harvest started

Ripe Siegerrebe grapes

After a near-perfect summer, we started grape picking on Friday 19th September. The early spring and hot July have ripened the grapes about a week earlier than usual and produced some high sugar levels. Some heavy rainfall in August thankfully cooled things down, otherwise we might have been picking even earlier!

The 2.5 tonnes of Siegerrebe was picked and loaded into the press on Friday. We have left it to soak overnight before pressing in order to extract the maximum amount of flavour from the grape skins.

Siegerrebe is one of the earliest ripening grape varieties grown in England and has a bronze colour and wonderful pungent aroma of lychees and peach. This variety normally makes up about 20% of the Horsmonden dry white wine. Despite the coloured grapes the juice is white, so no colour shows up after pressing.

The juice will be left in tank to ferment with the yeasts that are naturally on the grape skins. Apart from keeping a close eye on it, this tank can now be left to get on with fermentation, a process that takes from 3 weeks to 6 months depending on the vigour of the yeast.

Next week we will be picking Ortega and possibly some early Pinot Noir.

Soil Association Organic Awards

Our 2013 Horsmonden dry white wine has reached the final of the Soil Association Organic Awards and we need your help. It is a great achievement to reach the final, but we would like to be the overall winner.

The eventual winner of the alcoholic drinks category will be decided by a public vote. The products have already been short-listed based on our organic and environmental standards and also a tasting by a panel of judges.

This competition is very important to us because it is the only event that judges the products on their sustainability and ethical credentials as well as the wine needing to taste great.

You can vote by following this link to the Organic Awards web site or click on the "Vote For Us logo" above. Voting closes on the 30th September.

Any votes will be hugely appreciated - thank you!

A good day at the UKVA wine awards this week

receiving the Vintners Trophy for the best sparkling wine

and the Gore Browne Trophy for the wine of the year

2009 Davenport Limney Estate (already opened)

Best UK sparkling wine!!!

Celebrating the Limney Estate - best sparkling wine trophy

The UKVA wine of the year competition results were announced today and we are absolutely thrilled to find that our very own 2009 Limney Estate sparkling wine has won the Vintners Trophy for the "most outstanding sparkling wine" in the competition.

This is a massive credit to all the hard work that is done in the vineyard and I quote from Stephen Skelton's new book Winegrowing in Great Britain (an excellent guide to starting a vineyard by the way), "If the growing of vines in a challenging climate such as the UK's could be described as brave, then the growing of vines organically might be considered by some as tempting fate". Our wine is the first organic wine ever to win a major trophy in this competition. It is also the third time we have won a Gold medal with our organic sparkling wine - no other vineyard can equal that. Tempting fate?

I would say that the quality of a wine is largely decided in the vineyard and this is possibly where our organic approach makes us different to most UK producers. I have included a photo of the team: myself, Marcus and Philip enjoying a glass of chilled award-winning sparkling wine in the vineyard this afternoon - not to forget Matt, Ian and Ben who are also valuable part-time members of the team.

The competition was judged by 6 MW's, chaired by Anthony Foster and they tasted 205 English wines to decide the eventual winners. 15 Gold Medals were awarded. More details about the competition can be found at the English wine producers web site . The awards presentation takes place at the House of Lords in July.

 All looking good as we get into Spring

Young flower buds on the Pinot Noir

 It seems very busy in the vineyard at the moment. Pruning finished on time, buds burst slightly early and, while bottling last years wine got underway we had to cope with the threat of frost. For the first time ever we actually lit frost burners in the vineyard overnight and probably just as well because the vines were saved from the freezing temperatures. The photo above shows two large flower buds on a young shoot and this is seen all over the vineyard, predicting a good yield for 2014 if all goes well. I am always aware that the weather can find a multitude of ways to reduce the crop over the summer, primarily by persistently raining during the crucial flowering period (end of June) as happened in 2012. So far so good for 2014.

 

After a year of "out of stock" being written all over our web site, it is a massive pleasure to be able to put our 2013 still wines out for sale. The Horsmonden dry white is tasting fantastic, really fresh and zesty with citrus flavours and great length. I am sure it will mellow over the next 6 to 12 months as it matures and I really look forward to seeing it develop.

New to this year is our 2013 Pinot Noir Rosé, made from a 2 acre plot of organic Pinot Noir vines at Horsmonden, this shows true Pinot varietal character while being fresh and with a dry balance - just perfect for the summer.

These are both available on our web site along with the 2009 Limney Estate sparkling wine and the last few cases of the 2011 blanc de blancs. Please remember that orders of 12 bottles or more get a free delivery, including mixed cases.

As if we aren't busy enough, we also found time to show our wines at the Real Wine Fair, meeting customers and wine enthusiasts as well as chatting with like-minded winemakers from all over the World. Many thanks to the guys from Les Caves de Pyrenne for inviting us. I can recommend it to anyone interested in organic, biodynamic and naturally made wines. Fascinating and fun.

Our 2009 Limney Estate sparkling wine has been chosen by Claridges for their new restaurant "Fera" run by Simon Rogan. I was especially pleased to see the wine list includes so many wines that I admire, putting us in the company of the best. As we go through the year I hope we will be able to see our wines in several more new shops and restaurants - I'll let you know.

Also, look out for the Telegraph on Saturday 24th May because Hamish Anderson is promising to include the 2013 Horsmonden dry white in his article.