Peter's Note May 2022

I am aware that the last note I posted on my website was for December 2021.

It’s not that ‘nothing has happened’, simply the business of running a small vineyard is full of distractions.

So hello, thank you for your visit - enjoy the late arrival of Peter’s Notes, May 2022.

To date this year the weather has been kind, to the vines and those working in the vineyard. Very little rain, which will not trouble established vines, and the danger of late spring frost damage has passed. 

My June Note will include two new wines from the 2017 vintage, a Chardonnay/Pinot and a Seyval Blanc. They will appear on my website, but I am still awaiting professional bottle-shots, hence the delay.

So, Peter’s Note for May champions ‘other wonderful things’, a step away from viticulture and oenology – Lambing my small flock of twenty ewes this year has been remarkable, and the star photo goes to Daisy with her quads. She has managed to rear them all – an amazing mum, and two other ewes have triplets.

An important Spring moment for me is the return of swallows to Breaky Bottom. They arrived on 15th April after their incredible 6,000-mile journey from South Africa. Without hesitation they began re-furbishing last year’s nests, so they are clearly from families that have ‘been here before’. (I talk to them - over the years I have learnt those with a South African accent were probably born in SA!)

Fifty-five years ago, when I first moved to Breaky Bottom from Fen Place Mill, Turners Hill, I took with me a Wild Cherry sapling and planted it just outside the house. It has grown into a massive tree, and every year provides a feast for the birds. I noticed last year, and again this year, an amazing fungus growing on its trunk. Research tells me that it’s Chicken-of-the-Woods, a thick, fleshy bracket fungus that grows on the trunks of old trees, favouring oak and cherry. It’s a vital species supporting a host of wildlife including specialist beetles (the hairy fungus beetle!) which only feed on bracket fungi. Chicken-of-the-Woods is edible, although it does not agree with everyone – harvested carefully, it is enjoyed for its chicken-like flavour and texture!

As a footnote, I revert back to oenological matters – I have just heard that the Breaky Bottom 2016 Seyval Blanc, Cuvée Marraine Pooks, has been awarded a Gold Medal the 2022 International Wine Challenge! Good news…..

Peter’s Note December 2021

UK winemakers in 2021 have been up against it – one of the most difficult years I have ever experienced. The cold March weather continued into April and May – only in June the sun decided to shine! We picked late to maximise any potential ripeness, finishing harvest on 6th November. Nevertheless, the grapes were free of disease that many vineyards had suffered, particularly downy mildew and botrytis, but the yield was small. The first fermentation is complete and both the Seyval Blanc and the Chardonnay/Pinot are tasting clean and fresh, classic Breaky Bottom.

On 16th November the WineGB Annual Celebration took place at the Vintners’ Hall in Upper Thames Street, London. I was privileged to receive a new trophy – ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’; WineGB members had been invited to nominate a recipient.   

Very flattering, and I believe people in this world should learn to be modest; but I’m only human and confess that part of me is delighted! Thank you WineGB. Christina braved it up to London to receive the trophy on my behalf.

I have recently released the two 2016 wines – Seyval Blanc ‘Cuvée Marraine Pooks’ and the Chardonnay /Pinots ‘Cuvée Sir Andrew Davis’, both already receiving approval from customers.

We wish you all a HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Peter & Christina 

Peter's Note September 2021

This has been a difficult year for winemakers – the cool March weather continued into April and May, delaying budburst and crucially the date of flowering. Harvest will therefore be late this year, probably the third or fourth week of October, perhaps extending into early November. But the potential crop looks good, so fingers crossed for some gentle autumn weather!

On 12th September the Sunday Times Magazine posted an extended article about English Wine which has attracted a lot of attention. The authors John Arlidge and Will Lyons (ST wine correspondent) have gone to town, documenting the tentative beginnings when Breaky Bottom and the few ‘early-birds’ began in the 60-70’s right through to the massive expansion which has taken place in the 21st century. 

It’s flattering to see the front page of the article is a photograph of Breaky Bottom with the heading “C’est Incroyable! Burgundy? No, East Sussex!”  You can read the whole article here.

Peter's Note June 2021

Praise from Jancis

I realise I haven’t submitted any Peter’s Notes since last November, naughty me, too busy, please forgive….

The 2021 season had the slowest start I have ever seen, the soft spring weather finally arriving, but at least four weeks late.  Inevitably this will reflect on the whole season, and I anticipate the vines will not flower until the second or third week in July. For grapes to ripen fully they require about 110 days from flowering to harvest, so looking further ahead this is likely to be around the end of October or early November - let’s hope for an Indian summer!

I was delighted to receive an email this month from eminent wine critic Jancis Robinson, thanking me for reminding her how good Seyval Blanc fizz can be!  She had been invited to a blind tasting of English sparkling wines by Nick Baker of The Finest Bubble, and her article in the Weekend Financial Times 19th/20th June sings the praises of my Seyval 2010 Cuvée Koizumi Yakumo, describing it as “effervescent magic”…. https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/all-fizzes-not-champagne

My attachment to Seyval Blanc continues, and this variety remains some 60% of the all the vines at Breaky Bottom.  The originals are nearly fifty years old; many are still wonderfully productive but others less so, and this spring we planted 500 replacements from France.

Peter's Note November 2020

‘Beware of the Bull’

 This wonderful old cast-iron sign has probably been at Breaky Bottom for 100 years or more…… and possibly acts as a warning to visiting customers when deciding which wines to purchase…….!!

 Breaky Bottom features in the December 2020 UK ‘VINEYARD’ Magazine.

The new editor, Jo Cowderoy, has chosen as her first ‘Editor’s Visit’ to show-case Breaky Bottom! Very flattering……

 See the article on pages 24 - 30 giving the history of the vineyard. Matthew Jukes reviews three Breaky Bottom wines on pages 22 & 23. Under the Michelle Moreau wine he salutes the designers responsible for the new Breaky Bottom label in a magnificent way.

 Click on the link to see the magazine ‘page-by-page’  http://ourmagazines.co.uk/WLbNY

 Best wishes and take care, in whichever Lockdown you are in!

Late News:

Hugh Johnson recently chose the 2010 Cuvée Reynolds Stone as one of his top ten wines in the world to be enjoyed in 2021 - the only UK wine to be included! http://www.the-buyer.net/tasting/wine/hugh-johnson-natural-wine/.

Peter's Note, October 2020

A short harvest report

We are living in tough times; please forgive the rude pic, it reflects how I feel about a blooming difficult year!

The severe mid-May frost this year took around 80% of the potential crop. On the 11th and 12th October friends and family picked all the fruit that survived. An extraordinary harvest with pickers keeping their distance in the vineyard – what I call ‘two sword-lengths’ apart. Lunch is usually an extended communal experience but this time everyone was given their own tasty lunch-box and had to find shelter where they could.

The modest crop will only make about 2,000 bottles but the good news is that the quality of the fruit was excellent with very high sugar levels.

I have never experienced such a harvest but believe that the 2020 vintage will make an exceptional one-off wine.

Now it’s Lockdown again! Keep smiling…..

And in that spirit I’m offering free delivery on all online orders for Christmas and New Year. This offer will expire on 31 December, but please order as early as you can.

Peter’s Note, August 2020

The Magnificent Seven

Great news - the 2020 WineGB Awards have just been announced and I am delighted to say that Breaky Bottom has won five Gold and two Silver medals – click  https://bit.ly/2DkHlfX

You will have learnt from my May Notes that we were hit with a most severe frost around 12th May. I estimate the losses at around 80% so the harvest this autumn will be very small. However, the fruit that escaped the frost are looking very good, benefiting from the amazing summer we are all enjoying, especially in the South East.

The drought has meant that my ewes and lambs are searching for grass, despite ranging over 20 acres, and I’m having to feed them hay. Nevertheless the lambs are happy and well, including the two sets of triplets and the quads!

Finally, we have been offering free delivery since Easter.  That closes at the end of August so please order now to benefit.

Peter's Note, July 2020

In a moment of reflection I have been remembering special visitors to Breaky Bottom. Two of these have been with me since the early days, Oz Clarke and Stephen Skelton. I first met Oz some forty years ago when he came for an all-day visit; we drank Breaky Bottom and went on to taste innumerable wines from all over the world that were sitting in my wine-rack. He had a chauffeur to drive him home safely. We both clearly liked wine, but found we also shared other interests (while the drinking continued) in the arts, music, literature and sport. I learnt of his original career on the stage and of the many roles he played which included General Peron in Evita. 

Oz was developing a great interest in wine and decided to ‘jump ship’ and focus on this new passion. The BBC Food & Drink programme with Jilly Goolden ran for 20 years and they twice came to film for the series at Breaky Bottom. I remember Oz saying “Peter, you have three out of four” (I had made a very tasty late-harvest wine in 1995) “still, sparkling, and dessert, but no red.” Now of course there are some fine red wines being produced in the UK.

Oz has just published a new book ‘English Wine – From Still to Sparkling, The Newest New World Wine Country’.  Acknowledging recent progress he insists that the best producers should now be ranked with the cool-climate wines of the world. It’s a great book and will increase the reader’s appreciation of what we have achieved. 

Stephen Skelton visited us this month. A quiet lunch in the shade of ‘Rémy’s garden’ was a delight, heightened by his gift of a fine bottle of Burgundy, 2008 Chambolle-Musigny – delicious! Stephen helped pick my first harvest in the hot summer of 1976. In the following year he planted his vineyard ‘Spots Farm’ at Tenterden in Kent, now Chapel Down. He made some top still wines for many years, winning the Gore-Browne Trophy with his 1980 Seyval Blanc. He sold up in 1986 but has remained in the forefront of the industry, working with WineGB and writing eight books on UK wine. In 2003 he became a Master of Wine, winning the prestigious Robert Mondavi Trophy. So he knows a lot about wine!   But it’s the friendship I value most - 44 years, with the occasional sparring!  A much valued ‘sympatico’ between us.

What joy when Dermot Sugrue and his partner Ana also came here a few days ago. Ana, who has just been appointed Winemaker at Plumpton Agricultural College is charged with training the next generation of UK winemakers. I first met Dermot, (an Irishman, originally from Limerick) when he was studying winemaking at Plumpton College in 2005. We sat outside smoking roll-ups and chatting about the world, and I soon realised that we were destined to be mates. He has become a master winemaker but at this first encounter I felt an affinity with the man himself. Now, if I were to sit for 20 minutes with Dermot and a bottle of Paddy’s whiskey expressions like ‘tis fierce awful good‘, ‘ara things are grand’, and ‘go away wi-ya’ become commonplace. I am sometimes referred to as the ‘oul fella’ but my favourite has to be ‘shave a bullock’, a cry of surprised delight!

 Dermot’s journey through winemaking has taken him to the top. He worked at Nyetimber, steering the ship in earlier days when it was just a fledging estate. In 2006 he left to create the outstanding Wiston Estate in West Sussex, owned by the Goring family, and also makes his own Sugrue South Downs fizz, wonderfully named ‘The Trouble with Dreams’.

PLEASE NOTE: Partial lockdown continues, so we are not able to offer full tours and tastings, but we are welcoming visitors by appointment who want to come by and collect wine from the vineyard.

Peter's Note May 2020

Corney and Barrow tasting

I was delighted by the performance of my 2011 Seyval/Chardonnay/Pinot blend at London vintner Corney and Barrow's recent comparison of sparkling wines from the Veneto, Burgundy, Argentina and England. C&B's Rebecca Palmer was joined by Peter Dean, drinks editor of The Buyer, who was 'blown away' by the 2011 Breaky Bottom: "a grower’s vintage Champagne by another name - meticulously made, hand-crafted and speaks of the land from which it comes.” 

 You can watch the tasting on YouTube at https://youtu.be/27JkdbZLBYo.  It's 25 minutes in all, but fast-forward 17 minutes to catch their judgement on Breaky Bottom. 

 New wines

I have just released two wines from the 2015 vintage:

• Cuvée Jack Pike is 100% Seyval Blanc, the characteristic Breaky Bottom varietal; this has a fine balance of fruit and acidity, a delicate nose of white flowers and a long fresh finish.  Total production was 6,694 bottles.

• Cuvée David Pearson is a classic Chardonnay/Pinot blend (70/30%), showing rich vanilla aromas, a creamy texture, hints of buttered toast and a refreshing acidity.  Just 6,004 bottles were produced.

Both these new wines are now available from the online shop.  Delivery of all wines remains free until the end of July.

Frost!

Over the past weeks, with appropriate social distancing, we have been busy mending trellis, tightening wires, tying down canes and replacing vines.  Buds have burst and the trellises are once more turning green with young shoots.  Frost is the big risk at this time of year and over the past days (12 and 13 May) many English vineyards have been badly affected.  For once, Breaky Bottom is no exception.  I planted the vineyard 46 years ago and have never experienced such frost damage as I discovered today on a routine walkabout, in bright sunshine, to survey the vines and check on my ewes and lambs.  Maybe once every four or five years a few vines get a touch of frost, but our closeness to the sea usually spares us when vineyards further inland get hit.   Such are the challenges of viticulture in England.  It's possible that secondary buds will produce some flowers and fruit in a modest way. Time will tell….

Before - plentiful flowers    

After frost, morning of 14 May 

Peter's Note, April 2020

On 5th April we gathered the ewes to pen them up prior to lambing. My shepherd friend Stuart Piper is carrying a lamb; the first ewe had lambed that morning in warm sunshine. The second ewe has just produced quads, very rare as shepherds will tell you! My lambing records remind me this same ewe had quads last spring and a beautiful photo of the four lambs appeared in The Times newspaper.

We are in unknown territory with this terrible coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, we have had to stop all vineyard visits until further notice, but wine sales are still possible through our website. We are offering a free delivery service until the end of May. FedEx continues to collect from Breaky Bottom and usually deliver efficiently within two days. Although wine merchants are mostly closed you will find that many who stock Breaky Bottom are still able to make house-to-house deliveries.

I will try to end these notes with a smile – the weather is beautiful, a reminder to all of the unstoppable spring, perfect for the new-born lambs and all creatures G&S. Over coffee this morning in the sunshine a superb Peacock butterfly alighted on the flint wall beside us, sunbathing…. (he or she turned down my offer of a cuppa!) They and Painted Ladies are long-lived butterflies, 11-12 months from egg to their brief adult life. There are lizards warming themselves in the sun, recharging. And yesterday I saw a stoat make a spectacular dash across the yard, prominent black tail shining roguishly. Restaurants are closed as we must protect ourselves and each other, but my five-starred Michelin multi-birdfeeder is open, and attracts birds in waves and they bring their chums.

I am so aware that only humans know of the trouble that we are in. 2020, and we travel around the world in whirligig fashion in a way that we never used to. We must find the handbrake…. Our birds continue as ever, either remaining here all the year round or migrating to spend summer or winter in Britain. The swallows have not yet arrived; next week will see them, I hope. Their families have made this journey over millions of years…... perhaps we should learn from them. 

Peter’s Note, August 2019

It’s been another fine and busy summer at Breaky Bottom.  In early August we bottled the 2018 crop. After their first fermentation back in October last year, I’ve been keeping the wines in tank on their lees.  The 2018 harvest was so good that we had enough for three cuvées. Normally I would ferment the pinots together with the Chardonnay in a single tank, but for the first time my modest plantings of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier produced sufficient yield for me to ferment these together to make a separate Blanc de Noirs.   I was also able to produce a Blanc de Blanc with my Chardonnay, as well as my usual cuvée of 100% Seyval Blanc. At the time of bottling it was wonderful to taste the distinctive flavours of each of these wines.

The grapes are looking good, and I expect to harvest in mid to late October.  Who knows whether the crop will be as great as last year’s…

I’m delighted to report that Breaky Bottom did exceptionally well in the recent WineGB awards. I entered four wines and won three golds and one silver. 

Furthermore, the three golds all went on to be shortlisted for trophies:

• 2011 Cuvée Oliver Minkley received the 'Dudley Quirk' trophy awarded to the Best Non-Classic Blend. 

• 2009 Cuvée Gerard Hoffnung was shortlisted for the Best Prestige Cuvée.

• 2014 Cuvée Peter Christiansen was shortlisted for the Best Blanc de Blanc.

All this happened at the WineGB Trade Fair on 4th September at the RHS Lindley Hall in London.

On the same day Harpers Wine also announced the results for their Harpers Stars competition, and my 2010 Cuvée Reynolds Stone won 5 Stars for Best Taste. This is judged solely by sommeliers, those working at the sharp end in hotels and restaurants.

Peter's Note for February 2019

Winter can be a time for reflection after a busy year, but also a time for planning. The vines are dormant and will be pruned later this month. The replacement of old posts in the vineyard and tensioning of the wire trellis will follow.

Winter also allows me to turn my attention to peripheral matters, hence the story below.

About 50 years ago I planted a weeping willow in the garden. It grew into a massive tree, and provided multi-storey nesting for countless families of birds – blue tits, great tits, woodpeckers, blackbirds, song thrushes, starlings and sparrows, and it supported a wonderful fauna and flora from which they feasted.

This splendid Willow died two years ago but we didn’t fell it immediately – the giant silhouette looked dramatic against the skyline, and though departed, the tree continued to provide a perfect nesting-site and nursery for these birds including a woodpecker - photo of nest below.

Last week we decided reluctantly, as it further decayed, to cut the tree down for safety reasons. My friends Ollie and Jack, skilled Sussex-based tree surgeons [oliver@newleaftreesurgery], did a brilliant job and I photographed the tree’s poignant farewell.

Peter's Note for December 2018

For years Breaky Bottom has been blessed with Barn Owls and Little Owls. About a year ago I did hear, on a couple of occasions, the distinctive call of a Tawny Owl. They usually prefer denser vegetation but as the trees that I planted mature I’ve always hoped to attract them. Last year I put up a Tawny Owl nesting box. Four days ago, Christina and I were thrilled to hear the calls of a courting couple, a prelude I hope to baby owlets in the spring!

Every year is different of course, but 2018 had a real wow factor – drought.  Breaky Bottom saw no rain at all for some 70 days or more!   But vines thrive in these conditions and we had high yields of excellent quality grapes.  Thanks to everyone who helped with the bumper harvest.

After 20 years of the familiar Breaky Bottom label, 2018 saw a full brand redesign, including a new presentation of the bottles and a new website.  We were helped by designer (the now late) David Cecil Holmes, with hugely experienced marketing & design team David Haseler, Keith Lay, Rory Lay and James Fleming.  We were all keen to keep the continuity of the Reynolds Stone logo but marked a big change with a revolutionary aluminium neck tag instead of the traditional foil.  The trade is applauding it, and I hope you like it too.

I feel the new website reflects the distinctive spirit and wonderful landscape of Breaky Bottom.  I loved the old site for its ‘antique value’, but acknowledge that we needed to refresh… And now it’s even possible to buy Breaky Bottom wines directly online!

I’m delighted that the long-established London wine merchants Corney & Barrow have chosen Breaky Bottom as one of their English sparkling wines.  They offer three cuvées, the 2009 Chardonnay/Pinot (Gerard Hoffnung), the 2010 Chardonnay/Pinot (Reynolds Stone) and, as a ‘pinnacle wine’, the 2010 Seyval Blanc (Koizumi Yakumo). It’s such a pleasure to work with wine buyer Rebecca Palmer who has already made three visits to Breaky Bottom, often accompanied by several colleagues.

As many visitors know we built a beautiful ‘formal’ carp and goldfish pond at Breaky Bottom in 1995, but sadly it doesn’t allow frogs, toads, newts and dragonflies to thrive.  So, this spring I decided to dig a small shallow wildlife pond just outside the garden wall stocked with native aquatic pond plants.  It’s already attracting a wealth of insects, and birds of course, and is a useful source of water for hedgehogs, particularly in such a dry summer.

My flock of ewes currently numbers only 19, but last spring they produced 36 lambs, including three sets of triplets. This is the first year we’ve not lost a single lamb, a rare experience as any shepherd would confirm.

Peter’s Note for NOVEMBER 2018

At the conclusion of an exceptional summer and a wonderful harvest we enjoyed a visit from Susie Barrie MW and the BBC R4 Food Programme team.  Entitled ‘A Vintage Year for Homegrown Wine’, the broadcast featured Breaky Bottom and other English vineyards, all revelling in the record harvest.  The programme went out on the 21st October and can be found at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000stg.  

Breaky Bottom Winery Notes - December 2016

In 2016 English vineyards were hoping for a bumper harvest. Instead, what most of us got was a modest-sized crop after poor flowering weather, followed by a long period of cool temperatures and heavy rains. But the weeks leading up to harvest were warm and dry resulting in near perfect grapes, without any botrytis mould and very high sugars. With careful vinification this modest crop should produce excellent wines. We are very grateful for the generous help from friends and family who came to pick. The harvest took place over two weekends, the 15/16 and 22/23 of October, sometimes with over 30 people. It is a wonderful social occasion with lunches, when the weather allows, in sunshine on the terrace – a special moment in the vintner’s calendar. Thank you all.

Julian Clary

Every year attracts a surprising and eclectic mix of visitors to the vineyard, and this year was no exception. Most memorable perhaps was a delightful visit from Julian Clary with a film crew of ten, Breaky Bottom featuring in his series of ‘Walking my Dog’. Julian’s dog Albert had an uncertain first meeting with our cat Toto; although they didn’t become life-long chums they were eventually respectful of each others presence. Julian loved the wines, and charmed us all with a bag-full of stories. This TV programme is to be broadcast shortly.

Friends in the Winetrade

Andrew Jefford (wine writer for Decanter and many other publications) and Dermot Sugrue, wine-maker at Wiston Estate, are close friends of ours. Andrew made an overnight visit to BB in September and the following morning Dermot came for an amazing breakfast party (cooked by me!). Afterwards we sampled last year’s wines after their first fermentation in tank. The experts’ conclusions – great potential, with the Breaky Bottom ‘signature' very evident even at this early stage. These 2015 wines were bottled a few days later and cellared for their second fermentation. Andrew was to go later in the day with Dermot to Wiston, no doubt tasting an array of his exceptional sparkling wines. Before departing ‘We Three Kings’ were pictured outside the Breaky Bottom winery.

Fourth & Church (www.fourthandchurch.com) a new wine bar/delicatessen in Hove run by Paul Morgan, serve the most delicious accompaniments to their fine range of wines. Last May they asked Dermot and I to give a special wine tasting. The one-off event was a sell-out and we had a wonderful evening showing six wines each from Wiston and Breaky Bottom. It was so rewarding to serve our sparkling wines to a knowledgeable audience, full of questions and ready to compliment and be critical of each of the wines; very useful feed-back for the winemakers.

Also in May, immediately following the Fourth & Church tasting, Dermot and I showed our wines at the Hove Lawns Food & Drink Festival. The English wine tent was brilliantly organised by Henry and Cassie of Butlers Wine Cellar, Queen’s Park Road, Brighton (www.butlers-winecellar.co.uk). Christina, my daughter Emily and I had a very busy two days giving tastings of four Breaky Bottom vintages. It was heartening to see the close attention given to our wines by the wine drinking public. Their understanding of the quality of English fizz continues to increase.

Song Thrush

Lastly I include a photo taken in April 2016 of a nesting Song Thrush, sited precariously in my lambing shed at lambing time. Thrushes at Breaky Bottom are in steep decline so I was delighted that the youngsters fledged successfully, despite my close attention day and night to the ewes and lambs.

Breaky Bottom Winery Notes - December 2015

As a winemaker I take pleasure in the fact that every season is different and this year has been no exception. The national forecast was for a record crop with several new vineyards coming on tap for the first time. But the weather was difficult and the slow spring and early part of the summer set the flowering back well into July. The rest of the growing season was for the most-part cool and overcast and sunshine was scarce. The harvest didn't start until 24th October, finishing only on 9th November. A challenging year, but worth the wait to finally achieve a good level of ripeness, beautifully captured by our photographer friend Axel Hesslenberg.

The ever-increasing acreage of vines being planted in the UK continues. Last week it was announced that the Champagne house Taittinger has acquired some land in Kent and will be planting around 100 acres in 2017. This is of great significance; an endorsement from the 'top' acknowledging that the quality of the best sparkling wines from the UK are not being overlooked by the Champagne masters. They anticipate their first vintage will be on the market in the early 2020s. I wonder whether they plan to market the wine in the UK or in France!

This year Breaky Bottom has won another Gold Medal in the International Wine Challenge, the 2009 Chardonnay/Pinot. I have named it 'Cuvée Gerard Hoffnung', remembering a great humorist, cartoonist and musician who was a dear friend of the Hall family. Sadly he was only 34 when he died; he would have been 90 this year so appropriate to celebrate a most wonderful man who left such an impression on me as a child. And, by the way, the wine is excellent!

We wish you all a Happy Christmas and New Year

Peter and Christina

Breaky Bottom Winery Notes - December 2014

Breaky Bottom Winery Notes - December 2014

We have had a wonderful season this year, prolonged sunshine through the middle of the summer followed by rain in August to swell the crop to perfection. The vineyards of the UK will all have enjoyed these conditions and it is likely to produce the largest ever national crop.

Peter Hall & Miles Jenner in conversation

2014 has also been special for Breaky Bottom as it marks the 40th year since I planted the vineyard. We have hosted two celebratory dinners; one at Moshi Moshi, Liverpool Street Station, and a large party at Pelham House Hotel in Lewes; both joyful events. Lastly, I am delighted that the Seyval Blanc from 2010 has been awarded a Gold Medal in the International Wine Challenge – a good way to please a wine-maker!

We wish you a Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Peter and Christina

Breaky Bottom Winery Notes - December 2012

It's hard to know how to balance, in a few short sentences, the ups and downs of this year. Maybe I should start with a good up-story...

Welsh slate and peg tiles – the up-story

The beautiful flint barn at Breaky Bottom and the adjacent studios in the yard date from 1827. Natural England has offered us a generous grant to restore the roofs to their original state, of slate and peg tiles respectively. We became eligible for this scheme when we entered into a Higher Level Stewardship agreement wherein we guaranteed to care for the holding in an environmentally sensitive way. The picture below shows the barn already re-roofed and the workshops covered in a blue tarpaulin, awaiting the new clay tiles. You can just make out the Exmoor ponies we use to graze the coarse Tor grass on the steep bank to maintain this HLS status – encouraging the finer chalk species to flourish.

2012 Harvest – the down-story

There is no disguising the fact that the weather this year has been appalling – the worst I have ever known since the establishment of the vineyard 38 years ago. The national grape crop has been badly hit and many growers, including Breaky Bottom, harvested nothing. In our case a small potential crop was lost after an invasion of pheasants from the local shoot. Roll on 2013...

The Queen's Jubilee and Wine Awards 2012

We were delighted when the Chardonnay/Pinot 2008 'Cuvée Princess Colonna' was selected by the Government Hospitality cellars at Lancaster House, St James's, as part of the celebrations for the Queen's jubilee and the Olympic Games.

Awards this year include the 2007 'Cuvée Francine' which won Silver medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards and the 2008 'Cuvée Alexandre Schwatschko' a Bronze medal. The 2008 'Cuvée Princess Colonna' won Silver medal in the International Wine Challenge.

An Ornithological Footnote

I have for years taken pleasure bird watching in and around Breaky Bottom. The great and the small are all my delight. Sit still in one place for a while and one becomes an accepted part of the landscape. Barn owls are now permanent residents in their well-appointed nest box and this year reared two males who can be regularly seen at dusk, quartering across the rough banks in search of unfortunate short-tailed voles. Buzzards are now common-place and I have seen as many as six together this summer, soaring high overhead.

Years ago Lapwings were very common in the Downs at a time when spring sown barley was the main corn crop. Now that winter sown wheat is the norm they have become rare in these parts. The crop is too well grown for the ground-nesting birds to afford them a good look-out and they nest here no more. But this morning, although in deep winter, I had the pleasure of seeing a great skein of 60 or more Lapwings flying quite low over the buildings, as if inspecting the smart new Natural England roofs. They are the first Lapwings I have seen here in 20 years or more. I hope some will return at nesting-time.

Christmas Wines

All the wines mentioned in this Winery Note are available from the vineyard, by Mail-order and phone, or by email for Christmas and the New Year. Local delivery is free - Please call me if you need further advice!

Breaky Bottom on Channel 4

'The Secret Supper Club' 16 April 2011 3.55pm
Presenter - Olly Smith

TV presenter and wine writer Olly Smith is presenting a new series called, 'The Secret Supper Club'. It aims to catch the spirit of what he describes as 'the secret, underground dining movement', by combining great food and wine in a perfect setting. He believes that where you eat is as important as what you eat.

Visit the Secret Supper Club website

This episode called 'The Vineyard' will include a wine tasting of the Breaky Bottom 2006 fizz and a delicious supper made and grown by local producers. The meal was planned to take place outside in one of our paddocks but a heavy Spring shower meant that it was actually held in our winery - an old Sussex flint barn. 

Jamie Goode's Wine Blog

Jamie Goode has lots of nice things to say about Breaky Bottom on his wine blog. Click here to visit his blog and see what he has to say.

A WINTER LANDSCAPE

Deep snow last week left Breaky Bottom briefly cut off from the rest of the world, yet had we chosen we could have walked along the track and out of our valley. That would always have been so, the option to walk, but in the past the feeling of isolation would have been greater; no car, no phone, no electricity, no radio or television, no deep-freeze…. Yet on reflection, we only miss these because they have become part of daily life. When I first came to Breaky Bottom there was no electricity or telephone. It was wonderful!

We have had the pleasure of our friend Axel Hesslenberg photographing at Breaky Bottom, monitoring life in the vineyard over the year, his lens focusing on particular images he is drawn to - from fine traditional landscapes to the most delicate study of the tendrils of a vine.

THE WINES, WAITROSE AND 2010 AWARDS

The past twelve months have seen a considerable increase in wine sales. Waitrose branches in Lewes, Brighton, Eastbourne, Burgess Hill, Horsham, Worthing, Tonbridge and Paddock Wood all stock Breaky Bottom and Harvey & Son of Lewes, famed for the excellence of their beer, continue to sell as much Breaky Bottom as ever. This year Waitrose encouraged me to enter the Sparkling 2006 into competition and the wine did exceptionally well, gaining a Silver Medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards and a Silver Medal and Best-in-Class in the International Wine & Spirit Competition. This wine and the 2005, which won a Gold Medal in the UK competition, are both available for Christmas orders, along with the ever-popular Kir Royal.

Over 30 years ago I planted a trial plot of all the vines grown along the length of the Loire, including the renowned Champagne varieties. None ripened sufficiently to be considered for serious winemaking. More recently-established vineyards have profited by plant-breeders selecting from early ripening clones of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. I am not able to judge whether it is this cloning or the (apparently) warmer summers of the last few years which have allowed the young Chardonnay and Pinots at Breaky Bottom to ripen to such perfection. But they do, and the 2007 will be released next summer, the first of the classic Champagne varieties. I have blended these with the Seyval Blanc, as I had originally planned. They seem to support the elegant sweet-natured Seyval by adding extra weight and authority to the wine. In Champagne the assemblage (blending) of the various cuvée is the principal skill which the assembleur brings with him to a great Champagne house – at the peak of his profession.

It was our pleasure last week to welcome to Breaky Bottom Jean-Manuel Jacquinot, a much respected man of Champagne. He was full of enthusiasm for our 2007, including in his tasting notes "…good mousse, nose clean and delicate, citrus as in fresh lime, a wine with good balance which will age well."