I’m back, with good reason for my absence, so please forgive.
I have always enjoyed writing up my Peter’s Notes but of late the pressures in the vineyard and winery have mounted and at the beginning of the year Christina suffered a fall which led to her needing a double-hip operation. All went well, but the convalescence is painful and takes time.
2023 crop
The grapes progress as ever with the season, every year unique, and the vigneron remembers the high and low points – the 2023 flowering weather was perfect and the fruit-set 100%. One of many jobs will be to ‘green-harvest’, reducing the bunches to avoid over-cropping and thereby ensuring ripe grapes with good sugar and acid levels.
2018
The 2018 season was the best ever all over the UK, not just Breaky Bottom, and it’s the only season we’ve had with sufficient Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes to make a Blanc de Noir.
Therefore, we will have three cuvées for the 2018 vintage:
Chardonnay, Blanc de Blanc
Seyval Blanc, Blanc de Blanc
Pinots Noir & Meunier, Blanc de Noir
The first of these will be disgorged next month and after four years of lees-aging I anticipate something pretty stylish…..(he said modestly!)
Noble Rot
Dan Keeling is co-owner of Noble Rot and now has three restaurants in London - Bloomsbury, Mayfair, and Soho. David Allcorn ran Vats Wine Bar in Bloomsbury since the 1970s and he sold Breaky Bottom wines, originally our still and later the sparkling wines.
Dan sent me an email last week and told me he had included my 2013 Cuvée Cornelis Hendriksen in the current copy of Noble Rot, saying nice things about it – and an old photo of Toto and me. The Soho Noble Rot lists the Cornelis, and Dan writes “…made by the maverick grower Peter Hall in the South Downs – it’s a delicious wine”.
I was amazed to discover that it’s in Greek street where my French grandfather, Alex Mercier, had a famous restaurant before the First World War right through to the 30s, Le Petit Savoyard. He was a great cook with a fabulous cellar – He hated paparazzi, forbade telephones, and it became the haunt of prime ministers, high court judges and singers from the Royal Opera House who could arrive ‘round the back’ by prior arrangement, and leave the same way, but it also included ‘ordinary folk’ who had discovered the delights it offered – he never made any money, but spent all he could on sourcing excellent food and wine, and I love him for it!
Footnote: I recall, when selling my first wines to elderly people, there were occasions when recounting my grandfather’s history that they would say with delight, “Gosh, I do remember Le Petit Savoyard!”
De-Leafing
My good friend Tim Wildman MW came to Breaky Bottom on 19th August with three enthusiastic volunteers to help with the removal of some of the lower leaves around the prolific grape crop. This increases the air movement, principally to minimise the risk of Botrytis and mildews. The team of four did a wonderful job in brilliant sunshine – a great day!
Louisa de-leafing Chardonnay
Tim’s photo from the left:
Peter – Breaky Bottom
Charlie Haywood, digital marketing, Brighton
Alissa Strunk, wine writer, from Oregon
Louisa Adams, our regular worker, Kingston (Lewes)
Olenka Martynyuk, fashion Journalist, from Ukraine
Ginny, Tim’s dog, Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla (!)