Newsletter - May 2002
Winery expansion planned for 2002 harvest
Planning permission has been granted for a new winery
building at Davenport Vineyards. The new building will almost double
the size of the existing winery, giving us the space for making
top quality sparkling wines. Plans include a new insulated bottle
store, designed to hold over 100,000 bottles of wine at the correct
temperature. Equipment will include a new disgorging line, capable
of handling 2000 bottles per day. As more vineyards are wanting to
produce their own sparkling wines, there is a great demand for
someone with the expertise and facilities to bottle and disgorge
these wines to a high standard. Davenport's own vineyard
at Rotherfield is also starting to produce larger crops, and as the
wine moves towards the classic "Champagne" style, based on
Pinot Noir, it will require storing for periods in excess of 2
years, and need more space. The winery has been inspected and
approved by the Soil Association for organic production.
A chance to taste Davenport Wines.
Over the summer we will be attending several shows.
We hope that you will be able to visit our stand, introduce
yourselves, and taste our newest wines. The shows that we are
currently booked for are as follows:
Leeds Castle Wine Festival - this weekend 11th & 12th May, near
Maidstone, tel: 01622 765400
Green and Organic open day29th May, Near Alton, Hants, tel: 01420
520530
Kingfisher Farm Shop, 8th June, Arbinger Hammer, Near Dorking, tel:
01306 730 703
English Wine Festival, 7th & 8th September, Bentley Wildfowl
Museum, Halland, near Lewes, tel: 01825 840 870
plus probably more - we will keep you informed.
During English Wine Week (1st to 9th June) our
winery (Rotherfield, East Sussex) will be open to visitors on
weekends and bank holidays, and you can come and taste the wines (no
charge). We can only sell wine by the case (12 bottles) due to
licensing rules, and please remember that we cannot accept credit
cards at the winery (although credit cards can be used on our secure
web site). If you haven't been to the winery before you are advised
to phone us for directions.
Now is the ideal time to order your wines for the
coming summer. The best way to taste our wines is in the comfort of
your own home, or relaxing in the garden. Wines can be ordered from
our web site, and delivered to any UK address free of charge. At the
moment we have a tasting case introductory offer, which
includes six different wines at a discounted price. Just click on
the web address at the top of this page and you could be holding you
own wine tasting within a week.
New member of staff
Jon Murison has recently joined the production team
at Davenport Vineyards. He will be responsible for the running of
the winery while also being an experienced hand in the vineyard. He
has an HND in winemaking from Plumpton College, and has
experience worked with Chateau in Canada (and in the
production of ice-wine!). Jon has also been working for Ridge
View Estate over the last year, and has gained valuable
knowledge from the top end of English sparkling wine production. He
has a wide range of experience in English wine and has worked for
several of the larger vineyards over the last few years. We are very
pleased to welcome him.
2001 wines
The 2001 vintage is another year where the most
diligent grape growers have produced good wine. The wines in
tank show good flavours, plenty of fruit and higher alcohol levels.
The soft acidities will make them easy to appreciate while still
young. We will be producing a Horsmonden dry white, a Limney
sparkling wine, a Limney Fumé and a red Pinot Noir. No single
variety white wine has been selected from the Horsmonden vineyard
this year, prefering to use our Bacchus to improve the balance of
flavours in the Horsmonden dry white wine. These wines are all
officially "in Soil Association approved conversion to
organic" meaning that we have completed our first full year in
certified organic management. Bottling will take place over May and
June, after which some of the wines will be available only through
our web site.
New 2001 Pinot Noir
One of the most exciting wines to come out of the
2001 vintage is a small parcel of Pinot Noir. This was made from a
selection of grapes grown at our Rotherfield site. The wine shows
the typical varietal character with subtle oak ageing,
good colour and soft balance. It should be able to age in your
cellar for 2 or three years. This wine will be bottled unfiltered
and is due to be released in July and is expected to sell out
in a few months. We will be offering this wine to our mailing list
in advance of its main release.
A start to 2002
After another wet winter, we have had almost no rain
at all in April. A slight frost checked the early bud burst, just
holding them back without causing damage. The vineyard is looking in
good shape, with pruning finished on time, storm-damaged trellising
repaired, grass mowed, and compost spread over the surface - no last
minute panic for us this year!
We have invested in more new machinery to remove
weeds under the vines, leaving a bare earth strip (no weedkillers
used). This machine is the latest technology, a result of seven
year's research by French manufacturer Pellenc. It will help to
reduce mildew risk, and prevent the weeds from competing for water
and nutrients.