Pointing the way round the vineyard, at Biddenden. AUTHOR
ENJOYING ENGLISH WINE, AND BEING PART OF IT
IT’S ALL VERY WELL TO READ ABOUT ENGLISH WINE, but experiencing it will confirm the enjoyment it can give. Those who grow the vines and make the wine are well aware of that, and wine tourism is increasingly important in every area of the UK where wine is made. That tourism can, however, take very many different forms.
The most obvious is vineyard visits, and there is no better way to start, particularly as most visits end with a tasting. While many vineyards welcome visitors, the experiences they offer vary considerably. At the most basic, there will be footpaths through the vines, perhaps with a guiding map or a brief explanatory leaflet. Usually this will be free. Next step up is a guided tour, for which there is likely to be a charge. At a small operation the tour may be led by the owner or winemaker, at a larger one there will be someone whose role is solely to show visitors around. Some guided tours will be a simple extension of the walk-it-yourself visit; others will be much more comprehensive and also include the winery if wine is made on the spot. Some places may split the experience, with vineyard-only or winery-only tours. If you’ve never been to a winery before, seeing the amount of equipment involved in making wine will be a revelation. Remember, though, that during much of the year not a lot is actually happening in either vineyard or winery – most activity is at harvest and shortly afterwards. There are also times, harvest again and spraying, for example, when visitors’ freedom to roam will be restricted.
One tour where the distance covered is particularly long (at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey) takes the weight off visitors’ feet by transporting them through the vineyard in a ‘land-train’ towed by a 4x4. Quite a few vineyards (Sharpham Vineyard in Devon and Furleigh Estate in Dorset are among them) equip tour participants with glasses in natty holders and pour wines alongside the very vines from which they came. Many offer group visits, from wine club outings to school excursions, from hen parties to open-air services among the vines (a’Beckett’s Vineyard in Wiltshire has been the location for several of the last of these). Plenty provide food alongside the wine at the tasting that ends the tour – cheese or charcuterie platters are popular. Prices vary, but they are usually in line with the extent of the experience, perhaps £8–£15 for a simple guided tour with two or three wines to sample, around £25 for a tour with tasting of more wines accompanied by something to nibble, more for a sophisticated meal with partnering wine. Just occasionally, those on a tour will be invited to take home all the bottles opened for them to taste.
Pointing the way round the vineyard, at Biddenden. AUTHOR
Lots of vineyards are happy to see children as well as adults, though obviously under-18s can’t join in tastings. Interactive trails, with animals or other items to spot along the way and perhaps the prospect of a prize at the finish, are a way of entertaining youngsters (Bolney Wine Estate in West Sussex is one offering this).
After a tour, plenty of vineyards provide places to sit and relax with a glass in hand, looking out over the vines. One of the loveliest is Camel Valley in Cornwall, where visitors can buy the wines in smaller or larger measures to extend the tasting experience while enjoying the view over the vines and the Camel River valley beyond. That reminds me of a (true) story set not in England but in France. An English couple with minimal knowledge of French fancied an afternoon glass of wine, saw tables and bottles set out close to the roadside and a sign saying ‘Dégustation’. An outdoor wine bar, they thought, stopped, sat and started to sip. They were puzzled, though, at the rather small quantities in their glasses, and beckoned the owner over, indicating they’d like a top-up. He, also somewhat puzzled, obliged. Two or three glasses of the same wine later, they asked for the bill – only to learn, through much gesticulating, that this was a free sampling of the adjoining vineyard’s product. Very red-faced, they finally understood what dégustation meant, and felt obliged to buy a case of bottles to make up for their gaffe. Somehow, I don’t think French tourists in England would make the same mistake (an increasing number do turn up at wineries in perfidious Albion and appreciate the tasting experience).
Members of the Albury wine club on a vineyard tour. ALBURY ORGANIC VINEYARD
But back to the English enjoyment theme. The experience can go much further than tours and simple tastings. The ‘Be a Winemaker’ evenings at Hambledon Vineyard in Hampshire are hugely popular. Host is the effusive and knowledgeable Joe Wadsack, who leads participants through the sparkling wine process, lets them taste the results of different dosage and then encourages them to blend their own cuvée – and at the end they take home a bottle of ‘their’ wine. Also deservedly much in demand is the ‘young wine’ tasting evening run by Greyfriars in its newly dug chalk cave just off the A3 in Surrey. Here the samples are base wines and blends from the new vintage, to compare with the wines currently on sale – a glimpse into the future expanded by the inclusion of other finished but not yet released wines. These are examples of 2017 initiatives, but could well continue, and further imaginative combinations of entertainment and education are included in English Wine Week and local wine festivals.
The entrance to Greyfriars’ new cave-in-the-chalk, location for the ‘young wine’ tasting evenings. GREYFRIARS VINEYARD
Opportunities abound to get more involved in the wine-producing process. Lots of vineyards offer ‘adopt a vine’ schemes, with Chapel Down and Three Choirs among the pioneers. The annual fee will normally include the allocation of some bottles, or discounts on purchases of the vineyard’s wine, and an invitation to visit. Usually, the vines available are already planted, but not at the new Mannings Heath vineyard in West Sussex in April 2017. It wasn’t the normal interested public who were involved, but wine writers. We rarely have the chance to get our hands dirty, so perhaps that’s why there was such enthusiasm for planting the baby pinot meunier vines, each with a label bearing the planter’s name. They were among the million new vines that went into UK ground in 2017. Like the majority of the grapes to come from the biggest-ever planting in these islands’ vine history, their fruit is intended for sparkling wine, so I must wait until 2023 to taste the wine to which ‘my’ vine has contributed. Whether the design of golf trollies – or buggies, given the extent of the Mannings Heath courses – will have to evolve to include a place for glasses and a cool box to hold the bottle of fizz remains to be seen. The entrepreneurial owner Penny Streeter will almost certainly have thought of that already, and I have no doubt she is planning further schemes to involve the wine-enthusiastic public in the estate.
At plenty of vineyards extra hands are needed at harvest time. Just occasionally this is a formal, paid-for experience, but more often help in gathering in the grapes is welcomed from friends, family, local people or those from further away. Nutbourne Vineyard in Sussex has displayed its appeal for volunteer pickers in the village post office, while Brightwell Vineyard close to the Thames in Oxfordshire has tempted volunteer pickers by rewarding their four-hour morning effort with lunch – accompanied by Brightwell wine – and a chance afterwards to watch the grape processing. Be warned: picking is hard work and you end up very sticky indeed.
Rare are the producers who offer hands-on action in the winery itself. One notable exception is London Cru (Roberson Wine), the ‘city winery’, housed in a former gin distillery close to Earls Court exhibition centre and equipped with the full panoply of winemaking equipment, from presses to oak barrels. Winemaking there began with grapes transported in from France and Italy, joined from 2014 with fruit from English vineyards. Paid-for ‘winemaker for a day’ sessions are regularly on offer.
Volunteers are also invited to work alongside staff at busy times, helping with sorting and pressing grapes and at the bottling and labelling stages. Winemaker for five years Gavin Monery, an Australian whose impressive vinous CV includes spells at a legendary biodynamic vineyard in his homeland’s Margaret River region as well as in Burgundy and the Rhône Valley, reasoned: ‘We hope that the opportunity to get involved with the winemaking process, to touch, see and taste the product from grape through to the finished bottle will inspire people to care that little bit more about wine and how they choose to enjoy it.’
There is another way of feeling immersed in wine production (not literally, of course, for health and safety rules are tough enough without a Duke of Clarence experience being offered), and that is to stay on a vineyard. Purpose-built self-catering lodges with views over the vines are a popular choice – the three at Tinwood Estate in West Sussex are aptly named ’Chardonnay’, ‘Pinot Noir’ and ‘Pinot Meunier’. Other accommodation possibilities include converted barns, comfortable cottages, B&B rooms, boutique hotels, camping and caravan sites, even shepherds’ huts, though perhaps the most romantic is a converted Georgian bathing house with the River Dart flowing by only metres away, on Sharpham Estate, Devon. Talking of romance, lots of vineyards put themselves forward as wedding venues, and there must be something special about toasting the happy couple with fizz made from the vines outside the window.
Music and wine are perfect partners, and a number of vineyards host opera performances. Breaky Bottom in East Sussex was one truly atmospheric location, and the experience has been enjoyed at others including Albury in Surrey, Court Garden in East Sussex and Three Choirs in Gloucestershire. Elsewhere, there can be art alongside the vines – High Clandon Estate in Surrey has made a speciality of this.
You can, of course, also enjoy home vinous produce at plenty of events at non-wine locations. For example, in 2017 Coates & Seely became exclusive sparkling wine partner for Goodwood Racecourse, Chapel Down began a four-year sponsorship of the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race and Nyetimber continued its involvement with the Cowes Week sailing event.
Back in the vineyards, one essential date each year for welcoming happenings is English Wine Week, coinciding with the late spring bank holiday. It has grown and grown, spreading beyond the places where vines grow to involve restaurants and bars and wine retailers, and the events become more imaginative every year. They are a great way to learn and enjoy, and good places to buy bottles to take home.
On the subject of buying, year round, plenty of vineyards run wine clubs whose members receive discounts on wine plus other benefits in return for a subscription fee. They can be well worthwhile if you like a particular place’s products. Otherwise, English wines are increasingly readily available in supermarkets and wine merchants, large and small, and there are walk-in or online sellers whose entire stock comes from within the UK.
Appropriately named lodge on the Tinwood estate. AUTHOR
A place to stay, nestled among the vines at Three Choirs’ Gloucestershire vineyard. THREE CHOIRS VINEYARDS
Among such specialists, the first to be established was the English Wine Centre, at Alfriston in East Sussex, set up in 1972 by Christopher Ann. A well-remembered figure in the revival of the home product, Ann was prominent in industry organizations and ran the English Wine Festival for 21 years. The centre became known for its tastings, museum, restaurant and as wedding location, as well as for its impressive choice of bottles. When Ann retired after thirty-five years, Christine and Colin Munday took over and continued the development of a remarkable resource, surely offering the widest choice of English wines in any single place. Their time in charge has seen amazing changes, Christine Munday told me: ‘Ten years ago there was only one good red wine and hardly any sparkling wine – it felt like a teenage industry. Now it is in its early twenties.’ Customers’ confidence in English wine has soared, and only once has there been a complaint that the English Wine Centre offered no bottles from beyond Britain.
The very much newer Exceptional English Wine Company has shown how challenging it is to run a shop devoted solely to English wine. This venture was founded in 2014 by Iain Heggie and Carolyn and Robin Butler, at the Cowdray Park polo ground site at Midhurst in West Sussex. Part of the aim was to find out for themselves who made the best and most popular English wines – the Butlers were planting vines close by at Trotton and needed to choose where to have their wines made. But they also wanted to spread the word about how good English wine has become and what excellent value for money the fizz often is compared to many champagnes. Still wine proves a harder sell, Heggie has found, with too many of the UK wine-buying public reluctant to dig deep enough into their pockets to buy it. In summer 2017 he made the decision to add some non-UK still wines to the selection.
Heggie told me, however, of a particular feature of the business that he hoped would mean the Exceptional English Wine Company could continue as a retail outlet for much of the UK’s top fizz. He has developed a personalized corporate gifting service offering major UK companies tastings of English sparkling wines and sending their choices, with well-presented information, tasting notes and individual messages, to clients or others they wished to thank. The initiative snowballed, providing effective publicity for English wine as well as being an astute business move. Keeping the Midhurst base will help spread that publicity, through tastings in the shop, at other locations and at customers’ homes, where pre-dinner appetiser sessions have proved popular.
Which conveniently leads on to drinking rather than simply tasting.
Wine in its proper place, on the table
England’s wines, bubbly or light still whites, make great aperitifs, but much of the pleasure of wine is in partnership with food. Who better to recommend pairings than the people who are responsible for what’s in the bottles? I asked a number of them, and their suggestions follow. There was one word – ‘delicious!’ – that was used very frequently to describe their chosen matches. ‘Amazing!’ appeared too, and for both the exclamation mark was always there.
Let one very experienced palate, that of Kevin Sutherland, winemaker at Bluebell Vineyard Estates, briefly explain the theory behind the pleasure: ‘The key to food and wine matching is to assess the basic components of each and then find a balance between those components so that they don’t overpower each other.’ On sparkling wines specifically, he argues that it is wrong to think that they can be enjoyed only as an aperitif – they can also be excellent with many dishes, especially fish. ‘In general, the acidity of sparkling wines makes them great for matching with slightly fatty or sweet foods, as the acidity cuts through in the way a lemon can cut through and cleanse the palate when eating smoked salmon.’
His own recommended combination? Bluebell’s Hindleap Late-Disgorged Blanc de Blancs 2008 with ‘something really indulgent like oysters or lobster’. His reasoning: ‘The extra ageing the wine has had (seven years in the cellar), provides depth and complexity while the bubbles provide the perfect textural contrast to the smooth velvety texture of oysters or the richness of lobster. This 2008 wine is underpinned by the characteristic freshness of chardonnay with lots of lemon- and lime-zest notes that go toe to toe with butter or cream sauces.’
Plenty more of the winemakers I approached favoured the fishy theme. Kristin Syltevik, of Oxney Organic Estate, went back to her Norwegian heritage to recommend Oxney Classic sparkling wine with a Scandinavian-inspired seafood smorgasbord of smoked salmon, freshly caught and cooked prawns, sweet-and-sour cucumber salad, potato salad and thin slices of rye bread. Her choice, she emphasized, ‘is a great food wine, not just a special occasions ‘drink with nibbles’.
Sparkling wines are great with slightly fatty foods. CHRISTOPHER SUTHERLAND/BLUEBELL VINEYARD ESTATES
For Nick Wenman and daughter Lucy Letley, the perfect partner for their Albury Estate Blanc de Blancs has to be smoked trout and watercress tart served with a lemon crème fraîche dressing. The fish would come from Tillingbourne Trout Farm and the watercress from the spring-fed beds at Kingfishers farm shop, both close to the Surrey vineyard and two of ‘lots of great food producers on our doorstep’. ‘Wines with high acidity are a good match for high-acidity foods, and the lemon crème fraîche complements the wine perfectly,’ adds Letley.
Gavin Monery at London Cru is another to favour fish: salmon and avocado poke, his take on a Hawaiian classic. The two main ingredients spend time in a marinade of red and green onions, soy sauce, sugar, ground ginger, sesame oil and sesame seeds, then are served on cooled steamed white rice. Baker Street bacchus is the perfect accompaniment: ‘The acid cuts through the fat and matches the flavours well.’
Nicholas Coates spoke of the inspired matching of the delicate citrus and white fruits of Coates &Seely Blanc de Blancs La Perfide 2009 with cod in a shellfish sauce served with celeriac purée. That was one of the dishes on a ‘thrilling’ tasting menu put together by Christophe Marleix, executive chef at the Dorchester Grill, and Vincent Pastorello, the Dorchester’s head of wine.
Red wine, too, can work with fish, as Simon Day, winemaker at Sixteen Ridges Estate, discovered with a panic-prompted choice. ‘I unexpectedly found this combination at a last-minute family dinner party,’ he explains. ‘I pulled a bottle of our Pinot Noir 2014 from the rack, slightly too cool, but opened and poured immediately. The dish was Jamie Oliver’s salmon en croûte with watercress and spinach. The aromas of violet, dried cherry and raspberry, following on with the gentle earthy tannin structure of the wine, were the perfect match to the rich salmon, with earthy, peppery flavours from the spinach and watercress. Everyone loved it!’
Simpler than all these is the message from Linda Howard, of Giffords Hall Vineyard: that madeleine angevine is ‘the’ wine to have with mussels.
But there are plenty of possibilities beyond fish, and the wine doesn’t always need to bubble. Corinne Seely, head winemaker at Exton Park in Hampshire, remembers the ‘amazing’ pairing of the estate’s sparkling Pinot Meunier Rosé with wild mushroom tortellini, wilted spinach and cep cream sauce at a gourmet dinner cooked by Aimée Reddick at Luton Hoo. ‘The saltiness and strength of the mushrooms perfectly balanced the floral side and the spices of the meunier.’
Cherie Spriggs, head winemaker at Nyetimber, agrees that sparkling wines are not just about pairing with canapés and seafood. She suggested Nyetimber Rosé with a more textured dish, roasted guinea fowl with a salad of watercress, butternut, pine nuts and parmesan.
Moving on to still wines with meaty main courses, let’s tour the world. Mike and Hilary Wagstaff at Greyfriars Vineyard know the match for what might be Britain’s favourite dish, chicken tikka masala: ‘Our aromatic pinot gris really hits the spot with spicy food, especially Indian. The acid in the wine tones down the heat and leaves room for the fruitiness to express itself.’
While on an Asian theme, Martin Fowke and Kevin Shayle, respectively head winemaker and winery manager at Three Choirs Vineyard, point to Estate Reserve Siegerrebe as a great choice with Thai food, which enhances the lychee and rose-petal characteristics of the rich, aromatic wine. Closer to home, Howard Corney of Court Garden Vineyard recommends his Ditchling Rosé, from rondo and dornfelder grapes, with salade niçoise or paella. And for Paul Langham of a’Becketts Vineyard the perfect pairing for the estate’s pinot noir is English roast lamb, garlic, rosemary and ‘all the trimmings’.
As the meal draws to a close, there are more choices. The Wagstaffs suggest Greyfriars Blanc de Blancs with rhubarb and custard, while Emma Rice, winemaker at Hattingley Valley, believes the estate’s peach and elderflower-scented Entice dessert wine can be enjoyed with any pudding, as well as being excellent with English blue cheese. The wines from Sharpham Vineyard also work well with cheese – especially that produced from the milk of the estate’s herd of Jersey cows.
Destined for a dinner with English pinot noir? No, these sheep are part of a Nyetimber vineyard project. NYETIMBER
A match made in Devon heaven: Sharpham cheese and Sharpham wine. SHARPHAM WINE AND CHEESE
Restaurant chefs, both at the top, internationally renowned level and at the many excellent small but very serious UK restaurants showcasing local ingredients, are increasingly enthusiastic about linking English food and wine, so here are just two appetisers.
From the Parsons Table in Arundel, West Sussex, Liz (front of house) and Lee (chef) Parsons recommend Nutty Brut sparkling wine from Nutbourne Vineyards, a regular on their list, with one of Lee’s fishy starters, olive oil poached sea trout with soused beetroot, samphire and chive crème fraîche. The match works particularly well, they say, for lots of reasons: the crispness of the wine cuts the richness of the fish and adds balance, the earthy undertones of the sweet beetroots are enhanced by the vibrancy and acidity of the wine, the crème fraîche adds another layer of flavour and texture that promotes the fruity notes of the wine.
A starter match is also suggested by Brett Woonton and Charlie Young, whose Vinoteca wine bars in London have more than a dozen English wines on their list. A particularly successful seasonal combination, they say, is poached white English asparagus, egg, vinaigrette and hazelnuts with aromatic Camel Valley Bacchus.
Main meals apart, there are other times when English wines can be enjoyed, even early in the morning. The most imaginative wine pairing of all comes from Liam Idzikowski, who reckons it is hard to beat his Lyme Bay Blanc de Noirs fizz with an Ulster fry-up. That is, he explains, ‘a full English breakfast, with three extra slices of fried bread’. ‘If there are mushrooms, it’s even better,’ he adds.
Later in the day, why not a glass of sparkling rosé with a cream tea? The berry flavours in the wine go well with those in the jam on the scones and again the acidity cuts through the cream’s richness. Or for true summer fun, try the recipe for ‘Frosé’ from Bolney Wine Estate. Combine frozen cubes of Bolney Rosé with a little grenadine syrup in a blender, pour the ‘slushie’ result into pretty glasses and garnish with strawberries. Don’t overdo the syrup, say Bolney’s Sam and Charlotte Linter: ‘We want to keep things fresh and dry like the wine itself.’
Fine with a fishy starter. NUTBOURNE VINEYARDS
