Still, rosé and bottle-fermented sparkling
CRISP, DRY WINE FROM OUR OWN VINES
Made from the fruit of a single estate in East Sussex, and nothing else.
Organic, single estate wine made on the farm where it grows.
Our wine is grown and made at Clayton Hills, our organic vineyard in Mayfield, East Sussex. It is single estate, so every bottle comes from our own fruit and nothing is bought in.
We make still white, rosé and bottle-fermented sparkling, with a red we would love to make in time. The wines are crisp and dry, built to sit at a table rather than to win a competition. If you already value organic, you will understand what goes into them. This page tells you what we make and how to get hold of it.
What we make.
Still white
A dry, crisp white from our own grapes, Ortega among them. Still wine asks for riper, better fruit than sparkling does, which makes it the harder thing to grow well here, and the one we are quietly proud of.
Rosé
Dry and easy, made the same way, from the same land.
Sparkling
Bottle-fermented, with the second fermentation happening in the bottle itself, the way the best English sparkling is made. It takes longer, because good sparkling cannot be hurried, and the waiting is where a lot of the character comes from.
Red, one day
Red is the most demanding wine to make, and the one that most interests Charles. It needs the best fruit we can grow, so it will come when it is ready and not before.
Every year is its own wine.
We do not pretend our wine tastes the same every year, because it does not. A cold spring, a wet August or a hard frost in May all leave their mark, and we would rather you knew that than dress it up. Good years and trickier ones are part of growing wine in England. What stays constant is how it is grown, by hand and organically, and that it all comes from this one place.
You will notice we do not go in for long lists of flavours. Charles has strong views on the nonsense talked about minerality and terroir, and we will spare you ours. The wine is crisp, dry and made with care. The rest is better discovered in the glass.
Grown first, made second
IT STARTS IN THE VINEYARD
There is an old line that fine wine is made in the vineyard, not the winery, and we hold to it.
The care that matters most happens out among the vines, across the seasons, grown organically from first to last. The winery is where we try not to get in the way of good fruit.
Questions about the wine.
Is the wine organic
Yes. It is grown on our certified organic vineyard, from our own fruit only.
What does it taste like
Crisp and dry, made to go with food. We leave the longer descriptions to you, and recommend tasting it rather than reading about it.
Why does the wine change from year to year
Because the weather does. Each vintage reflects the season it grew in, which we think is a feature of real, single estate wine rather than a fault.
Where can I buy it
Through a growing list of merchants and restaurants, and by enquiry. The where to buy page has the current picture.
On merchants' shelves and good wine lists, with more to come