An English country vineyard

Author:

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On a recent sunny summer’s day, our photographer, Simon Peel, declared the light was ‘perfect’ for him to vacate the office in favour of a jaunt to one of our local vineyards. Camera in hand, he reports back on how the English vintage is progressing in what has been – this weekend’s storms aside – a remarkably clement season.

Coates & Seely, the Hampshire winemakers located just a stone’s throw from Berry Bros & Rudd’s Basingstoke HQ, kindly opened its gates to Simon, giving him free reign to document the vineyard’s mid-summer goings on. Here, his photographs show the vineyards in the peak of the growing months.

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The chalk-soil based New Wooldings vineyard, which wouldn’t look out of place is Epernay, is planted with a mixture of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines.

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Vineyard manager Paulo Veloso is in charge of keeping the Wooldings sites in top condition, looking after the health of the vines and ensuring the fruit ripens in the best-possible conditions.

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Scraps of vine leaves atop Paulo’s trusty tractor.

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The Old Wooldings vineyard, which sits between 50 and 100m above sea-level in the v-shaped valley above the famous River Test.

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Old root stock and new vines at Coates & Seely.

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A number of fermentation methods are used, including French oak barrels, variable capacity stainless-steel tanks and these ‘Mork & Mindy’-esque concrete eggs.

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For more on Coates & Seely’s English wines, go to bbr.com