16,000 Bottles of Albury Estate Bubbly!

Winemaker Matthieu with the first bottle of our biodynamic bubbly

It's been a crazy week, which started with the bottling of 16,000 bottles of Albury Estate sparkling wine from grapes we picked from last years harvest.  The wine will go through secondary fermentation during the next month or so to give it it's fizz, and then mature in the bottle for probably for at least two years to give it the special character of a quality English bubbly.

We are actually producing three different sparkling wines from last years vintage; a Classic Cuvée (produced from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier), an English Blanc de Blancs (made mainly from Chardonnay with some Seyval), and just 280 bottles of a biodynamic Chardonnay which was fermented with wild yeasts from the vineyard.

This week we've also been delivering our Silent Pool Rosé 2013 to stockists and restaurants so that they had it available for this weekend, the start of English Wine Week. Yesterday we had our annual Wine Club event and tomorrow we have an open day at the vineyard. Taking it easy in my retirement!

Press Release - Silent Pool Rosé 2013 Local Stockists and Restaurants

Silent Pool Rosé was one of only three English wines served on the Royal Barge as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and is currently being served at the Royal Opera House as well as many local restaurants.

The 2013 vintage will be released for sale on 24^th May 2014, the beginning of English Wine Week, and will be available at the following stockists:

Caves de Pyrene, Guildford www.lescaves.co.uk

*House of Wines www.houseofwines.com

Kingfisher Farm Shop, Abinger Hammer www.kingfisherfarmshop.com

Taurus Wines, Bramley www.tauruswines.co.uk

The Butchers Hall www.thebutchershall.co.uk

The Godalming Food Company www.godalmingfood.co.uk

The Guildford Wine Company www.theguildfordwinecompany.co.uk

The Vineyard, Dorking www.wineunlimited.co.uk

Village Greens Farm Shop, Ockley www.vgfarmshop.com

*Vintage Roots www.vintageroots.co.uk

* Available on-line

It will also be available at the following local pubs and restaurants:

Bertram Bees, Westcott

Britten’s Restaurant, Guildford

Gomshall Mill, Gomshall

Kinghams Restaurant, Shere

Little Dudley House, Dorking

The Black Swan, Ockham

The Drummond Arms, Albury

The Percy Arms, Chilworth

The Red Lion, Shamley Green

Two to Four Restaurant, Dorking

William Bray, Shere

William IV, Little London

  

Silent Pool Rosé is certified Organic and is 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.

The vineyard is situated in the beautiful Surrey Hills near Guildford and is one of the few organic vineyards in England.

Nick Wenman, owner of Albury Vineyard said “We are delighted with Silent Pool Rosé 2013 which we believe is our best wine so far. We are planning to release our first quality sparkling wine later this year in time for Christmas”.

 Ends

Contacts:

Albury Organic Vineyard - Nick Wenman, nick@alburyvineyard.com t: 07768 863650

Bottle shots of the wine and pictures of Albury Vineyard are available on request

Silent Pool Rosé 2013 to be released on 24th May

Silent Pool Rosé 2013 will be released for sale on Saturday 24th May, the start of English Wine Week.

The wine was made from some of the ripest hand-picked Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes from last years harvest. Having recently tasted some barrel samples we are delighted with the wine and believe it is our best vintage yet.

Stephen Skelton MW comments:

"The wine is a pale salmon pink, with distinct Pinot raspberry and strawberry tones on the nose. On the palate the wine has a lively fruit character, with balanced acidity and a good fresh finish."

Silent Pool Rosé is certified organic with an alcohol level of 11%. Only 4,200 bottles have been produced, most of which have been pre-allocated. Details of stockists will be available on our website soon.

The first Albury Wine Club event (for members only) will be held on the vineyard on Saturday 24th May starting at 11.00 and will include a light lunch . The vineyard will be open to the public for the first time on Monday 26th May at a cost of £5 per person (including a tour of the vineyard and a tasting). Early booking is essential as numbers will be limited, so if you are interested please email info@alburyvineyard.com for details.

A Frosty Scare

We had a close call last night as temperatures on the vineyard fell to -1.7C, resulting in a light frost. We got a text from the weather station at around 5.00am, with a warning that the temperature had fallen below zero, but by the time we got there the sun was rising. Fortunately there shouldn't be too much damage as the vines are only at budburst or first leaf stage at the moment and are fairly resilient up to -1.9C.

The next few weeks are a crucial time for us. As a result of the warm start to the year, the vines are about one month ahead of where they were last year when there was snow on the ground in early April.

The boujies are still our main defence as they warm the vineyard by between 1.5C and 2C. However they are pretty messy and I'm not too happy abot the environmental impact even though we use them infrequently. Next year we will take a look at a new wind machine that Denbies are purchasing from New Zealand which reputably protects 10 acres of vines.

More frost risk tonight so I'll be avoiding too much wine and off to bed early!

Surrey Life Food and Drinks Awards

We are delighted to have been entered for the Food and Drink Producer category of the Surrey Food and Drinks Awards. The award is sponsored by Lythe Hill Hotel, Restaurant and Spa, and last year was won by Hogs Back Brewery.

Surrey has some amazing local food and drink. As well as wine and beer there are producers of beef, cheese, watercress, smoked trout, soft drinks, and even ice cream. Many local people want to support local producers and the Surrey Life Food and Drinks Awards helps to increase awareness of the amazing produce available in Surrey.

Please support the event and vote for us here.

English Petillant Naturel!

I spent Friday afternoon on the vineyard doing a bit of filming with Monty Waldin, that may lead to a project to produce English Petillant Naturel (or "Pet Nat" for short).

Pet Nat is a naturally sparkling wine that is made with little or no additives. It is bottled part way through the fermentation of the grapes, so that the naturally produced CO2 is absorbed by the wine to give it its fizz. This is different to Champagne, or traditional English bubbly, which goes through a secondary fermentation process with added yeasts and sugars to produce the bubbles.

Pet Nat wines are low in alcohol (often less than 8%) and vary enormously in flavour and fizziness. The winemaker has very little control over the process and has to rely on nature to do its work. The resultant wine will therefore always be different from one vineyard to another and from one year to the next, but many are fresh, exciting and full of character. You'll either love it or hate it but the uncertainty of what it's going to turn out like can be great fun.

Pet Nat is becoming really popular in mainland Europe, particularly in France and Italy. Maybe Albury Organic Vineyard will produce the first English Petillant Naturel!

Short Back and Sides for our Vines

The same vine before and after pruning

This is the time of the year for pruning. Alex's instructions are to "prune hard and keep it simple". It's important to cut out any diseased wood and to focus on the long term health and efficiency of the vine, which essentially means "less is more". We're therefore being fairly aggressive with our pruning this year, which will hopefully result in better quality fruit, if a little less volume.

Nearly three quarters of the vines have been pruned which means we only have about 5000 left to go! Earlier this week Albury Wine Club Premier Cru members helped by pruning their own vines.

Albury Wine Club Premier Cru members

Once the vines are pruned we spray all the major cuts with VineVax, which is a Trichoderma that helps the wounds heal quicker and prevents the spread of any disease.

Must get to the hairdresser's myself this week for a short back and sides!