Taste the difference…
In her regular column for Tunbridge Wells Business Magazine, Jo Ginn who runs the Wine Garden of England collective, picks out two of the nine vineyards that are involved in this collaboration which aims to work together to promote Kent as the leading county for wine tourism…
Kent is a big county isn’t it? I never really appreciated this until I started working with vineyards all over Kent and would regularly drive two hours from West to East. There are subtle differences in the climate, too as you drive further East towards the Kent coast. Slightly drier, slightly more sunshine hours, and the sea adds a maritime influence which softens the edges of hard frosts and extreme temperatures.
This month I am concentrating on two vineyards in East Kent, both located near the wonderful city of Canterbury.
The first is Simpsons Wine Estate which is located in the gorgeous village of Barham, about 20 minutes from Canterbury city centre. Ruth and Charles Simpson are a British couple who travelled to France as youngsters and decided to have a go at making wine in the country’s largest winemaking region, the Languedoc Roussillon. Over ten years they built a successful business called Domaine Sainte Rose, and to the local’s chagrin, exported every bottle they made. You can find their wines here in restaurants and specialist wine shops.
Once their children were ready for secondary education, they returned to England with no clue of where to settle. They had read that the UK had some areas of chalk exactly the same as that of the Champagne region, and found the perfect place to grow vines that would make sparkling wine. It was a lot more difficult than growing grapes in southern France, but they’ve been perfecting their craft for the last ten years, and produce some of the best sparkling and still wines in the country.
Visiting Simpsons is an intimate affair. Small groups are guided through the chocolate box village to their original vineyard where they will see the vines close up, and hear stories about how they evolve throughout the year. Then it’s back to the winery and the hotel-chic style tasting room that overlooks the gleaming tanks. The wine tasting is a journey through sparkling, rose, white and reds – all an excellent example of what is possible in this marginal climate. They leave the best bit till the end. A hatch is opened in the wall, and you are invited to exit the tasting room via a Helter Skelter (yes, you read that right) directly into the winery. The philosophy behind this is to shift any inhibitions you may have about asking questions about wine, and encouraging you to just enjoy it.
A few miles away, another picturesque village called Chilham is home to Domaine Evremond. This is the first Anglo French alliance in the UK, where Champagne Taittinger has partnered with a UK wine importer called Hatch Mansfield, who distribute Taittinger here. The heads of both companies have been friends for decades, and bought up the chalky slopes of Chilham back in 2015, planted the champagne varieties, used Simpsons’ winery to make their first base wine and have since built a state-of-the-art underground winery where their first non vintage wine is cellared.
Rather like a stylish iceberg, the Domaine Evremond visitor centre is housed in the only part of the building that is above ground, overlooking the breathtaking vineyards that could so easily be a scene from Burgundy. The press got involved in planting the first vines ten years ago, and have since been whipping up a frenzy amongst us, anticipating the first English sparkling wine made by the prestigious Taittinger family. After a tantalising wait, we are now able to visit Domaine Evremond, and try the very fine English Sparkling wine that is a product of friendship between two neighbours.
Chilham is also home to the Wine Garden of England Summer Celebration. On June 7 nine Kent wine producers will be gathered around the beautiful lake of Chilham Castle, where ticket holders can taste the wines and meet the people behind the labels. There will also be local food producers and live music. A £40 ticket gives you 9 free tasting samples, a free Riedel tasting glass, our new Handbook, a tote bag and lots of goodies from our sponsors. It’s a beautiful day out, and you can get there by train – it’s walking distance from Chilham station.
To discover more about the wineries mentioned visit:
And to book tickets for the Wine Garden of England Summer Celebration visit:
winegardenofengland.co.uk
