News

ASTLEY VINEYARD wins the 2012 Wine of the Year with a Gold medal rated Sweet wine There were Three golds at the August competition at Renishaw Hall, with Fleurfields and Halfpenny Green winning the other 2 for their sparkling wines. The new MILLINGTON TROPHY for the best Winemaker/grower went to Clive Vickers of Halfpenny Green. Full Trophy winers are listed on the link below. Click the link for trophies Click the link for medals
FOOD & WINE EVENT HOTHORPE HALL, site of the very successful 2012 AGM, is featuring a BEST OF BRITISH Food & Wine event at THEDDINGWORTH, near MARKET HARBOROUGH o the 12th June. This will feature 3 different WELLAND VALLEY wines, one with each course. Tickets at £37.50 from www.hothorpe.co.uk or call 01858-881500
Chris Gallimore 1947-2011 It was with great sadness that we recieved the news of the death of our Chairman, Chris Gallimore in June. Chris had led the association with geat enthusiasm for the last 2 years, and had been recently re-elected for a third year. At the funeral service in Snitterfield tributes were paid by students who he had taught, by members of the local Sports Club that he had helped to found and run,as well as from his friends world-wide. His vineyard, Welcombe Hills had been developed into one of the premier wine producers of England, and in the 2010 Mercian vineyards Competition, his Bacchus was voted the best wine in show. He was a great example and friend and we shall miss him very much.
Early flowering in the Midlands Welland Valley, Northants Rondo – 14th June. Rest 27th June Chevelswarde, Leics. Rondo started on 5th June. Solaris had a few flowers open on 9th of June. On 23rd June Regent had some flowers opened and Phoenix had one flower (to my knowledge) open! Habberley, Shropshire On the 29th June, Rondo were well into flowering here, Solaris had started and Phoenix looked as though they might start in a few days if the weather stays warm. Nick Ellison- Northants It's a funny old year, everything is about 2 weeks ahead of where we usually are. No frost damage in May, by the skin of our teeth. Regent 100% caps off, Bacchus and Phoenix about 60%. Strangely (because usually they are first to flower) Ortega about 10% Eglantine, Notts: The first to flower (as usual) was the rootstock Couderc 3309, three weeks earlier than ever before on May 25th.Leon Millott, on June 6th, two weeks early Cascade on 13th,Seyval on 18th, MA, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Regent, on 22nd, one week earlier. This is due to the warmest April on record, more or less normal May, followed by the coldest June for at least 10 years. Worksop, Notts- Solaris and Regent started flowering a in mid June and the majority of flowers were washed away. The Siegerrebe and Kanzler started flowering a week later so not all is yet lost if this dry spell continues .In all I would imagine a poor fruit set this year. New Lodge, Northants Bacchus, Seyval and Phoenix were all flowering by the end of June Rushing to complete rubbing off of shoots in new plantation I enlisted some help, so have a witness!. On Saturday 18th June we were working on the Regent, planted in April 2009, I was a bit late getting to them and so many shoots were coming up in the clear plastic spirals, picking off numerous flower buds along the way, some in full flower caps off!. Then to my amazement one vine had actually grown FOUR minature bunches of black grapes, perfectly formed and coloured about 8 to 12 grapes in each bunch..
June 2011- Sweet wine award for Astley Jonty Daniels and Janet Baldwin, custodians of one of the Midlands' oldest vineyards, have won the coveted Stefanovicz Trophy for their 2009 Astley Late Harvest at the UKVA 2011 competition.
January 2011 - WSET to Julia Chester-based wine lecturer and MVA judge JULIA TICKRIDGE has gained her WSET diploma with honours. Julia, who has undertaken study tours of Bordeaux, Champagne, Mosel and Chianti, was presented with her certificate by Hugn Johnson OBE, the veteran wine writer and broadcaster at a recent ceremony at the Guild Hall in London.
OZ CLARKE ventures into the far North West Oz Clark and Hugh Dennis on one of their wine tours and as part of their series visited Mount Pleasant Vineyard this year. The item filmed at Mount Pleasant will be in episode 3 which will be shown on BB2 on the 27th of December at 21.00.
A Welcombe Triumph for Warwickshire	Warwickshire viticulturalists Chris and Jane Gallimore scooped the top award in the 2010 Wine Challenge at Wroxeter. The 2009 Welcombe Hills Bacchus wine, made for them by Martin Fowke of Three Choirs gained the Attingham Challenge Cup, as well as the Southern area cup. In the other categories, Bill and Flora Hulme of Fleurfields Vineyard won the Sparkling Wine award with their Rose Champs d'Amour which sells well in France.The West Mercia champion wine award- the Hinnighan Cup was won by a debut wine from Gerard Wainwright of Hargrove Estate in Shropshire
Successes for the MVA in the National Competition Tony Skuriat's success as a maker of Sweet wines was confirmed when Eglantine North Star took the Wine Guild and the Tom Day trophies in the 2010 UKVA competition. The Mercian Association members also did well in the still wine classes, with 2 silvers and 2 bronzes for at Worcester. The southern area also gained further medals with Astley (1 Silver and 2 Bronze) Three Choirs (5 silvers and 3 bronzes) and Tiltridge (1 Silver and 1 bronze) doing well.
Use of Agricultural Premises for Wine Making This is a topic that crops up at regular intervals, as Planning Officers try to convince viticulturalists that they need planning permission for developing a winery on agricultural land. Refer to Millington v Secretary of State for the Environment for a transcript or talk to David Millington at Wroxeter Roman Vineyard. Matthew Bernstein of Kenton Vineyard commented that It’s fairly abstruse stuff, which to a large extent turns on certain technical points, but my understanding is that it has established that a winery which is used to make wine from grapes grown on that holding constitutes agricultural use, This position was accepted by our Local Authority when we built our winery: no change of use was required to turn an existing agricultural building into a winery. The position is probably different if the winery is to make wine for others. If you are feeling mischievous, you might want to quote Lord Justice Mantell, who dealt with this in a couple of lines, as follows: “I agree. For generations, in Somerset and elsewhere they have been making cider on the farm. To suggest that it is not a farming activity or ancillary to the growing of apples would be an affront to common sense. The Secretary of State accepts that wine making should not receive any different treatment. No doubt he will bear that in mind.” Matthew also added a couple of caveats: "Firstly, technically speaking the Court did not decide that this was agricultural use. The Secretary of State had apparently decided the opposite, i.e. that regardless of the facts of the matter, this could not as a matter of law be agricultural use. The case was actually sent for re-determination by the Secretary of State on the basis that as a matter of law this could be agricultural use. It was then for the Secretary of State to decide whether it was. The judges made it pretty clear that they thought that he should find it was agricultural use, and he seems to have done so. However in legal terms this is not so much decisive as very highly suggestive. Regardless of this, it does seem to be the accepted position, and quoting Millington does seem to work."
New Competition Trophy for Members Choice Bill and Linda Hobson of Somerby Vineyard have donated a magnificent trophy for the new 'Members Choice' competition. This will be presented to the winning entry on Competition day- August 22nd.
Another Gold for North Star Eglantine Vineyard's 2006 NORTH STAR- England's answer to Eiswein, has gained a Gold at the Viniales Internationales competition in Paris.Tony Skuriat's latest sweet wine was the only English wine to receive this award.
Somerby launches website Somerby, Lincolnshire's largest vineyard has launched its web site at Anyone thinking of planting a vineyard should look at the videos available on the site which detail the sequence of events in the first year from ground preparation on
MVA expands ever northwards Top South African Chef Pete Gottgens, owner of the prestigeous Ardeonaig Hotel on the south shore of Loch Tay in Scotland, has joined the MVA. In a warm sheltered glen, Pete is growing Orion, Phoenix, Seyval and Bacchus, and took a crop in 2009. He is now expanding up to 2 acres in order to add Scottish wine to the South African wines already served at the hotel.
Sept 2009 Press home in on the harvest potential Articles in the Birmingham Express & Star, the Independant and the Yorkshire Post focused on the high yield and quality of early picked varieties.Vineyards from Yorkshire and Staffordshire featured, with articles repeated in on-line editions, and a short video of Halfpenny Green's Rondo harvest being made available.Yorkshire Heart Became the fourth commercial Yorkshire vineyard to bring in a crop Picking dates can be viewed online
Aug 2009 Tony Skuriat wine the first Wine Personality award The new Henry Robson cup for Wine Personality of the Year went to Tony Skuriat of Eglatine vineyard. Tony is a founder member of the association and was described as kind, helpful and generous with his time and advice. Many new members have benefitted from his support over the years, and the decision of the award panel wa greeted with acclaim.
July 2009 Great starts for Ryedale and Rose Bank Two of Mercia's newest vineyards made excellent debuts in the UKVA Wine Challenge 2009. With their first ever wine, Stuart and Elizabeth Smith of Ryedale, the country's most northerly commercial vineyard, gained a Bronze and a Highly Commended. At the same time Rosebank, newest of Worcestershire's 3 commercial vineyards, gained 2 Bronze and one Highly Commended. Cups went to Astley and Three Choirs, with the latter's Siegerebbe picking up two. For full results in Mercia see the list
TV stars Yorkshire vineyards are making their mark on TV this year. Following the appearance of Leventhorpe on the Oz Clarke 'Round Britain in a bottle' series, Bec and Ian Sheveling featured in a programme on Holmfirth, the country's highest vineyard. For details see Holmfirth's web site
English Wine Week English Wine Week gives the public an opportunity to visit vineyards not normally open to the public, and to taste combinations of Welsh and English wine and food. For locations and suggestions visit Vine, Wine and Dine or the English Wine Producers site for wine combinations and restaurants serving English and Welsh wine.
Ryedale becomes the third productive Yorkshire Vineyard Ryedale Vineyard will introduce its first vintage to the press and invited guests on May 29th, following a small crop in 2008. The wines, a rose and a white, were produced and bottled at the new winery at Westow. Visitors at the open days in English wine week will have a chance to see the new facilities.	Bottling at Ryedale
Sir Reresby Sitwell Bt. DL It is with great sadness that the Association heard of the death in March 2009 of one of its oldest members. Sir Reresby Sitwell planted vines in 1973 at Renishaw Hall, his ancestral house in Derbyshire. At the time, it was the most northerly vineyard in the UK.(And probably in the world) In the early years, wine was made in the cellars, with the press house on the ground floor, and gravity being used to allow the juice to reach the fermenting vats in the cellar below. The vineyard still survives, with new plantings and, in recent years, with the wine being made by Tony Skuriat at Eglantine Vineyard. Sir Reresby was the son of Sir Sacheverall Sitwell, and nephew to Dame Edith Sitwell, the poet and writer. Bob Lindo, Chairman of the UKVA wrote recently of Sir Reresby's great kindness and hospitality He is succeeded in the baronetcy by his nephew.
2009 AGM at Buzzards Valley The Annual general meeting was held for the first time in Staffordshire, with over 40 members attending. The association voted to approve the actions of the UKVA in their quest for a satisfactory outcome to the current wine naming problems. Basically, these involve the current world trade talks, where products currently trademarked, but containing a Geographical name, will no longer be protected. The UKVA currently has obtained a 2 year derogation to give members time to change names. For 2009-10, the officials elected were: Chairman: Chris Gallimore of Welcome Hills Vice-chairman: George Bowden of Leventhorpe Treasurer: Richard Rallings of Morville St Gregory Secretary: Julia Tickridge of Chester February snow hits the northern vineyards
Ryedale Vineyards, Yorkshire	Frome Valley Vineyard, Worcs. Many vineyards across the north have been hit by the worst winter for a very long time. The main effect has been to delay pruning- though some hardy souls have been out and about!
Snow at Welcombe Hills, Warwickshire	A hardy pruner in Habberley,Shropshire See also Winter page

Increased popularity for Welsh Wine

Top French award for Mercian Viticulturalist

National success for Marches Wine Maker