History of Worthenbury Wines cont...

After a year of tasting, talking and travelling we were ready to start. Soil samples had shown that our well-drained sandy soil was fine, but which vine varieties to plant? With only an acre of ground, quality was always going to be a better goal than quantity.

Much English and Welsh wine is produced from grape varieties which are developed to ripen early and survive our climate. They are not well known, and from our sampling quality could be variable. We instead went for the classic varieties of Chardonnay and Sauvignon to produce our white wine, and Pinot Noir for the red. Lovely varieties that are behind some of the best wines in the world, but would need a helping hand to ripen at Worthenbury’s latitude.
Our plan therefore was to harden the vines in the open air for the first few years, and then cover them with long polytunnels which create a micro-climate inside much warmer than the prevailing weather outside.