DAWS HILL VINEYARD, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
GREAT NEWS!! DAWSHILL WINES WINS MEDALS!
We are proud to announce that we have won BRONZE MEDALS for our Classic 2008 White Sparkling Brut and our 2009 Sparkling Rose Brut at the prestigious UK Vineyards Association Competition in June of this year.
From the Daws Hill Vineyard we invite you to share with us, the pitfalls, joys and ultimate satisfaction to be derived from making and drinking wine, here in the English Countryside.
When we first thought of planting a vineyard in the UK, English wine was considered a bit of a rarity, if not an amusement. English wine making has developed to such a degree that even French Champagne growers are now investing in land in South East England!
Before planting we sought advice from French Wine Growers, French soil experts, UK winegrowers and the meteorology office. This research showed that our site has very similar soil to the Champagne region. The south facing, well drained slope was ideal for vines and surprisingly, the average mean Max/Min temperatures and hours of sunshine are almost identical to those of the Champagne region.
Using this information the decision was made to plant the classic “Champagne” varieties. These are Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunier, both red grape varieties, and Chardonnay with some Auxerrois as the white grapes to make Sparkling Wine.
The first 3,000 vines were planted in April 2004 on a south facing slope of clay loam over a base of chalk. A second planting of 2,000 plants was done in April 2007.
Having made the most important decision, which varieties to plant, the next step was to decide what style of wine we should make. In consultation with my wine maker, Hans Schleifer we came to the conclusion that to try for a “house style” year on year would be difficult given our size and the vagaries of the weather. So, we make the best wine we can, using the traditional “Champagne” method, from the grapes that are produced each year. Hence the 2007 vintage (by the way vintage means that the wine is made only from grapes picked that year, not age) is 96% chardonnay, the 2008 has 34% red grapes and in 2009 we made a pink sparkling as well.
Situated in the heart of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) our little valley benefits from protection from the wind and is particularly warm.
All wine making activities from first and second fermentation, filtering through bottling to labelling are carried out on site under the supervision of Nigel Morgan, the owner, and Hans Schleifer, the consultant wine maker.
All our vintages are matured in the bottle on the yeast sediment or “lees” for a minimum of 12 months, but each year we hold back a certain percentage to mature for longer as a Reserve wine.
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