020 FEATURE
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Optimism despite
challenges Chapel Down © Jhy Turley 2012 A vine romance
In terms of county wines, there have been notable successes including vineyards within Squerryes, set within a fi ne estate in the Kent Downs. The 35-acre vineyard was established by the family that owns the estate – in the wake of rejecting an offer from a French Champagne company to buy part of the land they decided they’d rather make the product themselves. There is now a large shop on the site selling its wine, which also features a tasting room, with a large terrace designed to enjoy social occasions. Elsewhere, The Mount Vineyard
at Shoreham has gained notoriety for its produce, with its Sparkling Rose winning the Kent Wine of the Year 2017 accolade from the Taste Of Kent awards, saying it was ‘over the moon’ to have won the award, and had enjoyed an increase in guests since completing a retractable roof extension to its visitor facilities. Customers are encouraged to visit the site, which has a tasting room with a courtyard and a fully-stocked bar. There are also opportunities for tours and the chance to enjoy its wine Wednesday events to learn about fi ve of its award-winning vintages. For more information, call 01959 524008
or visit the company’s website www.
themountvineyard.co.uk
• Meanwhile, another of the county’s great drinks successes has been that of Chapel Down at Small Hythe near Tenterden, which is enjoying a strong period of growth and in September launched its very own Wine Academy, a one-day course learning about wines of the world held in the Wine Sanctuary tasting room at the venue. For further information, email bookings@
chapeldown.com
Chief Executive Frazer Thompson (inset) explained that its brands – which include its core group of wines and the Curious Brew beer, had been enthusiastically received. “The company is experiencing a growth rate of around 25% a year and our brand is going really well and our products are available nationally. “We’ve been making Curious Brew
for fi ve years now and more and more people are experiencing the taste of this beer that’s quite different from much of what is out there.
“As well as our wine knowledge, we’ve also launched our own cider using Kentish apples, which is also far from many commercial drinks that use concentrates,” explained the chief executive, who said there had been plenty of interest in its expanded wine sanctuary facilities.
While plenty of challenges exist amid an uncertain economic backdrop as companies have felt the turbulence reaped by last summer’s Brexit vote, there remains some encouraging signs ahead for the drinks sector. This includes real ale organisation CAMRA confi rming that the rate of pub closures, which stood at 29 a week nationally, has been stemmed to a rate closer to 20. It believed there was a strong market for traditionally-brewed drinks – with the thriving micropub business – that has seen dozens of such small venues popping up across the county. Craig Beeson, Chairman of West Kent CAMRA, hailed venues in the area including The Pantiles Tap and The Bedford as being instrumental in encouraging traditional ales. “Tunbridge Wells is rapidly becoming the South’s beer destination town, however this has not happened overnight and there are a number of factors that have contributed to this and enabled it to happen. “This includes the CAMRA Spa Valley Railway Beer & Cider Festival, which is probably now the South East’s largest beer event. Held in Tunbridge Wells over three days (20th-22nd October) featuring more than 200 different cask and craft keg beers and ciders it is now in its seventh year. It was one of the fi rst festivals to embrace craft keg beers, a trend recognised as imperative to CAMRA’s survival by the nation’s Beer Guru, Roger Protz in his most recent interview.” • West Kent-based Alison Parmar, of the county’s Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) branch, said the area’s brewing fi rms were some of its most exciting enterprises. “Here in Kent, and right across
the country, more and more consumers are buying local and backing the small business community. People want to support local traders and increasingly want to know where their food and drink is sourced from. They’re after unique experiences, not the same old brands,” said Alison.
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