GRAPEVINES & SUNFLOWERS

Grapevines & Sunflowers at the RUTLAND VINEYARD

This month we’ve discovered a stunning place to sit and take in the views. Tim & Zoe Beaver have created their Rutland vineyard near Ketton, and its tasting barn is a great place to relax and enjoy English wine, good coffee and homemade cakes!

I MAY HAVE DISCOVERED the happiest place in Rutland & Stamford... or possibly the happiest place in whole of Britain. On a fairly warm Saturday, late afternoon, I arrive at Ketton’s Rutland Vineyard and discover that I’m not alone in recognising the joy of sitting in the tasting barn, or on its terrace, enjoying a glass of English wine whilst looking out over a panorama of farmland. Owners Tim & Zoe Beaver are no strangers to agriculture. Tim farms 1,400 acres. He’s a third generation farmer, and around harvest time, he’s usually to be found watching his cereal crops – wheat and barley – spilling out of a combine’s auger. Farming is a happy life but with the level of mechanisation and fewer people on the farm these days, it’s also a pretty lonesome pursuit, and in 2021, Tim fancied doing something a little more sociable.

Attempting viticulture in Rutland is not without precedent. Local man John Atkinson had his ‘MW’ qualification officially conferred upon him by the Institute of Masters of Wine. A few years ago, he too attempted to produce grapes a short distance from today’s Rutland Vineyard. >>

“Tim & Zoe are no strangers to agriculture. Tim farms 1,400 acres. He’s a third generation farmer, and around harvest time, he’s usually busy harvesting his wheat and barley crops...”

“Tim’s soil is 160,000,000 years old, although thanks to his conscientious farming practices, it’s in rude health for such a venerable age...”

>> The land available to John at the time was a little closer to sea level, and so less suitable, for vines, but Tim’s land is pretty much perfect. So with Tim’s soil and John’s counsel, The Rutland Vineyard was planted in May 2021, some 13,500 vines with a further 3,000 waiting to be planted, stuck in a cold storage thanks to Brexit.

Tim’s soil is 160,000,000 years old, although thanks to his conscientious farming practices, it’s in rude health for such a venerable age. Consisting of about half a metre of topsoil, digging down you soon reach the band of limestone – Blisworth around Ketton –which stretches from Lincoln right down to the Cotswolds.

This geology means Tim can ‘annoy’ the vines sufficiently to make them force their roots down and really establish themselves. The farm’s position about 70 metres above sea level, on the edge of a south-facing slope also means that cold air runs off and down the vineyard, protecting the vines from frost. Tim used a power harrow to prepare the land, before some German specialists arrived with machinery to plant the vines in a single day, with GPS precision ensuring each vine is a metre apart, in rows 2.2 metres across. Rows 1-48 are Bacchus grapes; 49-75 are Pinot Noir for the vineyard’s sparkling wine; rows 76-93 are Ortega; rows 94-133 are Pinot Noir Precoce, with more planting to follow in 2023, and rows 134-151 and 152-169 are Pinot Meunier and Cabernet Noir. As is often the case in life and farming, the best things come to those who wait and Mother Nature refuses to be hurried. Grape vines must be established for about five years before they can yield decent wine. This year’s harvest won’t make wine, and so organic material will be put back into the land to provide nutrients. October 2023’s harvest will produce the vineyard’s first wine in 2024, but with only about 40% of yield. That’s not to say, though, that Tim & Zoe haven’t already created their own wine. >>

“There’s a 1km walking trail, a nature trail, apiary and of course, somewhere to sit and enjoy good coffee and homemade cake or a glass of wine!”

Above: The RutlandVineyard raised £5,000 in 2021 to fund Rutland Sailability’s new rescue boat. >> In the tasting barn you can enjoy the vineyard’s white label wine with a choice of a Bacchus-based white, plus an unoaked Chardonnay, a rosé, a Pinot Noir-style red, and an English fizz which is Champagne in all but name thanks to the latter’s protected geographic status.

English wine has become very good over the past decade or so, and whilst that’s something to be celebrated, it’s a slightly bittersweet boast since the reason is climate change. The climate of the Champagne region has moved northwards meaning English wines are benefiting from the slightly warmer weather. Conditions will soon suit the productions of light reds, hence why Tim is keen to established his Pinot Noir vines.

Already the sale of English wines from the tasting barn, plus a 1km walking trail, Six Pack wildlife trail, apiary and the chance to sit and gaze over that gorgeous farmland and enjoy a drink is ensuring that The Rutland Vineyard is very busy. It opens Wednesday to Saturday with vineyard tours available, plus good coffee, homemade cakes and freshly made doughnuts all on offer. Take along the Saturday papers (or Pride), a good book or a good friend. During our visit the wild flowers had peaked, but the sunflowers are just starting to come into their own. On Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th August, Tim & Zoe and the team will invite visitors to bring a picnic to the vineyard for a fee of £10, which will go to this year’s charity, Ketton Scouts. There’s a sunflower pickery too where you can pay £10 and take home some cheerful yellow flowers. Last year’s charity sunflower event at the vineyard raised £5,000 for Rutland Sailability, funding their new rigid inflatable rescue craft. To sit in the sunshine, enjoy English wine and raise money for a local charity...? Well, that’s something to which we can definitely bring ourselves to raise a glass! n