To celebrate the start of  English wine week, Essex grower West Street Vineyard re-fought the Battle of Agincourt – this time with wine – leading to a second English victory over the French.

Lunch time guests were presented with either a white, rose or sparkling wine in a blind tasting to decide which they preferred. More than 200 people participated in the battle organised by owner Jane Mohan between the English and the French

Mohan says: “The English white was the Bacchus from New Hall versus a Burgundian Chardonnay from the Macon. The Chardonnay retails at £8.99 and the New Hall Bacchus at the West Street shop is the same! Ninety-eight percent of our guests flew the flag for England!

“With the rose, it was a Provençal Cinsault with Grenache versus the Rose from West Street vineyard! Again, 85 percent chose English.

“Finally, a Champagne versus West Street sparkling. The overwhelming decision was again 98 percent for West Street. Both wines on retail at the same price.”

Mohan concluded: “No-one flew the Tricolour at West Street over the Bank Holiday weekend!”

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Four years after planting the first vines at Albury Organic vineyard in Surrey, grower and owner Nick Wenman has enjoyed the pleasure of seeing the estate’s first Sparkling wine being bottled.

Wenman says: “Since we planted our vines in 2009 and 2010, the weather has been against us and harvests have been extremely difficult. Nonetheless, we have produced some excellent base wine which will hopefully result in a first class English bubbly.”

The first Albury Estate Sparkling is a blend of juice from the grapes harvested in 2011 and 2012 and includes all the varietals grown on the vineyard including Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and some Seyval. It only took around 30 minutes to bottle the wine using specialist equipment from France

Only 1,524 bottles have been produced which should be available for sale in time for Christmas 2014.

(Pictured) John Worontschak of Litmus Wines and Marcus Sharp supervise the bottling of the first bubbly

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Welsh minister for natural resources and food Alun Davies launches Welsh Wine Week and the new Wine Trail Wales leaflet

Alun Davies, the Welsh minister for natural resources and food, has spearheaded efforts to promote a programme of activities and special promotions, including tours and wine tastings, planned by the vineyards to celebrate Welsh Wine Week from Saturday, May 25.

Supported by the Welsh Government, vineyard owners have produced a Wine Trail Wales leaflet to encourage wine tourism and launched a new website – – and social media pages on Facebook  and Twitter (@WinetrailWales) to raise the profile of the blossoming industry.

Wales now has vineyards spanning from Anglesey in the north to Monmouthshire and Pembrokeshire in the south, as the country is fast gaining international recognition for the quality of its wines. Wales produces around 100,000 bottles of wine a year.

Welsh Vineyard Association

To maintain the growing momentum behind the industry and increase consumer awareness, the wine producers are now banding together to re-form a Welsh Vineyards Association.

Davies says: “It is encouraging to see producers working together collectively to form a Welsh Vineyard Association. In terms of quality and potential, Welsh wine is certainly making a name for itself at home and abroad. I would encourage consumers to visit their local Vineyard during Welsh Wine Week and enjoy the fantastic produce they have to offer.”

Events and vineyard tours in Welsh Wine Week are available here.

One of the standard bearers for the industry is the multi-award winning Ancre Hill Estates at Monmouth, which is owned by Richard and Joy Morris. Last November, the vineyard won the coveted award for best white sparkling wine in the world at the Bollicine del Mondo International competition in Italy, where they were up against the best champagnes.

“It was a massive plus for Wales and the Welsh wine industry to win the award,” said Morris. “It proves that quality vineyards exist in Wales capable of growing the best quality fruit, which can be made in to world class wine.”

Decanter World Wine Awards

In this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine and Spirit Competition, announced at the London International Wine Fair on Tuesday, the vineyard also won four silver and two bronze medals.

Morris says: “We are particularly pleased with the performance of our Pinot Noir, with these results making it the best performing red wine from England and Wales in 2013. This was our first accredited biodynamic wine.”

The Morris family planted the first phase of the vineyard in April 2006, with a further plantation in April 2007 and this year. Ancre Hill Estates, which produces 15,000 bottles of wine annually, is the only UK vineyard to grow Albariño, which originate in Galicia, Northern Spain, and further planting this month extends the vines to three acres.

Work is also due to start this summer on a commercial winery, which will be fully sustainable, as it will have straw bale walls, a sedum grass roof and an ecological water treatment system.

Ancre Hill Estate visits

Ancre Hill Estates, which produces sparkling whites blanc de blanc and blanc de noir, sparkling rose, still white and rosé and Pinot Noir red, will be holding vineyard tours twice daily at 11.30am and 3pm and, during Welsh Wine Week, is offering free wine tastings.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Wales, preparations are being made for the first wine making crop of grapes at the only vineyard in Carmarthenshire. Vines were planted at Jabajak Vineyard near Llanboidy in 2008 but the grape crop has yet to be harvested for wine.

“We’re hoping that 2013 will be the year and we are going for it,” said Amanda Stuart-Robson, who owns the vineyard and a five star restaurant with 10 en-suite rooms in partnership with her sister Lorraine Lloyd and their husbands, Julian and John respectively. They have appointed viticulturist Alex Wilson to run the one hectare vineyard with its 2,000 Seyval, Phoenix, Pinot Noir, Rondo, Huxlebe and Reichensteiner vines, from which they aim to produce still white and sparkling white and rosé wines.

Stuart-Robson says: “It was my husband, Julian, who came up with the idea of a vineyard to give the business a unique selling point here in rural Carmarthenshire. We have potential to expand the vineyard in the future.

“I am told that sparkling wine originally came from this region but the Normans drove out the monks that were producing it. It would be great to bring sparkling wine back here. Our first wine will be still white and we are hoping to produce a small amount of sparkling, but it will be a while before that’s available to drink.”

The Jabajak restaurant and rooms, which overlooks the vineyard, have been converted from a traditional smallholding farmhouse and outbuildings. Originally named Banc y Llain, the smallholding was part of an estate owned by the grandparents of sixth American president John Quincy Adams and remained in the family’s ownership until 1997.

Other new vineyards under development include Llaethliw close to the National Trust’s Llanerchaeron Estate near Aberaeron and Kerry Vale Vineyard near the Welsh border at Churchstoke.

Picture: Minister for Natural Resources and Food Alun Davies launches Welsh Wine Week and the new Wine Trail Wales leaflet with Judith and Colin Dudley from Parva Farm Vineyard, Nicola and Robb Merchant from Whitecastle Vineyard, Joy and Richard Morris, from Ancre Hill Estates and Louise Ryan and Simon Bloor from Sugarloaf Vineyard.

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Despite the siren noises about a summer for English wine that had to be written off, Kent grower Hush Heath has polished up a silver lining that may surprise many observers, considers winemaker Owen Elias in his latest winemaker’s report.

He writes: “Last year’s harvest, written off and abandoned by some, has to be counted as a surprising success. Thanks to sterling work by the Turners in the vineyard and some shredded nerves of steel, Hush Heath actually harvested more grapes than in 2011. The quality of the Pinot Noir and Meunier was good while the acidity on the Chardonnay was a little on the high side. The wine in tank is quite pleasing at this stage with final blending and stabilization taking place over the next few weeks.”

The grower, based in Staplehurst, Kent has seen a “busy time in the winery” writes Elias. In Decembe,r the 2012 still ciders were bottled. These together with a range of bottle fermented ciders are marketed under the Jake’s Orchard label. Last year’s trials proved successful and production has been increased. The first of the bottle-fermented ciders have been disgorged with delicious Nettle or Strawberry & Blackcurrant variants being available.

Hush Heath Vineyard visits

Hush Heath opened its doors to visitors and wine lovers for the first time since planting our vineyard in 2002. Visitors are able to stroll through the Estates beautiful Vineyards, Apple Orchards and Ancient Oak Woodlands. Tastings and self-guided tours are free and are available without booking on Fridays and Saturdays between 11am and 5pm. 

We are also offering guided tours and tastings where visitors will learn about the viticultural aspects of grape growing followed by a tour of the Winery where the sparkling wine making process using traditional Champagne methods is explained. Finally there is a tutored tasting of the Estate’s delicious Sparkling and Still wines and new range of Ciders created by our winemakers.
Guided tours are for a minimum of six people and need to be pre-booked. The cost per person is £15 and tours can be arranged 7 days a week.

Decanter World Wine Awards

Hush Heath has picked up two awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2013. Balfour Brut Rosé 2009 collected its second consecutive Silver medal in this prestigious competition while the Balfour Brut Rosé 2010 has collected a Gold medal. The bottles that we sent to judges at Decanter were the first to be tasted away from the vineyard, and the vineyard is “delighted that they met with such a seal of approval,” notes Elias.

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An international forum for exploring innovation and sharing best practice in the production and sale of Champagnes and sparkling wines is to be staged at Denbies Wine Estate in Surrey in early December.

The International Sparkling Wine Symposium (ISWS) will involve up to 180 oenologists, producers, marketers, buyers and journalists from across the world. Tickets are available now via the ISWS  website  at a cost of £345.00 per head, to include lunch and refreshments each day, the Grand Tasting and Dinner on Tuesday  December 3. Discounted early bird tickets, costing £295.00 per head, are available until June 30.

Speakers at the event are set to include Essi Avellan MW, editor of FINE Champagne magazine, Tom Stevenson, champagne and sparkling wine expert, Richard Smart, renowned Australian viticulturist, Maurizio Zanella, president of the Franciacorta Consorzio and Olly Wehring, managing editor of just-drinks.com and Jan Konetzki, head sommelier at 3* Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

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