'“I love Peter’s wines for their invigorating sense of poise, zing and refreshment. They are pristine and masterful in their composition and a reflection of the delicacy and deliciousness of truly Great British wine.”
Olly Smith | Wine Writer & Broadcaster
CUVÉES
In the early years Breaky Bottom earned a reputation for still Loire-style wines from the Seyval Blanc grape. Now I produce only sparkling wines following the Méthode Champenoise. Seyval Blanc is still the principal variety but now I also grow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
I make two cuvées each year and age them in bottle for at least four years. Compared to most wineries, my production is very modest. Less than 10,000 bottles of each cuvée are made. At release, I dedicate every wine to the memory of a close friend or relative and each bottle is numbered. Thirteen wines are currently available. They attract further regard as they develop with age; so as stocks of the oldest and finest cuvées are depleted, it’s fair to restrict sales to no more than a few cases per customer. These wines are marked as Limited Allocation.
2013 Chardonnay, Seyval Blanc, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Cuvée Cornelis Hendriksen
Dear friend Cornelis Hendriksen was a dynamic doctor, originally from the Netherlands, a traveller worldwide in the Far East and Australia; a collector of ancient artefacts and a caring medic reaching inaccessible places; a real adventurer.
6,743 bottles produced.
2015 Seyval Blanc
Cuvée Jack Pike
Twenty years my senior, Jack helped me plant the vineyard in 1974 - 8,500 vines with spades, a tape-measure, and a long piece of string! His energy has inspired my approach to physical work ever since. Jack died in 2013 at the age of 87.
6,694 bottles produced
2015 Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Cuvée David Pearson
David supplied my first wine boxes in 1976 and became a key member of the work-team here until he died in July 2019. In his early years he managed a large farm in Zambia growing maize, cotton and tobacco.
6,004 bottles produced
2016 Seyval Blanc
Cuvée Marraine Pooks
Marraine is French for godmother; I called mine Marraine Pooks, my choice but I can’t remember why! She was a successful cookery correspondent publishing many books and writing regular columns for the Evening Standard and The Tatler under the pen-name of Helen Burke.
2,088 bottles produced
2016 Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Cuvée Sir Andrew Davis
Andrew became my nearest neighbour when he was made Music Director of Glyndebourne Opera from 1988 to 2000. He jogged over to Breaky Bottom one cold March morning, we drank coffee by the Rayburn, exchanged stories of our shared love for music, and our friendship grew. And he liked the Breaky Bottom wines…
3,031 bottles produced
2017 Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier
Cuvée John Agard
John is a performing playwright and poet from Guyana who came to England with his wife Grace in 1977. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry in 2012.
3,557 bottles produced
2017 Seyval Blanc
Cuvée Grace Nichols
Grace is a Guyanese poet who came to England with John Agard in 1977. In 2021 she was also awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for poetry - a unique double! They reside in Lewes, and we have enjoyed their friendship over the decades.
6,833 bottles produced
2018 Chardonnay
Cuvée Geoffrey Aldred
Our dear friend Geoffrey is a superb stonemason, carver and lettercutter; a designer and maker of memorials, garden and ecclesiastical sculpture and countless inscriptions in stone. The list of his achievements is huge. He is a very modest man, but has allowed me to select a favourite of mine – The Figaro Garden Sundial, Glyndebourne Opera House, Bath stone, 1995.
7,068 bottles produced
2018 Seyval Blanc
Cuvée Brian James
Brian James was my daughter-in-law’s dad; he was Cornish through and through. At nineteen he travelled to Australia as a £10 pom. After studying Electrical Engineering at the University of South Australia he worked in many countries as a ‘big project trouble-shooter’ in desalination, satellite navigation and hydro and nuclear power. His life was spent helping countries and individuals to have better lives.
6,664 bottles produced
2018 Blanc de Noirs - Pinot Noir and Meunier
Cuvée Noella
My elder brother Rémy and I were born during the war at our Irish granny’s house, Rangeworthy Court in Gloucestershire. Noella was our first nanny, a wonderful sweet natured and very French carer who I still remember well. She fell in love with George Glede the delightful farm worker (who still ploughed with horses!). They married, and after the war moved to France. Long after, George, who had a superb Gloucestershire accent, used to write to me saying he still couldn’t speak a word of French!
3,572 bottles produced