Single Vineyard Wines
There is much to link the output from a single vineyard like Breaky Bottom, year on year – a characteristic taste, a common thread; the same terroir and grape varieties, the same winemaker. And yet every vintage from a single vineyard that only uses grapes from its own estate is essentially a one-off expression of each season. A reflection of a particular weather pattern, the variable temperatures and rainfall of that year, never to be duplicated.
My good friend Oz Clarke, wine guru extraordinaire with a phenomenal palate and a superb memory is for me the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of wine tasting, the master wine-detective. I still recall his first visit to Breaky Bottom, 40 plus years ago, our enjoyment of wines (and whisky!), and after maybe nine hours of craic the sharing of other common interests, of fine poetry and prose, and great music. I recall sometime after our meeting he phoned me, describing his attendance at a blind tasting of English wines, saying “the moment I tasted your wine, I knew which stable it came from”.
New Wines – 2017 Vintage
Cuvée John Agard, 2017 Chardonnay/Pinot, Gold IEWA, Silver WineGB
Cuvée Grace Nichols, 2017 Seyval Blanc, Silver WineGB
These vintages are dedicated to two brilliant Guyanese poets, dear friends of ours who have lived in Lewes since the 70’s. John and Grace are both great performing poets and playwrights and you will find a veritable feast online to enjoy – the distinctive Patois, the Guyanese Creole intonations, wonderful poems and books, including some for children available in schools.
John was awarded The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2012 and Grace was awarded The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2021. A unique double-achievement!
With her interest in painting Grace has been Poet in Residence at the Tate Gallery – her works include ‘I is a Long-Memoried Woman’ (1983) – ‘Picasso, I want my face back’ (2009).
John was awarded the Book Trust's Lifetime Achievement Award in November 2021. Give him a stage and a capacity auditorium, and sit back… or sometimes at the edge of your seat!
Try ‘Half-Cast’ and ‘Checking Out Me History’, just two poems from an amazing repertoire.
Barn Owl News
Pressures of work have not allowed us to sit outside in the cool of the evening with a glass of gin-and-tonic at dusk, quietly awaiting the Barn Owls. But last week, unannounced, a team of six people appeared from the South Downs National Park. Headed by Jan Knowlson, their task is to visit all known Barn Owl sites, recording any activity. The UK Barn Owl population has been falling rapidly in recent years, so their work is of great importance. We were all delighted to find in the nest box two quite mature nestlings; each was weighed, sexed and ringed before returning them to their luxury home.
