Cheers to a corking celebration of Kentish wines
Jo Ginn of Wine Garden of England, a collective of nine Kent vineyards, tells us all about the success of its recent Summer Celebration and this month shines a spotlight on glorious Gusbourne, producer of some of the industry’s best sparkling and still wines…
Summer in Kent is turning out to be rather fabulous this year. The vines have finished flowering, and the story is set for this season. In our cool climate, we hold our breath for good weather during this time because in the cold, the flowers fail to pollenate, and the crop is much smaller. This year, we were mostly basking in warm sunshine, so it looks like we will have plenty of fruit, as long as it is allowed to ripen during August and September.
There was of course one rogue weekend where the heavens opened, and that was the day of the Summer Celebration at Chilham Castle. The week leading up to it was nerve wracking, due to apocalyptic forecasts of storms and hurricanes. This event relies entirely on marquees that look magical on a sunny afternoon, but sadly cannot cope with high winds. We were facing the prospect of a complete washout, but as Brits so often do, we got on with it and for the most part, it was a dry day, until the rain came later when no-one cared anyway! We all had a fantastic time, and I can’t wait to announce next year’s plans.
