Summer wine survival kit

I do hope that writing about wines for summer weather will not put the kybosh on any sightings of the sun from now until September.

Now and next time I’ll provide you with a handy list of wines that should see you through summer for all sorts of occasions. Use that wine rack attachment in the fridge for its intended purpose and you’ll be ready for anything. This week: pinks to quench your thirst.

Think pink

Nothing says summer like rosé and, thanks to our enthusiasm for the style there is now a wider choice to buy than ever. Cheap rosés are in plentiful supply, but some guidance on the more pricey ones might be appreciated. I had the chance to taste (blind) some rosés ranging in price from £12 to £100 and these were some of my favourites.

Whispering Angel 2014 - £16.99 from The Wine Reserve, Cobham and other independents

A lot to pay for a bottle of rosé? Somehow we seem to think that rosés can never scale the heights of truly fine wine in the same way as white and red wines. Is rosé just too frivolous? Well try this and see what you think. This Provence rosé is pale and pretty, a blend of Grenache, Rolle (aka Vermentino, a white grape) and rosé specialist red grape Cinsault. I found it to be herbal and delicate, but with presence and length.

I also rated Château Léoube, Rosé de Léoube 2014 - £14.50 from organic specialists Vintage Roots; £14.95 from slurp.co.uk; also independent merchants. It typifies the “don’t try too hard” charm of Provençal rosés and has enough depth of flavour combined with freshness to make for great balance. 

Albury Silent Pool Rosé 2014 - £15 or thereabouts for stockists including Taurus Wines, Bramley and The Wine Reserve Cobham, see www.alburyvineyard.com

Made on the south-facing chalk slopes of the Downs near Guildford, 2014 is the best vintage yet of this organic wine. Made from classic Champagne varieties Pinots Noir and Meunier, it has lovely red fruit characters, citrussy acidity and real depth of flavour.

Williams Chase Rosé 2014 – £14-15 from The Good Wine Shop, Corks Out and Harvey Nichols, £13.50 from Tanners – also look out for magnums

This beautifully packaged rosé sounds English, but is very definitely French, from the Lubéron (Peter Mayle country for those old enough to remember him). I found a beguiling mix of asparagus and rose petal aromas with lovely freshness on the palate.

The hills have wines...

“Someone really ought to plant some vines there”, I’ve often opined to myself as I drove along the A25 between Newlands Corner and Dorking, looking up at the south facing chalky swathe of the Surrey Hills.  Well thankfully “someone” has done more than idle daydreaming and actually gone and created a vineyard there.

The man in question is Nick Wenman, and his 13-acre patch of vines, Albury Organic Vineyard, is part of the Duke of Northumberland’s Albury Estate.  I first stumbled across the vines on a walk to Silent Pool last winter and was intrigued to find out more about the place.

I finally caught up with Nick on the last day of harvesting of the 2012 vintage.  This year, as anyone who hasn’t spent the last six months abroad will know, has been grim on the weather front.  Unseasonably cold, damp conditions have dogged us since the balmy, warm days we enjoyed in March.  This kind of weather is unkind to any form of fruit growing, from adversely affecting fruit set at the beginning of the season to threatening the final crop with rot at the end of it.

Luckily for Nick, however, he does have a crop – albeit a small one – this year.  Nyetimber, one of England’s foremost producers of sparkling wine, announced recently that it will not make any wine from this year’s harvest.  That made waves in the national press and 2012 will doubtless not go down in history as one of the best for English winemakers.

There will be more positive memories of the year for Nick, though, as his still wine, Silent Pool Rosé 2011 was one of only three English wines chosen to be served on the royal barge during the Thames River pageant in June, as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.  How long ago it all seems now.

The ultimate goal is to produce an Albury Estate sparkling wine, hopefully in time for Christmas 2014, though the real volume of wine will not be on stream until 2015 or even 2016.  Bearing in mind that the first vines were planted here in 2009, you can see that becoming a producer of sparkling wine in this country requires dedication, patience - and deep pockets.

Why does it take so long?  Vines take 2-3 years from planting to produce a viable amount of grapes to constitute a crop.  After that hurdle has been crossed the grapes harvested will initially go through a first fermentation, which produces a regular still wine.  A second fermentation in the bottle is required to produce the fizz, followed by a period of maturation before the wine can be released.  This process can’t be hurried and unfolds over a period of 2-3 years if you are looking to make a quality product.

Hence the attraction of releasing the Silent Pool still rosé, which can be released a few months, rather than years, after harvest.  The wine acts as an aid to cashflow and helps put Albury vineyard on the marketing map.

You could not accuse Nick Wenman and his team of taking the easy option.  As well as embarking on a wine journey that will take the best part of a decade to come to fruition, the vineyard is also certified organic - 2012 will be the first organic wine to be released. 

Not content with the tricky task of using organic methods in a challenging climate, they have also converted to biodynamics.  If you’d like the one sentence summary of biodynamics it’s:  an holistic approach using organic methods plus specific “preps” on the soils, with vineyard operations timed to harmonise with the movements of the moon and planets.  Sound bizarre?  For more detail on what this means, and who else is doing it, you can take a look at a post from my blog on the subject: http://heatherdougherty.blogspot.co.uk/2008/04/organic-and-biodynamic-wines.html

What with a small 2011 production and the great Jubilee-related publicity for their rosé, Nick has had no trouble selling every bottle he has of the wine this year – sadly this means that, unusually, I can’t tell you where you can taste these wines for yourselves.  There will be a small amount of Silent Pool Rosé 2012, made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, available locally next year – but the crop is only around 25% of what Nick would have hoped for, so you’ll have to look sharp to grab a bottle when it does appear.

In the meantime, here are a couple of English wine recommendations that you will actually find in the shops now.

Stopham Estate Pinot Gris 2011 - £15.50 from Hennings, various branches in West Sussex and other local independent merchants

The 2010 vintage was selected by Jancis Robinson MW as one of her wines of the week and sold out pretty quickly.  Luckily the new vintage is as good, with true varietal style, fruit and elegance.  Their Pinot Blanc was also chosen to be served on board the Royal Barge for the Jubilee celebrations.

Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury 2009 - £22.99 from Waitrose and various independents

Ridgeview Estate, at Ditchling in East Sussex, have been making a range of top notch English sparkling wine for years now.  Their wines are consistently good across the board, so if you see the name Ridgeview, trust me, it’ll be a good ‘un.  This elegant Chardonnay-dominant blend has Pinots Noir and Meunier in support and is their most popular and signature cuvée. It would not disappoint any Champagne afficionado.

Here’s hoping that, in three years’ time we will be fêting the success of Surrey’s very own Albury Estate sparkling wine.  Cheers!

All photos courtesy of John Powell, Albury Visual Services

Village enterprises and vinous surprises in Surrey's green and pleasant land

Surrey Hills villages are full of suprises, many of them pleasant, such as a recent event in a village hall in Shalford. Ben Watkins, owner of the rather grand sounding Guildford Wine Company, threw a wine tasting bash for his local clients and fans. Unlike most tastings we have attended this was for real people, the”punters” who actually buy and consume the product, as opposed to wine experts. It was a beautiful sunny day and glasses of wine from all the usual country origins, plus a few less well known areas such as Lebanon, were carried out onto the grass and enjoyed, picnic-style with Paul Cancelliri’s delicious Italian charcuterie and cheeses.


As an independent retailer Ben puts long hours into his business and he is obviously aware that he has to offer something different than the supermarket shelves. He carries a wide range of wines from Mediterranean and new world countries and feels very qualified to offer advice on them as he has “tasted 95% of them”!  Dedication indeed...


Here are two recommendations from our man in Shalford – Domaine Bergon Vermentino Sur Lie, 2008 – Vin de Pays D’Oc, France £7.99. A perfect all round white, crisp and dry with delicate peach and nectarine fruitiness. We love the name of this one, Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir, 2009 – Victoria, Australia £10.99. Great value Pinot Noir from the relatively cool climate of Victoria in Australia. A good example of the style showing vibrant, ripe strawberry fruit in a silky elegant way. Excellent for summertime quaffing.


“We have never had a bad bottle from you” is the statement from his clients that this entrepreneur says makes it all worthwhile.


Further surprises were in store as just along the A281 in Bramley, tucked away in the bluebell woods is The Organic Spirits Company, a family firm who are the purveyors of the FIRST AND ONLY ORGANIC SPIRITS IN THE WORLD, fair-trade and holders of the Royal Warrant to boot!

What makes their products so different, was the question we asked of Christopher Parker, MD and local resident. “One taste is worth a thousand words”, says Chris, and luckily you can prove this for yourselves as his products are sold in Waitrose, The Guildford Wine company (featured above) and various other select outlets. Christopher is rightly proud of his gold, silver and bronze medals awarded not just for his best seller Juniper Green Gin but also for Papagayo organic Rums, Utkins UK5 organic Vodka, Highland Harvest organic Scotch Whisky and Prince Charles’ favourite, Organic Sloe Gin.


Every aspect of Juniper Green Gin’s production is 100% organic which results in a spirit of unparalleled purity. The finest ingredients and biodynamic farming – a sustainable form of agriculture which maintains soil fertility and works in harmony with nature – are key to quality. As a man of much marketing experience Chris knows that in the Hotel, restaurant and bar trade one in ten customers prefer organic products, a number on the increase. This thought can be compared to the fact that just ten years ago very few venues offered vegetarian food. Today no menu is complete without the vegetarian option. When you try these spirits for the first time swirl and sniff and savour in the mouth as you would with wine to appreciate their depth and finesse, then you had better add a bit of water, tonic or soda as appropriate or you will be reeling in seconds flat!

Bramley Bramble cocktail – mix together 50ml Juniper Green Gin, 37.5ml lemon juice, 12.5ml blackberry liqueur. Serve on ice.

Before leaving Bramley and in the name of art we would like to mention two charity events, the first one featuring postman Lawrence Moore who, like his famous namesake, is a sculptor. Lawrence, who in most weathers delivers naked from the knee down, makes striking and unusual objects and pots from various stoneware clays and porcelain. He will be exhibiting together with painter Mary Hainline at “Pentire” Snowdenham Lane, Bramley on Friday 21st May until 9pm on 23rd May in aid of research into Motor Neurone Disease.


Celebrating the Sculpture exhibition at Birtley House on Saturday 15th May, artists of a different hue, yours truly Heather Dougherty and Heather Aitken will be exhibiting their own particular brand of wine lore at a dinner to benefit The Surrey Foundation. Tickets from Janet@birtleyhouse.co.uk .


Moving on across the valley, hidden away behind a kitchen furniture supplier in Artington is a quirky wine wholesaler known as Les Caves de Pyrène. Why the unpronounceable name we wondered? The shortest answer (there are several), is that they started out as a specialist importer of wines from Southwest France and wanted to reflect this in the name – hence Pyrène as in Pyrenees. Their range from this fascinating corner of France is still probably the best in the country. Many of their bottles end up on the wine list of top notch restaurants in London, including their own jointly-owned venture, the superb Terroirs. So popular is it with those in the know that it’s unofficial name is the wine trade canteen.


“Les Caves” have now expanded their stock range to include wines from Italy to New Zealand and most places in between. Adrian Scholes - the man with the tattered black book - has been with Les Caves since the beginning. He is a friendly, big daddy-ish but sometimes rather fraught-looking director who logically, sympathetically and diplomatically sorts out wine dilemmas. Heather Aitken (roving reporter?) paid a visit to experience their Mediterranean tasting evening featuring Corsican wine. To set the mood there were serenading Corsican balladeers, who sounded better and better as the evening wore on.


The good news for Surrey residents is that this place is not just for “the trade”, anyone can browse and buy providing it is a minimum purchase of 12 bottles. This is the place to head for if you have a thirst for vinous adventure and are keen to discover what les Caves call “real wines”: many organic and/or biodynamic and always made with individuality and care. If you delight in tongue- twisting names, try Pacherenc du Vic Bilh, (say it, drink it and then try saying it again), from Domaine Berthoumieu from Gros Manseng and Petit Manseng grapes. Like walking through an orchard of almond blossom, this wine is a unique and delicious experience (£10.75 a bottle from les Caves).

“I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome” Julius Caesar

There are an abundance of hidden gems in our neck of the woods and it is a pleasure to discover and highlight them in our wine and lifestyle columns. Do contact us at http://www.redwhiteandrose.co.uk/ to let us know your favourite places and people that make Surrey such a “green and pleasant land”.