Silent Pool Rosé 2012 to be released on 1st June

Silent Pool Rosé 2012 will be released for sale on the 1st June 2013, the beginning of English Wine Week.  It is one of the first English certified Organic wines and will be available at the following outlets:

Retail outlets
Alnwick Castle Gift Shop, Alnwick
The Guildford Wine Company, Shalford
Kingfisher's Farm Shop, Abinger Hammer
Secretts Farm Shop, Milford
Taurus Wines, Bramley
The Vineyard, Dorking
Vintage Roots www.vintageroots.co.uk

Pubs/Restaurants
Black Swan, Ockham
Drummond Arms, Albury
Kinghams Restaurant, Shere
RHS Wisley Restaurants, Wisley
Royal Opera House Restaurants, London
The Percy Arms, Chilworth
The William Bray, Shere
William IV, Little London

We'll be holding the first meeting of the Albury Wine Club at the vineyard on the 1st June (for members only). The Guildford Wine Company in Shalford will be hosting a tasting between 11.00am and 5.00pm. 

We are delighted with the quality of the wine which has been produced from hand picked biodynamic grapes from our own vineyard. Stephen Skelton MW, who is an expert on English wines, commented:

"Good fruit, nice balance with good acidity but not too aggressive. A worthy successor to the 2011. Amazing considering what the year was like."

Tasting Notes
"Silent Pool Rosé is an elegant, fresh, salmon coloured still Rosé wine made predominantly from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. On the nose, strawberry and cream, juice tangerine and cherry blossom aromas meld with layers of clean minerality. The wine displays enticing flavours of orange peel and bright citrus on the mid-palate, with balanced acidity and a long finish."

Winemaker, Ulrich Hoffmann

Bud Burst

We now have bud burst right across the vineyard. Bud burst, or bud break, is when you can see the first signs of leaves on the new shoots from the canes that have been tied down after pruning. These will develop into the shoots that will produce bunches of grapes later in the year.

As a result of the cold weather in March and early April, bud burst is probably six weeks behind last year. This is good news for us as we are therefore less susceptible to Spring frosts. Before bud burst swollen buds can withstand temperatures as low as -3C, whereas -1C would be a problem now. The weather forecast looks good for the next couple of weeks but we'll remain on frost alert for the time being. As the old saying goes "Ne'er cast a clout until May be out"!

A Frosty Vineyard

It was bitterly cold on the vineyard last night with the soil reaching -7.6C and air temperatures as low as -3.6C. Fortunately, a result of the cold weather in March and early April, bud burst is late this year so hopefully there won't have been much damage.

Most of the vines are at "first swell", which means that the buds are showing on the canes but they are still brown with no colour. At this stage they can withstand temperatures as low as -10C. However when they have fully swollen,with some colour showing, they can only withstand -3C without being damaged. Once we have bud burst then any temperatures below -1C will be a problem.

A bud at Full Swell

The weather forecast look ok for the next few days but a frost is forecast for next weekend so it looks like we will soon be out in the middle of the night lighting the boujies again.

Our Vines are Weeping

It seems that Spring has finally arrived. We know this, not just because it warmer, but because our vines are weeping.

During the winter vines go into a deep state of dormancy and can withstand temperatures of -15C. But as the soil begins to warm up, and temperatures get above 10C, the vines start to wake up. The roots begin to absorb nutrients and water and osmosis pushes the sap up from the root system which is expelled from the pruning cuts made during the winter. This looks like the vines are weeping. It only lasts a few days but in some countries a single vine can expel up to 5 litres of water!

The sap provides energy to the vine which initiates bud break. This is late this year as a result of the cold weather in March and early April. That's good news for us as we are therefore there is less risk of damage to the buds from late frosts.

Silent Pool Rosé to be Served at the Royal Opera House

Our Silent Pool Rosé 2012 will be available at Royal Opera House Restaurants this summer.

Silent Pool Rosé was one of only three English wines served on the Royal Barge last year as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Made from a blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes it is a refreshing still dry wine and is ideal as an accompaniment to light meals or al-fresco dining.

Ben Fielder, who is beverage manager for Royal Opera House Restaurants, said “The English wine industry is doing great things and with provenance an important part of our ethos, Albury Vineyard was of great interest. Following our tasting we are proud to have Silent Pool Rosé on our list.”

We are delighted that Silent Pool Rosé has been chosen to be served at another Royal establishment. We hope our quality sparkling wine will also be served at the Royal Opera House when it becomes available in 2015.

Silent Pool Rosé 2012

Earlier today I tasted our Silent Pool Rosé 2012, with Ulrich Hoffmann (the winemaker) and Stephen Skelton MW. In my opinion it's even better than the 2011 which, given the appalling weather last year, is a fantastic result. More importantly Stephen, who is an expert on English wines commented:

"Good fruit, nice balance with good acidity but not too agressive. A worthy successor to the 2011. Amazing considering what the year was like."

It seems that our decision to pick only the ripest fruit has really paid off and as a result we will be releasing a top quality wine that we can really be proud of. It will also be one of the first wines in Europe to be certified organic under the new EU regulations. Unfortunately, as we only used the very best grapes, supply will once again be very limited. We hope to release the wine in early May - details of stockists will be on the web site.

The Albury Wine Club

The Albury Wine Club is for local wine and food lovers who are interested in English wines, particularly those produced by Albury Organic Vineyard.

The club aims to provide an insight into UK viticulture, as well as the inside story on what’s going on at the vineyard. Members will have an early opportunity to buy the wine at discounted prices and be the first to receive invitations to wine and food events being held at the vineyard.

Membership is priced at just £50/year per person and includes:

• Two complimentary bottles of the award winning Silent Pool Rosé, as served on the Royal Barge as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. 

• 10% discount on all wines purchased direct from the vineyard.

• A free of charge members tour of the vineyard and a first tasting of the years vintage, prior to its release in May/June.

• The opportunity to get involved in the harvest in October.

• An invitation to the harvest party in November (free for all those involved in the harvest). 

• A quarterly newsletter and regular email updates. 

We will formally launch the club in April. Our first event will be a pre-release tasting of Silent Pool Rosé 2012 at the vineyard in early May; invites will be sent out to Founder Members only.

To register your interest click here.

We look forward to showing you around the vineyard and sharing some great local wine and food experiences with you.