Albury Celebrates with Silent Pool Rosé

Our new gazebo made its first appearance at the Albury Produce Show on Saturday. We were very pleased with the gazebo but Albury residents were even more impressed with our Silent Pool Rosé.

Most folk had heard that a local wine had been served on the Royal Barge as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and were keen to taste it for themselves. Over 170 people tasted the wine and our remaining stock was sold out within a couple of hours - a resounding success.

Fingers crossed for some good weather next week to help fruit set followed by a hot late summer so that we have a good harvest and a repeat performance next year.

Shoot Tipping

Shoot Tipping

Shoot tipping is part of canopy management that involves removing the top of the growth tip of a shoot. This temporarily changes the flow direction of nutrients and water and therefore encourages lateral shoot growth, which in turn will provide additional leaf surface which increases photosynthesis during fruit ripening.

This practice would normally be done after fruit set but Peter Hayes has advised us that that vine tipping may also divert carbohydrate to flowers and help the fruit set process. It won't overcome poor flower development or reinstate aborted flowers but where vigor is high may help. With the recent poor weather we need all the help we can get!

Rain rain go away

St Swithin's Holy Well

We don't have a single day in the next 10 that is forecast to be without rain - in July! This isn't good news on the vineyard  as it is the season for flowing and pollination which, to be effective, requires warm dry and sunny days.

Flowering is between one and two weeks behind this year as a result of the poor cooler weather in May and June. Some of the Seyval have flowered but there is no cap fall yet on the Pinot and Chardonnay. We can only hope that the sun shines on St. Swithin's day (15th July) and that 40 days of sun continue thereafter. Alex and I will be doing a sun dance later today!

SEVA Awards

Winemaker Ulrich Hoffmann

Last night our Silent Pool Rosé was award a bronze medal at the South East Vineyards Association (SEVA) awards ceremony. This was quite an achievement given that it is our very first wine. Congratulations to Alex, who lovingly nurtured the vines to give us great quality grapes in a difficult year, and Ulrich who turned them into a lovely wine.

There were no gold medals this year, which probably reflects that the judges are now assessing the wines by international standards: overall there were 7 silver medals, 29 bronze and 17 highly commended. The chair of the judges was Andy Howard who heads up the Marks and Spencer wine department. Silver medals were awarded to the following wines:

   Plumpton Estate’s Dean Blush Brut (NV)

   Gusbourne’s Estate’s Blanc de Blancs (2007)

   Bolney Wine Estate’s Pinot Noir (2011)

   Biddenden Vineyard’s Gribble Bridge Rosé (2011)

   Denbies Wine Estate’s Ranmore Hill (2009)

   Hill Farm Vineyard’s Hill Farm Dry White (2011)

   Sandhurst Vineyard’s Sandhurst Bacchus (2011)

We tasted these wines during dinner and they were all fabulous. Peter Morgan from Plumpton collected the best wine trophy for The Dean Brut Blush, and Gusbourne's Blanc de Blanc won the cup for second place.

Silent Pool Rosé- The toast of the Royal Barge!

Much to our delight, our first wine, Silent Pool Rosé 2011, has been selected to be served to the Royal party on board the Royal Barge, Spirit of Chartwell, as it sails down the Thames leading the historic flotilla to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Sunday.

Two other English wines will also be served: Nytimber Classic Cuvee 2007 and the Stopham Pinot Blanc 2010.

Silent Pool Rosé is made from organic Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes from our own vineyard which is expertly cared for by vineyard manager Alex Valsecchi.  Winemaker Ulrich Hoffman, of Vivid Wines, made the wine at his new boutique winery. Thanks must also go to Stephen Skelton who, as well as helping me establish the vineyard, continues to provide us with expert advice.

Royal approval in our first year!

Silent Pool Rosé available for sale on the 2nd June

Silent Pool Rosé 2011

Our first wine, Silent Pool Rosé, is already proving extremely popular. It's not officially for sale yet but local off-licences, restaurants and retail outlets are clamouring to include it on their lists!

Retail outlets
The Guildford Wine Company, Shalford
Taurus Wines, Bramley
The Vineyard, Dorking

Pubs/Restaurants
Drummond Arms, Albury
Kinghams Restaurant, Shere
Percy Arms, Chilworth
William Bray, Shere
William IV, Little London
Wisley Golf Club, Ripley

The Guildford Wine Company will be hosting a small tasting at the beginning of English Wine Week on Saturday 2nd June between 11.00am and 5.00pm. I'll be there to provide information about the vineyard and the wine to anyone who is prepared to listen!

We are delighted with the quality of the wine which has been produced from hand picked Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier organic grapes from our own vineyard. I just wish we had more bottles available this year as we are likely to run out of the meagre 820 we produced before summer arrives. If you manage to get some, you'll be one of the lucky few!

Our Very First Wine - Silent Pool Rosé

                                            

The Silent Pool

Earlier this week we bottled our first wine which we have called Silent Pool Rosé. It has been made exclusively from hand-picked organic Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes from our own vineyard. We are delighted with our first effort; our winemaker, Ulrich Hoffmann, describes the wine as elegant and crisp with subtle and fresh summer fruit flavours.

We only have 820 bottles this year so it will be in scarce supply. Next year we hope to have around 5000 bottles.

Silent Pool is a lake of crystal clear water adjacent to the vineyard. Natural filtration leaves the water completely clear with a lovely blue-green colour. According to local legend a beautiful young maiden drowned there, escaping the clutches of King John, and now haunts the Silent Pool.