JOURNEYS
at a party and have been curious ever since to find out more about the estate and the winery. British wine wasn’t really a thing when Richard
Balfour-Lynn planted his first vines in 2002 but he decided to plant the three classic Champagne grape varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunièr and set out to produce a sparkling wine that rivalled his favourite Billicart Salmon rosé Champagne – and to sell it at a similar price point. The experts said he was crazy, that the grapes wouldn’t grow and that nobody would pay in excess of £30 for a bottle of English sparkling wine. The naysayers were wrong and the first vintage won a gold meal and trophy at the International Wine Challenge of 2008. They now produce about 20 different wines, including a red sparkling Pinot Noir and a still Pinot Mernier. They make Tesco’s Finest English sparkling and are just finalising the two exclusive wines that will go on sale in Marks and Spencer, this year. I find this out from Richard himself, as he greets
us on arrival at his fabulous new visitor’s centre the View, just a few minute’s coach ride from Marden station. Here vaulted ceilings meet a wall of glass windows looking out onto a decking, facing freshly
The Tempest Chest, created by husband and wife team Callum Robinson and Marisa Giannasi at Method Studio near Glasgow reflects the waves on Loch Lomond and holds the 50-Year-Old whisky
Top left: the wonderful Pullman Staff Top right: Travellers having fun
Bottom left: Hush Heath Vineyard Bottom right: Distillery
planted vines. “Welcome to my garden,” Richard says jovially signalling out of the window. “All 400 acres of it.” He already owned the Manor House when the land in front of it came up for sale in the late 1990s and his wife Leslie lightheartedly suggested he plant some vines on them seeing as he had harboured a dream of owning a vineyard in Italy or France. “We didn’t really take it very seriously,” Richard explains. “I put in my business plan that if the wine didn’t sell then we would drink it ourselves.” But the wine did sell and it sold well. “I still get a thrill when I go to a restaurant and see someone drinking our wine,” Richard explains. “Our still red wine is served by the glass at the Savoy and Simpsons on the Strand. I rush over and explain how all the wines are named after members of our family, we even have one named after Liberty my Dalmatian and 1503 is the year our house was built. I tell people this, I tell them what the land is like and how we make the wine. I want to share our story. Which is why I like people to come here and see what we do.” He tells the story well and after his introduction,
we break into smaller groups. Some stride out across the vineyards to see and hear about the growing while others head into the winery. I begin outside, the sun warm on my shoulders, the
air full of birdsong and pollen. “Our grapes receive pollen from the strawberries and raspberries that grow in abundance around here and the fruit flavours come out in the wine,” our guide Lindy Hayton explains as we walk along immaculate vines all labelled with their grape variety. Everything is done by hand, from the watering and
the picking to the blowing of warm air to avoid frost damage. “We have people out in the early hours of the morning with big blowers if we get a frost at the crucial time, after the plants have started to bud.”
SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE 49
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