I know that I’ve failed to post my Peter’s Notes for December 2023, so please accept my very belated best wishes for Christmas and the New Year from all the Breaky Bottom team.
Winter pruning always signals the beginning of vineyard work, and we have already made a good start, having completed the Seyval Blanc, our principal variety - the Chardonnay and Pinots will follow in February.
It’s my delight that the long established Corney & Barrow have chosen to include Breaky Bottom on their wine list for many years. And I was flattered when their chief wine buyer, Rebecca Palmer, invited me to their head office in London last Wednesday to make a film. She wanted to interview me and discover more about the history of my vineyard, how and why I chose to risk planting vines in the UK in those early days, intriguing questions of how I choose cuvée names for the various vintages, how my French grandfather was the springboard for my interest in wines (French wines of course!) – Even the ancient flint hand-axes I took with me to London, some of which unbelievably date back to 300,000 years!
I haven’t seen the footage yet, so it would be indiscreet of me to make further comments at this stage, but I certainly enjoyed the experience in the beautiful surroundings of their lavish HQ, so near the great Tower of London!
