checking oxygen levels

NomaSense O2 analyser allows winemakers to measure oxygen levels thanks to a technology based on luminescence, combined with the use of remote sensors. The portable device measures oxygen dissolved in wine and in gas phases. Oxygen can be measured at every stage of the wine’s lifecycle, in particular during the packaging process, this allows real-time analysis. Machine settings can then be adjusted

to achieve the lowest TPO possible during bottling. ◆ Check the consistency of filling and corking heads on a bottling line ◆ Reduce variations in bottling performance between the beginning and the end of the process, limiting the difference between one bottle to the next ◆ Identification of the critical oxygen pick-up stages throughout the winemaking process ◆ Implementation of supervised strategies to reduce levels of SO2 ◆ Implementation of inerting procedures to maintain quality and reduce costs.

Fining agent and Tannin additions It is important to perform bench trials, 500ml beer bottles with swing stoppers often provide a very good format for bench trials if an Imhoff Funnel isn’t readily available. Laffort have a comprehensive range of fining agents, to treat grape must and finished wine, to assist in the wine making process. Casein based fining agents such as Casein plus, are effective in combating browning and bitterness in finished wine. Plant based fining agents such as Vegecoll have also seen good results and carry less risk of over-fining. Tannin additions on the other hand can be added to finished wine to enhance organoleptic properties as well as providing effective oxygen protection.

 www.BruniErben.co.uk  07805 081677 paper-plane Mark.Crumpton@BruniErben.co.uk

& NomaSense O2 P300 & P6000

The only tool that allows fast and reliable TPO ® and BIB Luminescence technology How to enter calibration The new reference TPO meters for the wine industry.

◆ Emission of blue light directed on the sensor ◆ Sensor excitation ◆ Emission of red light captured by optical fibre

data?

◆ Use of QR codes to enter calibration ◆ Manual calibrations still possible ◆ Possibility to store up to 100 calibrations

How to measure TPO?

✓ Competitive advantages: The only tool that allows Non-invasive fast and reliable TPO measurement in bo‫﬙‬le •measurement Portable, for bo‫﬙‬le usable on site and BIB Flexibili‫﬚‬ • Accurate : 0.02 mg/L or 0.1 % O2 of measurements • Versatile use: bottle, tank, inline measurement in • Direct resultsInvasive reading bo‫﬙‬le using the Piercing System • Headspace oxygen (HSO) measurement • Integrated Total Package Oxygen (TPO) calcu • Simple and fast calibration management • Data saving • Built-in correction for sugar and alcohol conten ®

Competitive advantages: ◆ Portable, usable on site ◆ Accurate: 0.02 mg/L or 0.1 % O2 ◆ Versatile use: bottle, tank, inline ◆ Direct results reading ◆ Headspace oxygen (HSO) measurement ◆ Integrated Total Package Oxygen (TPO) calculation ◆ Simple and fast calibration management ◆ Data saving ◆ Built-in correction for sugar and alcohol content

◆ Use of sensors inside the bottle for both HSO and DO measurements ◆ Dissolved Oxygen (DO) measurement after stabilisation time ◆ Only in white glass bottles ◆ Integrated TPO calculation ◆ Oxygen consumption monitoring possible

◆ Destructive HSO measurement • Sensor inside the syringe • Any type of bottle and closures ◆ No bottle preparation ◆ Allows rapid TPO control in association with the oxygen dipping probe

1. Enter sample details • Volume of the bottle or the BIB • Size of the headspace 2. Measure HSO in hPa 3. Measure DO in mg/L 4. Calculation of TPO in mg/L

In the tank: ◆ Use of dipping probe ◆ DO measurement ◆ Inerting performance check During the process: ◆ Use of sight glasses ◆ DO measurement ◆ Inerting performance check At bottling: ◆ TPO quality control ◆ Inerting performance ◆ Filling heads consistency ◆ Corking heads consistency

◆ PSt3: cellar measurement use ◆ PSt6: micro oxygenation measurement use

There are many routes to check and manage oxygen and being aware of the pitfalls and processes to manage O2 can give the winemaker a greater control in producing the specific wine style. For further information and services and products on offer please contact mark@erben.co.uk or telephone 07805 018677, also check out www.erben.co.uk for further products and technical insights and future events.

45 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

Representing you Working in partnership with Vineyard magazine for a developing UK wine industry. WineGB is the national trade body representing the vine growers and winemakers of Great Britain from the largest producers to small hobbyists. Our members work together with the organisation to develop strategy, expertise and marketing opportunities for long-term, sustainable success.

Working with government One of the key objectives for WineGB is to help members make and sell their wines. While this of course does not mean that we actively participate in each individual producer’s production and marketing tasks – that would be an impossible task – it does mean that we are focused on trying to remove as many obstacles as possible which may stand in our members’ way. Our aim to provide a beneficial operating environment inevitably means interaction with a number of different government departments, and for our Vineyard magazine article this month our CEO Simon Thorpe provides an update on the work that WineGB is doing in this area As well as undoubtedly having a large impact on government activity at this time, our emergence from the Brexit process has also had a direct bearing on the way the English and Welsh wine industries are regulated. Following the completion of Brexit, instead of regulatory decisions being taken in Brussels, they are now undertaken by DEFRA. Although there was an automatic transferral of regulations from EU into UK law (specifically around the PDO and PGI production criteria) any future changes can be negotiated within the UK. This allows us to look at commencing a review of the PDO/PGI and in the coming weeks the WineGB team will be looking at what the scope of such a review might look like. Leaving the EU also means that the UK is now a member of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, OIV, which is an intergovernmental organisation advising and researching scientific and technical issues on vine production and winemaking. WineGB has already attended a number of OIV meetings and is able to advise DEFRA on topics which concern our industry. As DEFRA is also the hub for dialogue on areas such as vine importation,

If you are interested in wine production in the UK find out more about WineGB and join us. Visit our website www.winegb.co.uk we are now working closely with the Plant Health team to create a smooth process for bringing vines into the UK from Europe. Furthermore, there are a number of initiatives associated with DEFRA’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) which directly impact vineyard practices. There has been a wide consultation around a specific vineyard programme which encourages and funds environment benefits in vineyards. WineGB is particularly interested in ensuring the recommendations mirror our Sustainable Wines of Great Britain scheme (SWGB) which is gaining good traction among our producer members. We have also been in productive consultation with the Treasury who are undertaking an extensive review of alcohol duties. We have a number of proposals on the table, including an equalisation of duty to bring sparkling wine in line with still, and the adoption of the Cellar Door Relief Scheme. Looking at the sales side of things too, another area of focus is the Department for International Trade, which is responsible for helping exports. We have a strong and productive relationship with the department, and they are very aware of our industry’s need to grow exports in key target markets. They have offered a number of different support mechanisms and we will continue to build on their support as we ourselves build our export capability. This summer will see the next meeting of our All Party Parliamentary Group, headed by Andrew Griffith, MP for Arundel. Having an APPG dedicated to WineGB helps maintain a strong presence for our industry in Westminster. It seems to be working with recent mentions of English wine from both the Prime Minister and Liz Truss, Secretary of State for International Trade, in their remarks about new Free Trade Agreements. While the benefits of the work which WineGB undertakes with government are enjoyed by the entire industry, none of it would be possible without the financial support of our members and sponsors.

More information can be found on our website: www.winegb.co.uk/join/government-consultations/

WineGB Awards are now open for entries

The 2021 WineGB Awards judging will take place over the week of 7 June. As well as showcasing the huge diversity and quality of our wines, the calibre of judges and competition partners make this a major competition for WineGB members. All the wines are judged to international standards of marking by a glittering line up of wine luminaries, led by co-Chairs Susie Barrie MW and Oz Clarke OBE, carefully chosen to

M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

represent different spheres of the wine world. Each has extensive experience in competition judging and professional knowledge of English and Welsh wines. As well as showcasing the medal winners in an extensive press and social media campaign,

the trophy winners of the WineGB Awards will also be highlighted at the annual WineGB Trade and Press Tasting, held in September, on a dedicated tasting table. Throughout the year too, the press team at WineGB will often point journalist and trade enquiries towards those wines which we know have performed well in our annual awards, so there are tangible benefits long after the competition has come to a close. WineGB members can enter their wines via the links in the members’ area of the WineGB website.

DATES FOR THE DIARY 27 May 6pm: Planning to plant question time, webinar. 5-13 June Welsh Wine Week 7-10 June WineGB Awards judging takes place 19-27 June English Wine Week 24 June WineGB Awards results announced

Impressions: 40,157

Profile Visits: 1,271

(+32% compared to previous week)

(+201.1% compared to previous week)

Career opportunities for women in the Great British wine industry Having teamed up with Women in Wine London to celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, WineGB successfully showcased some of the leading female professionals who are shaping Great Britain’s wine industry today. Held live on Instagram at 6pm each day from International Women’s Day, 8 March until 15 March, the series of video interviews sparked

> Alessandra Valsecchi > Sam Linter

> Julia Trustram Eve

> Hannah Van Susteren

Total IGTV videos unique views: 7,375

great interest not just with wine lovers but with women looking to take up a career in the industry. “By shining a light on the career paths of some of the industry's most exceptional women we were able to inspire the next generation of Women in Wine,” said Joana Albogas, WineGB’s social media manager and strategist, who organised the event and ran the live interviews with WineGB’s Julia Trustram Eve and Women In Wine LDN co-founders Regine Lee MW and Hannah Van Susteren. “We ensured that we had

IGTV video with most unique views: 1,616

speakers who not only worked in viticulture and winemaking but also in retail and hospitality, and social media too, which emphasised how many different career options there are available for those who dream of being part of such an exciting and growing sector.” Replays of the interviews with Lynsey Verrillo, Sophia Longhi, Laura Rhys MS, Sam Linter, Tamara Roberts, Alex Valsecchi, Rebecca Gibb MW and Rebecca Palmer, can be found on Instagram, WineGB’s YouTube Channel, and the WineGB website.

> Sophia Longhi

> Tamara Roberts

> Rebecca Gibb MW

> Rebecca Palmer

> Joana Albogas

> Laura Rhys MS

> Lynsey Verrillo

> Regine Lee MW

JOIN WINEGB

 01858 467792 paper-plane office@winegb.co.uk  www.WineGB.co.uk 47 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

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MACHINERY

New self righting site light Makita has launched a new self-balancing area site light – the latest addition to its range of LED site lighting solutions. The DML810 18V Self Righting Site Light LXT delivers up to 5,500 lumens (lm) and 360 degree illumination with the option for corded or cordless operation. The self-balancing design of the Makita DML810 means that it remains upright even when knocked or bumped, making it ideal for busy sites. The 202 super luminous daylight white LEDs provide high quality illumination without the heat of halogens or incandescent lights. It features three operation

modes, High (5,500 lm), Medium (3,000 lm) or Low (1,500 lm), and three illumination direction modes – full 360 degrees or 180 degrees to the left or right. For versatility, the DML810 offers corded or cordless operation and utilises two Makita 18V LXT Lithium-Ion batteries, using one battery at a time. This means the light delivers up to 15 hours of continuous illumination on Low with two 5.0Ah 18V batteries, and over three hours on High. When using AC power, the batteries function as a power back up to keep the area lit if the power fails.

This durable light unit is 787mm high and 420mm wide and is both dust and water resistant, with an IP54 rating when using battery power. It is also possible to connect up to eight units together using the AC inlets and outlets to deliver light across the whole job site area. Convenient carrying handles and a balanced side position allow for easy movement, transportation and storage.

Soil testing kit with penetrometer Kverneland has developed a soil testing kit for growers looking to gather a deeper understanding of their soil health. The kit includes a penetrometer for measuring soil compaction along with essential tools and accessories to assist with regular checking of soil profiles, including a knife, folding ruler, brush, trowel and a pair of gloves. The kit also includes a copy of the Kverneland soil brochure which is a clear and colourful guide to the importance of preserving and improving soil structure and avoidance of the destructive impacts of tillage on soil and water. It explains that compaction restricts root growth and limits

infiltration of water and air into the soil and can also enhance soil run off leading to erosion of topsoil and loss of nutrients. The brochure also gives a simple, ‘field’ method of identifying the soil condition relative to the lower plastic limit in assessing compaction risk from farm traffic. Supplied in a tough case, the soil kit is available through Kverneland.

A P R I L 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

TRADE IN TRADE UP

UPGRADE YOUR SPECIALITY TRACTOR AND RECIEVE AN ADDITIONAL ‘TRADE UP’ BONUS

@ 0% 3 3+3

From 1st March - 30th April 2021

Richard Smith 07483 035922 richard.smith@haynesgrp.co.uk

Jeremy Cloude 07710 870153 j.cloude@haynesgrp.co.uk

Single tractor purchases only, subject to terms & conditions,

Vitifruit Equipment Sales and Hire

DE-LEAFERS

SPRAYERS

PRUNINGS MOWER/MULCHERS

TRIMMERS

UNDER VINE WEED CONTROL

BOISSELET

www.vitifruitequipment.co.uk 50

/vitifruitequipment M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

 vitifruitequipment@sky.com

 01732 866567

vid Sayell & Da

c ha Ri

rd Witt

Sprayer and weeder for small vineyards

E-I N N O D W A !

Astley Vineyard is one of the oldest vineyards in the UK and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The 4.5 acre plot in Worcestershire is on free draining Triassic sandy loam soil and on a hillside half a mile from the river Severn. Tim Haywood decided that it was time to upgrade his equipment to make life easier, better control diseases and have a wholly organic regime with no chemical weed control under the vines. As the vine rows are only 1.4m wide it was a challenge to find the perfect tractor but the 26hp Kubota proved up to the mark in terms of power, usability and comfort. With the help of David Sayell of Vitifruit Equipment he spent a fun and productive day setting up the 200 litre MM air assisted sprayer and the Boisselet Pack Vintage under vine cultivator. The Boisselet suits both soil and tractor and with a little tweaking Tim completed a weeding pass of the entire vineyard by the end of March. As the Pack Vintage requires no oil flow it can be used on small tractors with no hydraulics and is therefore very reasonably priced instead relying on a time tested sensor bar with spring and parallelogram system to touch and move around the vines. So happy 50th Birthday Astley Vineyard and best wishes for the future.

TRADE-IN YOUR OLD WHEELBARROW FOR UP TO £2000* OFF A NEW AVANT LOADER & BUCKET!

VITIFRUIT EQUIPMENT

*£2000 trade-in value against 800 series models only, £1000 trade-in value against 200 series models only, current 2021 machine orders, only 1 wheelbarrow per deal and 1 bucket per deal (A36702 for 200 series or A36712 for 800 series) (no alternative), limited time offer ends 31st May 2021, name and contact details of customer given to Avant Tecno at time of sale, photo of handover to customer given to Avant Tecno UK for social media content. For full terms & conditions visit https://www.avanttecno.com/uk/news-andevents/events/uk-promotion-celebrating-30-year-anniversary

www.farol.co.uk  www.vitifruitequipment.co.uk  01732 866567 paper-plane vitifruitequipment@sky.com

Rycote Lane Farm, Milton Common, Thame, Oxfordshire, OX9 2NZ Unit 12, Newton Business Park, Newton, Nottinghamshire, NG13 8HA Coldridge Copse, Shefford Woodlands, Hungerford, Berkshire, RG17 7BP Wharf Farm, Coventry, Hinckley, Leicestershire, LE10 0NB Holmbush House, Holmbush Ind. Est., Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 9XY London Road, Twyford, Reading, Berkshire, RG10 9EQ

51 M AY 2 0 2 1 | V I N E YA R D

Optimal fruit development with Engage Agro MAS-Power Advanced foliar nutrients Foliar support nutrients designed to optimise florescences and fruit development.

Each nutrient contains a unique package to ensure optimal foliar delivery and assimilation.

Designed to sit in spray tanks alongside crop protection products with no issues.

Bio-Chel Ca

Advanced calcium chelate Optimal calcium penetration and uptake.

Non scorch pure calcium formulation.

No tank mix issues unlike other calcium fertilisers.

Sits in feed recipes without compromising nitrogen.

Sion

A unique silicon nutrient

Sion

21% Silicon w/w A unique silicon nutrient for foliar and root application to increase the strength, growth and health of crops. Benefits of Sion

Directions for Use

❱ Improved Plant Cell Development ❱ Balancing uptake of other elements ❱ Aids maintenance of cell integrity

Application rates will vary slightly depending upon crop and a higher rate will be used if applying to roots or via an irrigation system. Avoid spraying in sunlight hours if air temperature is above 30oC or in full sun. Apply in 400-800 litres of water for optimum coverage and in a minimum of 200 litres.

and plant strength

❱ Limits susceptibility to infection from pathogens and predation from insect pests

Crops All cereals, brassicas, potatoes, root crops, top fruit, soft fruit, fruiting vegetables, vines, salad crops and ornamentals.

5 litres

Compatibility Sion is compatible with most known fertilisers and pesticides but it is advisable to conduct a jar test with new mixes or new products. Always use as recommended

For both foliar and root application.

Designed to build stronger, healthier fruit.

Proven to reduce susceptibility to powdery mildew with regular use.

Completely tank mixable with crop protection products and other fertilisers.

e info@engage-agro.com t +(0) 1257 226590 engageagroeurope.com

Vineyard May 2021

Articles inside

Oxygen: Friend or foe?

All pumped up

Meet the people behind the wines

The vine post

In conversation

The Buchan ‘Midas Touch