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mattgregorywines

Farming 10 acres of vines in Leicestershire and making low-fi wines

I'm taking this all as a very good sign for the ye

I'm taking this all as a very good sign for the year ahead.

#dandelions #pinotnoir #budburst #shoots #vineyard #rosesummer

2018 Nebbiolo from North Canterbury New Zealand.

2018 Nebbiolo from North Canterbury New Zealand.

There's not much Nebbiolo in New Zealand, and the vines this (bottle number 1 of 15!) was made from have since been grubbed up. Is there in fact any Nebbiolo in NZ now? @thehermitram
reckons it's probably unique, and almost definitely a first for NZ.
It was a Quixotic side project with Theo when I was there. Hand destemmed into a bucket and pressed out the day before I left, and jug bottled straight away. @holly__lucia bought one back in 2022 and today seemed like as good a day as any to give it a go.
A huge amount of sediment meant disgorging was required. Definitely Nebbiolo with big but now friendly tannins, faded roses and potpourri with dried redcurrants. Totally delicious.

One man went to mow I only mow 2 1/2 times a year

One man went to mow

I only mow 2 1/2 times a year and this is the first run. The other one is before harvest so everyone can get at the vines, the half so I can get up every other row to look after the vines in the Summer. The uncut row builds natural seed mass and provides a huge amount of habitat whilst storing carbon.

Vine prunings now mulched for returning to the soil.

The under vine is now much smoother and will hopefully allow any further frosts to flow through and out of the vineyard more quickly. The top of the vineyard is now tied down, but the bottom still has fruiting canes in the air, again hopefully keeping them out of harm's reach of the frost. Passive frost management is nearly free, and can be very effective.

#mowing #vineyard #naturalbiodiversity #nativecovercrop #frostprotection #passivemanagement

Hedge Line 2023 I have been crowd funding the pla

Hedge Line 2023

I have been crowd funding the planting of a biodiverse wildlife friendly hedge on the Eastern side of the vineyard. The remaining Alders from the original plantings 15 years ago did not take well and they offer little protection to the vines when the bitter Easterly wind blows. Also no protection from whatever gets sprayed on the field that side... An amazing effort from volunteers has raised enough to plant the top third quite densely which we will do next weekend. The fundraising page is still open (link in bio) for the remainder.

Hedge Line 2023, the wine, is a skin contact (but not Orange) blend of Seyval, Bacchus, Madeleine Angevine and Solaris, with 15 months in tank on lees. My mate Theo Coles @thehermitram got a preview and said "tastes like my Salty White you sneaky sod". That's high praise in any language. It will be available as soon as I can stick the labels on, so basically now.
@winesutb should have it in stock for the trade from April or so.

The nerdy details of the actual hedge:
500 x Crataegus Monogyna (Hawthorne)
25 each of
Acer Campestre (Field Maple)
Betula Pendula (Silver Birch)
Cornus Sanguinea (Dogwood)
Eunymus Europeans (Spindle)
Malus Sylvestris (Crab Apple)
Viburnum Opolus (Guelder-rose)
Corylus Avellana (Hazel)

Label artwork, new image!, as ever by the talented @jojocooperphotography

Mid February and half way through the pruning. Abo

Mid February and half way through the pruning. About right, maybe a little slow.
Today has been the best of the weather recently and it was still bloody cold and damp.

Tasting/dining dates coming up soon:

Thursday 27th February @pomusmargate

Thursday 6th March @161kirk

Get in touch direct with them for details.

#vineyardteam #pruning #winetasting #beatifullybleak #winter

Corks! With my name on! I know, I know, but having

Orange 2023. 100% Solaris. 750 bottles. Solaris i

Win original art by @clairemorriswright Link in Bi

Win original art by @clairemorriswright Link in Bio

Claire Morris-Wright has generously donated a piece of original art from her work The Hedge Project to help plant a new hedge in Matt Gregory Wines' vineyard.

The Go Fund Me "Hedge Fund" (also link in Bio) has nearly reached its target and with Claire's generous donation we (and you hopefully!) will easily be able to plant the hedge in the New Year.

The print Claire has donated ‘Winter Light’ was produced as part of The Hedge Project. Please see clairemorris-wright.com for more information.

It is a relevant donation to raise funds for a biodiverse hedge to be planted in Matt Gregory’s Vineyard.

Claire watched a hedge in her village for over four years and documented seasonal changes and natures interventions. It depicts the organised chaos of a winter hedge and the biodiversity of many plant forms tangled together in this symbiotic environment.
This is a unique print, a one off - like a painting - is a dry point etching made over a few weeks, overprinted with two colours and nine different plates each individually inked up. It is printed on a matt black specialist printing paper measuring 25cm x 142cm.

Each increment of £10 donated gives you the opportunity to enjoy living with this unique work of art and helps fund a new hedge in the vineyard (the higher the donation, the greater your chances).

The minimum figure we need to raise is £380. If the target amount is not reached, each donor will be refunded.

A draw will take place on 31st December and the work will be tube wrapped and posted in the new year - good luck!

With harvest done and the wines now all safely in

With harvest done and the wines now all safely in tank and barrel for the Winter there is a moment to take stock.
2024 was a challenging growing season to say the least. There were just 139 frost free days between the last frost (24th April) and the first of the new season (12th of September!). The vineyard averages 1300 hours of sunshine a year, but we managed just 700 this year. And then there was the rain, 350% of our average annual rainfall did not help the cause at all.
It was quite a small harvest with no room for doing anything fancy, so there will be a small volume of just a couple of tasty wines.
Lots to do and plans to make: There are a couple of new still wines from 2023 to bottle yet, which will be available next year. I will be out and about a bit over the Winter to say hello to people, but otherwise I'll be back in the vineyard from January to start pruning.
Talking of the vineyard, there will be a hedge to plant (the Hedge Fund has done well, and there is some news coming about that soon), quite a few posts to replace and a load of other little jobs to sort out. If you fancy coming out to help over the Winter you are most welcome 😁
📷 @jojocooperphotography

2024 was a year of rather not very good weather, b

2024 was a year of rather not very good weather, but I grew some grapes and I'll make some wine.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped over harvest and especially to Rob at Wold's Wine Estate where I now make the wine.
Fortunately 2023 was quite generous, so I won't run out of wine, and there will even be new wines yet to be released from last year. In the meantime there is a still rosé bubbling away ready for what is obviously going to be the glorious Summer of 2025!

1 year whole bunch maceration. Pressing whole bun

1 year whole bunch maceration.

Pressing whole bunch Pinot Noir and Gris from 2023 that has spent one year in barrel.

I was inspired by @mythopia_hp
to do this rather extreme long maceration, and in 2023 I had enough grapes to do a little experiment. I filled a 120 litre barrel with roughly 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Gris as whole bunches, properly as full as it would go and packed in. Popped the lid on with an airlock and left it to its own devices for a year. How's that for low intervention wine making?!

One year later and the wine is quite extraordinary.
There's the aromatic signature of my fruit, a big whack of tannin (mostly from the stems), and an intense savoury core. It is now in a 54 litre demigiana getting to know itself as juice without grapes. I'll bottle it at some point and let it rest again before probably drinking it all myself over several years 😁

In the absence of anything good to say about the 2024 vintage this lifted my spirits today.

Thanks to @tsukinuketa for her help today, and indeed all this last week!

The thing that is the essence of a wine, when it s

The thing that is the essence of a wine, when it speaks of its place but also of those that made it.
Here is wine made by @wrightjoel
And @smhencher from fruit I grew in 2023. A mixed bag of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Bacchus and Seyval, picked after hours and de-stemmed into demijohns on site and left on skins for something like 10 weeks. Bottled without additions in August 2024 ish.
It still manages to smell, and to an extent taste, like my wine, even though it isn't: The sloe and hibiscus from the Pinots, aromatics from the Bacchus and a vein of acidity from the Seyval, all held together in a savoury salty textural web on the palate. Also just damn tasty and drinkable.
My point, as much as I have one, is that looking down the barrel of what is going to be a low yielding 2024 vintage, one that has been enormously hard work, the fruit is what it's all about. All the efforts I put into the vineyard over the 10 month growing season are ultimately worth it. Here's to making some tasty wine in 2024!
Please do not purchase this wine "very expensive to those that can't afford it, free to those that can". Really, you can't buy this wine, don't ask. Buy my wine instead.

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Matt Gregory | The English Winemaker 2021