17 minute read
english wines
The only way isn’t Essex
... because Lyme Bay Winery is working with fruit from partner growers all over the south of England.
Advertisement
Yet there’s something extra special about Essex’s Crouch Valley, a consistent source of healthy and ripe grapes, which makes its fruit a crucial element of Lyme Bay’s acclaimed range of still wines, a selection of which were recently tasted by Wine Merchant readers.
Find out more by contacting Lyme Bay Winery on 01297 551355 or visit lymebaywinery.co.uk
Essex played a significant cameo in a Zoom tasting of wines from Devon’s Lyme Bay Winery.
Having been founded as a cider producer in 1993, the company has gone on to become the UK’s largest producer of fruit wine and mead, but it’s also building a reputation for its still wines – which is where Essex comes in.
Lyme Bay sources grapes on long-term contracts from some of the leading growers across southern England to make its wines – and Essex’s Crouch Valley is one of the best, with its high sunshine hours, low rainfall, south facing vineyards and proximity to the river from which it takes its name helping to mitigate against frost. These attributes make it great for Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir in particular.
“We’re very targeted in our approach,” said managing director and winemaker James Lambert. “We’re a bit like the man from Del Monte, pinpointing areas where certain grape varieties show excellent ripeness and fruit expression.”
The tasting led off with Shoreline, Lyme Bay’s flagship blended white, in which Bacchus always forms the majority, with a supporting cast that includes Reichensteiner, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir, depending on the vintage.
Grapes from Herefordshire, Kent and Devon joined the Essex lot in the 2020 vintage tasted.
“We’ll always look for crisp acidity but it’s never formulaic because different parcels of grapes with different degrees of ripeness are coming in each year,” added Lambert.
Dafydd Morris, of Cheers Wine Merchants in
Swansea, said it displayed “great crispness, a freshness, with lovely flavour range from citrus to pineapple”.
Next up was Lyme Bay’s 2020 Bacchus single varietal, made from Essex and Herefordshire grapes.
Lambert added: “When it’s overripe, Bacchus gives brilliant tropical flavours, while under-ripe it gives you brilliant citrus flavours; in between it’s a bit boring.
“2020 was fantastic year for Bacchus, in many ways one of the best ever, in that the grapes came in clean but extremely expressive.”
The wine was formerly named Sandbar but was relabelled as simply Bacchus in a recent range revamp.
Head of sales Paul Sullivan said: “We’ve seen a 30% uplift in sales as a result. There’s a high degree of consumer understanding of Bacchus now that didn’t exist some years ago. It’s a really nice opportunity.”
Natasha Pearson, of Mr & Mrs Fine Wine in Southwell, noticed “an almost sherbet-like finish, which is lovely”.
Lyme Bay’s Bacchus Block is, said Lambert, “a step up in intensity, structure and length”.
He added: “It’s a winemaker’s wine; it walks a tightrope between being hugely expressive and slightly reductive.
“We wait to see where the best fruit comes from. With these particular growers it was the first Bacchus that came into us in 2020 and it leapt out straight away.
“It’s more on the tropical spectrum than on the citrus; more pineapple, more gooseberry, and
blackcurrant leaf and some lime coming through – more intensity.”
Russell Paine, at Clipper Wines in Portsmouth, said: “The Bacchus Block would stand up for itself really well on a restaurant list at £35-£40.”
For its 2020 Sauvignon Blanc varietal, Lambert said, “we decided early on we were going to make a wine in a boutique style, and we weren’t going to mimic what has been done in New Zealand – make something with a bit more structure and finesse”.
The wine was whole-bunch pressed and fermented in oak. “It’s all about complexity and intensity,” added Lambert. “There’s no malolactic fermentation but there is some lees stirring in the barrel, to get mid-palate structure and a creamy texture.”
He expects Sauvignon to become a bigger presence in English still wine in future years. “The industry has been so razor-focused on sparkling wines and the more historical varieties that we’ve almost been too cautious in seeing what is capable from certain ripe areas of the UK,” he said.
“Crouch Valley is one of those with a unique micro-climate.”
Rob Freddi at Albertine Wine Bar in west London said Lyme Bay had “achieved something quite special” with the Sauvignon.
He added: “The fruit character is restrained yet exuberant; it is fresh and springy despite the nice weight on the palate.”
Lyme Bay’s 2020 Chardonnay was also made with fruit from Crouch Valley, with the grapes expressing “exceptional levels of ripeness”, said Lambert. Feature sponsored by
“We’re looking to showcase the natural ripeness of Chardonnay without going over the top with oak.
“The Chardonnay comes from clay-based soils which gives a naturally richer style. The vast majority is fermented in stainless steel, and we effectively season with a portion in oak. We want this wine to have a seductive, mid-palate weight and structure to it.”
A blend of aromatic and non-aromatic fruit, the wine impressed with its complex nose of apples and peaches, with a hint of toast, and stone-fruit palate.
Crouch Valley was also the source of grapes for the 2020 Pinot Noir.
With black cherries and smoky oak on the nose, the wine has plums, blackcurrants and strawberries on the palate, and a mouthwatering finish.
Lambert said: “We’re looking to give a beautiful balance of flavour, colour and texture.
“We limit yields to 2.5 tonnes per acre and, in more challenging years, we’ve reduced that and subsidised the growers, to meet our needs on quality rather than to maximise what they can get out of the vineyard.”
In search of England’s mavericks
The UK’s domestic wine industry is attracting big-money investors these days. But, says author Ed Dallimore, there are plenty of small-scale vignerons adding colour and personality to the scene
Winemaking in England and Wales used to be an almost exclusively amateur game. A few vines in the back paddock affair, for those fortunate enough to have a back paddock. But times have changed. The surge of premium English and Welsh winemaking is in no small part thanks to a seismic shift to professionalism.
Investment and opportunity are key – as is a focus on premium quality – but winemaking in Britain is no longer merely a pastime of former city dwellers and their early retirement funds. We’re rich in artisans and mavericks that hand-make great wines as an expression of site and season. Discovering them is almost the best part.
In a Herefordshire field rented from his friend’s mum, Mark Smith makes a
Ed Dallimore
couple of sensational Col Fondo sparkling wines using fermenting must as a tirage. He had a full-time job for six years while establishing his vineyard. The Black Mountain winery is a small green shed, where everything is done by hand, with a kitchen jug to top up the bottles.
Having made wine in the southern hemisphere, Tim Phillips cycled past a once abandoned walled kitchen garden for sale near Lymington. He did the last thing you would expect to succeed in a climate so cool: plant Riesling. Now his wines are only available via ballot.
Probably England’s best value traditional-method sparkling wine is made by Tommy Grimshaw at Langham Estate in Dorset. He fell into the industry after leaving school, through a job at his local winery, Sharpham. Curating almost 100 parcels of juice each season – all reflections of year, grape, clone and individual patch of Dorset chalk – he blends these into a core range of just three wines. Former Langham winemaker Daniel Ham left, despite the growth in demand for English sparkling, to establish Offbeat winery in Wiltshire. There, he makes biodynamic wine with a 50-year-old Coquard press he found in a cellar in Champagne.
There’s investment, but in the right places. It’s hugely exciting, too. Not bound by centuries of tradition or strict legislation, in a marginal climate and focusing on quality, domestic winemakers are free to follow paths of their own choosing.
With career winemakers like Emma Rice (Hattingley, Roebuck, Raimes and several other labels) and Dermot Sugrue (Wiston Estate, Sugrue South Downs and others), Britain has signature names who’ve travelled the world and honed their individual approach based on eclectic experiences. Their success, and that of their backers, breeds further success and wider opportunity.
Jacob Leadley is someone who left the city to indulge his passion. He trained at Plumpton, gained expertise and, seven years later, acquired a supreme collection of existing Hampshire vines.
Zoë Driver worked at Chandon while travelling in Australia, and later became Hattingley’s first winemaking apprentice. Together at Black Chalk they make wines that are testament to an incredible site, experimentation, their combined talents and a fastidious – and long-term – approach.
You might see and hear less about the likes of Black Mountain and Charlie Herring; the volumes and marketing budgets are minuscule. But they’re out there, the wines are outstanding, and their dedication and stories are great in equal measure. Most exciting of all, are those we’re yet to find.
The Vineyards of Britain by Ed Dallimore, published by Fairlight Books, is out on June 23. www.fairlightbooks.co.uk/vineyards-ofbritain Follow Ed Dallimore: @59Vines
Digby Fine English, the innovative, terroir-obsessed blending house in Arundel, is quite literally the gold standard for English sparkling wine.
Digby’s first ever wine, the 2009 Vintage Brut, was presented with the gong “Bestin-Class English Vintage Brut” and “World Champion England” along with a Gold medal at the world’s most prestigious sparkling wine competition, The Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, in 2014. The following vintage, 2010, won the “Best-in-Class” trophy again on release at CSWWC in 2019, and pluckily beat Dom
Pérignon 2009 and Krug Grande Cuvée in a renowned blind tasting at 67 Pall Mall.
An obsession with terroir pays off for Digby
Clearly destined for greatness from the start, every year all four of Digby’s wines rake in medals, awards, and accolades, helping to cement the winery’s reputation as one of England’s very finest sparkling producers.
In 2021 alone, Digby took trophies for best Sparkling Rosé at both WineGB and the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships, along with the top spot at Sommelier Collective’s blind panel tasting on English sparkling. Over the past three years, it has won no fewer than five trophies, seven gold medals, and a platinum medal.
The key to this quality is, without a doubt, the vineyards. From the outset, Digby focused on securing the best fruit from plots across the south of England, rather than the vineyards it could buy.
A special balance of chalk, greensand, and clay sites across Dorset, Sussex, Hampshire and Kent, are drawn out with low-intervention winemaking, low dosage, and long lees-ageing. Head blender and CEO Trevor Clough (pictured) guides the style, which is brought into reality by consultant winemaker Dermot Sugrue - described as “the best winemaker in England” by the late, great Steven Spurrier.
Clearly, Digby’s approach has been immensely successful, and it has now taken the next step in ensuring that this continues by purchasing its top Pinot Noir vineyard, Hilden in Kent. In the shape of a bowl on two clay slopes, its microclimate produces Pinot with firm tannins, long ageing capacity, and a unique savoury character alongside the rich fruit. These vines have been instrumental in building Digby’s reputation for quality, and now they lie at the heart of Digby’s future progress.
Digby plans to continue winning awards and topping charts for many years to come. To ensure that this is possible, the winery is built on a deep commitment to sustainability. Having scrutinised every part of production from grape to glass, from January 2020 every bottle of Digby has net zero carbon emissions.
The investors behind the labels
The Ysios winery in Laguardia
As another leading international sparkling wine producer makes a major investment in English wine, David Williams profiles a dozen of the most notable investors in the burgeoning industry so far
Vineyards at Bolney
Henkell-Freixenet Henkell-Freixenet is a hugely important player in global sparkling wine. As well as the eponymous Cava brand being one of the historic big two of the Spanish fizz category, and Henkell occupying a similar position in German Sekt, the company portfolio also takes in Champagne Alfred Gratien, Loire Crémant producer Gratien & Meyer, California fizz producer Gloria Ferrer and Mionetto Prosecco, among a host of others.
Its addition, via its UK and Ireland arm Copestick Murray, of Sussex’s Bolney Estate, for an undisclosed fee earlier this year, therefore represents another stepchange for the English wine scene. Bolney, which had itself more than doubled its vineyard holdings with the acquisition of neighbouring Pookchurch in 2019, will now be able to take advantage of the company’s international distribution network, which includes UK on-trade supplier Jascots, and the retailer Slurp.
Vranken Pommery In 2018 Vranken Pommery became the first Champagne house to release an English sparkling wine with the launch of the debut vintage of Louis Pommery, the first fruits of a partnership with Hampshire’s Hattingley Valley that started in 2014. Vranken Pommery has also planted a 40ha vineyard in Hampshire, described, rather winningly, by the corporate website as being “at the heart of Pinglestone in the south of Great Britain”.
Taittinger Taittinger’s joint venture with UK agent Hatch Mansfield and a group of other investor “friends” made the family-owned grande marque the first Champagne house to plant a vineyard in the UK: some 20ha
of vines went in the ground at Domaine Evremond in the North Downs in Kent in 2017. Further Pinot and Chardonnay planting has seen the total rise to 28.5ha, with a modern winery and visitor centre on the way, and the first sparkling releases set to arrive in 2024.
Lord Michael Ashcroft The former Tory party deputy chairman (right) is rarely out of the political limelight, authoring or coauthoring biographies of Conservative politicians such as David Cameron and, most recently, Carrie Johnson, and commissioning widely quoted opinion polls.
Since 2013, when he acquired a controlling stake in Gusbourne Estate from the star Kent producer’s founder, the South African surgeon Andrew Weeber, Ashcroft has also been a powerful force in English wine. In November last year, Ashcroft, who currently has 68% of the AIM-listed business, underwrote a sale of 8 million new shares to raise more than £6m to reduce Gusbourne’s debt and help fund its expansion. Mark Dixon Essex-born entrepreneur Mark Dixon made his estimated £300m fortune from his serviced-office business IWG (originally Regus), which now has more than 3,500 sites in more than 100 countries.
He first branched out into wine with Provence rosé producer, luxury hotel and restaurant Château Berne. Vineyard Farms, his ambitious and controversial project back home in the UK, is largely centred on the 485ha Luddesdown farm in Kent, where, despite strong local opposition, Dixon is hoping to build a £30m, Foster & Partners-designed Kentish Wine Vault winery, visitor centre and restaurant.
The company also owns Sedlescombe in Sussex, has vineyards in Essex, and says it plans to invest £60m over the coming years as it looks to grow annual production to 5 million bottles of sparkling wine, many of which will use the charmat method. and the company snapped up the 7-acre Henners Vineyard in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, in 2017. Over the past two years, Boutinot has stepped up investment significantly in the site, which was established in 2007 by former Formula One engineer Lawrence Warr, and sits just four miles from the coast.
Eric Heerema Nyetimber was already firmly established as England’s leading sparkling wine producer by the time Heerema snapped up the Sussex property for £7.4m in 2006, but there’s no doubting the Dutchman has taken things to another level. Plantings have mushroomed from 16ha to 327ha across 11 vineyards in West Sussex, Hampshire and Kent during his tenure, The Marques de Riscal winery in Elciegowith a slick sales and marketing operation and gleaming new winery kit also taking a significant chunk of the fortune he made from selling his stake in his shipping firm, Heerema Marine Contractors.
Boutinot Boutinot’s vinous empire has long been involved in making wine as well as selling it, with vineyards and production partnerships in France, Italy and South Africa. English wine was a logical next step Richard Balfour-Lynn The man behind Kent’s Balfour Winery/ Hush Heath Estate made his millions, first as a property tycoon via the Marylebone Warwick Balfour firm he founded in 1994, and then in hotels with the Alternative
Patrick McGrath MW joins the harvest at Domaine Evremond
Hotel Group. The wine business began when Balfour-Lynn and wife Leslie began planting the 400-acre farmland attached to the estate in 2002.
Recent investments have seen the launch of a range of impressive still wines as well as expanding sparkling production, a cellar door and a set of 10 affiliated pubs, including Balfour St Barts, the winery’s “London base” in Smithfields.
Mark and Sarah Driver Mark and Sarah Driver both had long and successful careers in finance before making the risky leap into wine with Rathfinny Estate in Alfriston, East Sussex, Mark with a 25-year career as a hedge fund manager at the Horseman Global Fund, and Sarah working as a City solicitor. Since 2010, the couple have invested some £10m of their own money in acquiring and planting the former arable farm, with 93ha of the 242ha site now planted with 385,000 vines. Other expenses included a £4m winery and visitor centre.
Ian Kellett Another émigré from the financial sector, Ian Kellett was an analyst at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, heading up its FMCG and food and drink divisions before buying what is the UK’s longest continually working vineyard, Hambledon, in Hampshire, in 1999.
Kellett has used all his financial acumen to build the business from a slightly threadbare four acres to its current more than 200 acres, raising money through share offers and crowd funding.
This has allowed the development of a 1.8 million-bottle storage facility and a thriving cellar-door operation welcoming some 50,000 visitors a year.
Lord Spencer and Nigel Wray Chapel Down has excelled at drawing highprofile investors to its ever-growing Kentbased drinks business, which includes craft beer, spirits and one of the UK’s biggest wine operations, which is based around 325ha of land across Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex.
Another round of fundraising via crowdfunding site Seedr last summer brought in some £6.8m, as the company looks to add another 60ha of vineyards and build a new winery to meet new production targets, with big names upping their involvement including entrepreneur and former Saracens rugby club owner Nigel Wray, and the City investor and former Tory party treasurer Lord Michael Spencer.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Thursday, 30 March, WineGB Travel Show – London
Aimed primarily at travel trade, leisure and lifestyle press. A chance to meet representatives from some of the industry’s regional clusters and for independent merchants to discuss popular ideas like linking in with local cellar doors or organising visits.
2-5 June, Celebrate the Platinum Jubilee
Promotional and media campaign to encourage everyone to raise a glass of English and Welsh wine for this most British of celebrations.
4-12 June, Welsh Wine Week
Putting a spotlight on wines from Wales through promotions and vineyard events.
6-9 June, London Wine Fair
WineGB will be exhibiting along with a range of producers from around the UK.
18-26 June, English Wine Week 2022
Continuing the celebrations in ‘sizzling June’ … our popular promotional campaign will focus this year on visiting vineyards, having a picnic, enjoying English wine in the great British outdoors. On Midsummer’s Day (24 June) we will be announcing the medal winners of this year’s WineGB Awards.
Celebrate the winners in the hottest competition in UK wines … WineGB Awards 2022
These national industry Awards will be judged in June, led by superstar judges Susie Barrie MW and Oz Clarke OBE. The medal results will be unveiled during English Wine Week, with the trophy winners announced at our industry Awards event on 15 July. We want to help you celebrate the wins on your shelves! Look out for promotional opportunities
Some of this year’s key events for English and Welsh wines
Monday, 18 July, One-day Wine School
A day dedicated to exploring certain key areas of UK wines, aimed at the trade, to include presentations and tastings.
Tuesday, 6 September, WineGB Trade & Press Tasting
A must-attend event – the largest showcase for English and Welsh wines. Industry briefings, themed free pour tastings and a host of individual producer stands.
For more information, please visit www.winegb.co.uk
