Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Raise your glasses to West Country producers leading a wine revolution
Martin Hesp looks at how climate change and innovation have led to a boom in one sector of agriculture in the West that you’d never expect – viniculture
SOME time next week a man nicknamed Edward Scissorhands will get to work in a West Country vineyard and earn himself an amount well above the minimum hourly wage. Indeed, hundreds of part-time workers will be out on the south-facing slopes of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset picking grapes as fast as they can – although very few, if any, will be able to match the earnings of dreadlocked Mr Scissorhands.
Edward is an exception, otherwise known as The Fastest Picker in the West… “He’s quite amazing – he’s been coming here for years and he somehow picks better and faster than anyone else we’ve ever had. Every year he wins what we call our Golden Bucket!” smiled Duncan Schwab, chief executive and head winemaker at Sandridge Barton Vineyard, which is the new home of Sharpham Wine.
But it is the fact we’re even mentioning such a thing in a regional daily newspaper that is really the headline news, because it’s the huge boom in South West viniculture which is the underlying story. No other area of agriculture is growing as rapidly, which is amazing when you think about it, because if the Western Daily Press had made such a claim just 20 years ago people would have laughed.
Not any more. Because English wine is being taken very seriously indeed. Climate change – ably aided and abetted by the vast new wealth of wine-growing knowledge and innovation – has brought the West Country in from the cold.
The industry has undergone remarkable growth, with the hectarage of vineyards in Britain quadrupling since 2000. Over the past decade, the number of acres planted with wine grapevines in the UK grew by more than 150 per cent. It’s been calculated a record 3.2 million vines were planted in England and Wales in 2019, almost doubling the number planted the year before.
There are now more than 700 vineyards in this country producing around 10.5 million bottles of wine per annum – and the South West accounts for an impressive quarter of that boom when it comes to the planting of vines.
“If you look at the international scene, we are still a pretty small vineyard region, but it’s fast developing,” says Duncan. “In fact, next week I am talking to an American who wants to buy a vineyard here in the West Country. There is definitely a real buzz in places like Devon.
“We are a marginal cool-climate region, but you have to remember that every vineyard in the world has risk factors. Bordeaux, for example, has had frost and hail this year decimating the crops, so even the best vineyard regions around the world have problems. Our cool climate is now making us one of the hottest vineyard regions in the world – and certainly the hottest thing in British agriculture right now.
“The early West Country pioneers have proved the fact we can grow grapes successfully, and right now that is backed by the fact that we have no wines left in our cellars,” said Duncan, whose Sharpham Wine company is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
“Since the hospitality industry opened up after lockdown it’s just gone absolutely crazy, and our wines have been flying out the door as fast as we can label them,” added the man who is leading the way in growing red-wine-variety grapes in the region. “We need a good grape year because we’ve sold all our wine – with beer you can simply brew more, but with wine you have to wait until the next vintage comes.”
And when it comes to this season’s grapes, Sandridge Barton is reporting a mixed year, like everyone else in the region’s vineyards.
“The year started with a miserable cold spring and everything was four weeks behind, but over the the summer we’ve caught up a bit so that now we are probably just two weeks behind. In fact, we have surprised ourselves with the crop we’ve got out there – sugar levels are about the same as last year, but acidity levels are quite high at the moment, and that’s why we are all crying out for a bit more of an Indian summer. We’ve had a high pressure period, which is helping move things along.
“At this time of year, we’re out
Since the hospitality industry opened after lockdown it’s just gone absolutely crazy, and our wines have been flying out the door as fast as we can label them DUNCAN SHWAB, OF SANDRIDGE BARTON VINEYARD
picking and testing grapes day after day and keeping a very close eye on the weather, so we will probably start picking in earnest at the back end of next week for the early varieties.
“We will pick the later grapes after a couple of weeks’ break from midOctober – and it’s all going to be very exciting for us this year because we will be moving our brand new kit, having moved across the Dart from Sharpham to Sandridge Barton.”
Miles to the north east, in Somerset, the new owners of the second biggest vineyard in the county are preparing for their first harvest. Lexa Hunt and David Bailey purchased the well-known Wraxall Vineyard, just a couple of miles from the Glastonbury Festival site.
“We are in a period of nurture, rejuvenation and replanting,” said Lexa. “But we start harvesting on Friday with the early Pinot Noir and that will be used in our still rosé – and harvesting will continue over the next two to three weeks. It’s been a challenging year with late frosts, although we were lucky not to be hit on our south-facing slope – but it pushed the season way back.
“The last few weeks of warm weather have been a real benefit, but even a rain storm can knock it back.”
Down in Cornwall, Sam Lindo, of the famous multi-award-winning Camel Valley Vineyard, told us much the same story: “It’s been an up-anddown year, but it’s looking pretty good at the moment. It’s been the
kind of year when you never know what’s going to happen. We had a late year with the frosts and the vines started growing late – and we were thinking things were not looking that good… But then that was followed by excellent flowering weather, and now the grapes are doing well.
“Really good,” said Sam with an air of satisfaction. “In fact we are deleafing the vines today…”
And in east Devon, the annual Pebblebed Vineyards community harvest is just about to get under way.
“For those of you that haven’t joined us for this before, it’s a really special day,” said a spokesman for Darts Farm, which now owns the vineyard. “After handpicking the grapes in the beautiful, quaint vineyard, we all come together for a glass of fizz, a Darts Farm barbecue, some sweet treats and a little bit of music… It really is a community event.
“It will be a bumper harvest as there are plenty of grapes to pick and we need help to get them off the vine and into wine.”
In fact, east Devon is one of the region’s up-and-coming wine areas. RAW Food and Drink PR’s Harry Hook lives in the area and keeps a keen eye on the wine scene, and she said: “With our enviable geology and south-facing aspects there are some really exciting things happening here when it comes to the wine-making scene.
“Castlewood Vineyard, near Axminster, is a case in point. Owned and managed by Rob Corbett, the vineyard has been planted on a freedraining clay-loam soil and produces the most fantastic sparkling and still wines.
“Planted at a low vine density, Castlewood’s three-metre row widths help prevent row-to-row shading, and what many people like is the fact that Castlewood’s philosophy is all about quality, not quantity, and that less is more.”
Harry added: “The wines undergo no filtration, nor do they use any fining chemicals. Due to the small-scale production, they can leave the wines to clarify naturally. They really are fantastic world-beating wines.”
We caught up with Rob as he was making last-minute adjustments to his vines and he repeated what we’ve been hearing above: “It’s been a changeable year, but the warmth lately has been really in our favour – if we can keep the grapes in good health it should be a fantastic vintage.”
So, after a bumpy start it looks as though the region’s vineyards are in good shape for the coming grape harvest, or vendange, as it’s known in the trade. Which is wonderful for the folk who look after the vines, but what about those who must sell the actual wine?
We asked Dan Farrell-Wright, of Devon-based Wickham Wines, for his thoughts on the region’s up-andcoming wines: “It’s not often that we see the birth of a new major wine region. The last time it happened was in New Zealand in the mid 20th century – but that is what is happening in England right now.
“There has been a revolution in English winemaking,” said Dan. “The story of world-beating English sparkling wine has been told many times, but our still wines, especially those from the West Country, have also improved beyond recognition in the last few years.
“A decade ago, very few people would have thought about buying an English red wine, but now there are superb examples being crafted by winemakers such as Sharpham and Knightor (in Cornwall).”
And what about thoughts from independent wine experts? Jonathan Reynolds is co-founder of South West Wine School, which runs WSET wine courses at Darts Farm: “It’s never been a more exciting time for wines produced in this region. There’s an ever-growing increase in vineyards across the West Country producing wines that are now being recognised on an international level, winning lots of the top awards.
“English sparkling wine has been creating a name for itself over the last decade or two, but with the climate changes, still wines are beginning to follow suit with more single grape varietals such as Pinot Noir and Bacchus coming into their own.”
So it’s well worth watching this space – and buying some of this year’s vintage, by the sound of it. Alternatively, you might own a few acres on a south-facing slope – in which case, what are you waiting for? Time to get planting, perhaps…