News

Finally, we have some exciting news - we planted a new vineyard this May. Part of our shared farming partnership with Birling Estate, we put down 31,404 vines: a mix of Ortega, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. The Birling site shares many similarities with Westwell - it has same aspect and soil types and is also flanked by the ancient Pilgrims Way. Next up, we'll be adding a mixture of indigenous hedgerow plants - hawthorn, dog rose, spindle, vibernum and cotoneaster. This will both serve as a windbreak and act as a decoy for our unwelcome guest, the spotted...

This spring, we've been tasting through Pelegrim base wines: a mix of clones and blocks / added and wild ferments, plus our solero reserve wines that go back to 2013. As a non vintage wine, we aim to make Pelegrim as consistent as possible, matching richness, and depth of flavour for a reliably delicious bottle. The iteration pictured will be blended, bottled and will sit on lees for a further three years, destined for release some time in 2027. You don't have to wait that long to try our best selling fizzer though - this great crowd-pleasing, celebratory wine is...

The 2013 Vintage Despite a warm, extended summer, the 2013 harvest in England arrived later than usual. This was due to a combination of factors: a long, cold winter that delayed bud burst and flowering, followed by a cool autumn. A Decade in the Making Originally bottled in 2014, we opted to age the majority of the wine on lees until we disgorged in 2021. With our characteristic curiosity, we decided to hold a small portion back for continued aging to see what might happen. In 2023, after nearly ten years on lees, the wine displayed remarkable character and the...

Back in 2018, we decided to attempt making a sparkling wine with no additions to see if it presented the meunier in the best light, but also to see if it could be done. I'd read of many winemakers in France using fermenting juice as their tirage culture and thought we could experiment with doing that across multiple vintages to increase the richness and depth. We wild fermented Pinot Meunier in plastic which I liked the neutrality of; and the following year we did the same again. In the third year, we added the fermenting juice to the previous two...