I RURAL LIFE


Don't tell Dave Thomson you can only cultivate a vineyard on the sunny slopes of France, Italy or Down Under...Lancashire is as good a place as any


for a determined vintner, as JOYCE BISHOP reveals


Wednesday,September24,20H RURAL LIFE.


13


HARD GRAFT: Michael Graham and Paul Barker inspect a vine


M l


Michael shows it CAN be done...


Turn back the clock just three years'and Michael Graham could have proudly shown you around his own small private vineyard... in Bolton-le- Sands. Now, although he still has vines in the garden at ™


_


his new home, he restricts himself to drinking wine rather than producing it. But Michael couldn't be better placed to pass


' on his expertise to Dave Thomson: he still lives in Bolton-le-Sands, just a couple of miles away from v’p'i Dave, and is just as enthusiastic as his protege about the area's capacity for vine cultivation. Michael, who is 80, admits his wine-making days


ABOVE: From left, Paul Barker and Save Thomson on their vineyard near Warton with Michael Graham, whof&d a vineyard in Bolton-le-Sands OTHER PICTURES: Amongthevinsf


While his attitude sounds impetuous, he tem­


pers this with careful research. He has chosen the vines to suit, not only the limestone site, but also the chilly conditions that they are likely to face, despite their location on a sun-gathering, south­ facing slope. Dave, 40, a likeable, down-to-earth character


with infectious enthusiasm, is up-beat as he calculates just how many hours the vines might bask in sunshine on a good day. If you suggest that the weather during the rest of the year might be a little more challenging, he points out Chile's success in producing good wines - even in mountainous regions. "And my vines are on a


■ slope, so they're self-draining," he adds,-another touche moment for that 'expert' to note. But, back to those vines. "We were originally


going to choose either red or white grapes, de­ pending on how the vines did, but they're both doing well," he says. "The white one is a variety called Solaris, which is supposed to do better in colder climates. It's also resistant to disease."


Here, Dave grasps another opportunity to


point out the benefits there might be on a chilly slope in northern England. "The wind helps be­ cause it means you don't get stagnant air around the vines," he says, with conviction. "And we had a test done on the soil and it was bang on." . Dave is an unlikely vintner. Originally from Slyne, and now living in Warton with his wife Anneli and children Olivia and Remy, he spent his twenties in France as permanent crew oh sail


■


boats. "I trained as a bricklayer, and when I came back that's what I did for eight or nine years, and


'Some expert red rag...


then last November I was in a hit-and-run accident and I. had to take a step back. "I was doing barn conversions, but because of


my injuries I couldn't work. Everything ground to a halt and the doctor told me it would be 12 months before I go back." Dave quickly recognised that the damage - a


broken wrist complicated by tendon damage to his hand, meant it was unlikely that he would re­ turn to bricklaying full-time. "Things happen for a reason," he says. "I was in a pot for nine weeks and something had to change because now I couldn't be a bricklayer all my life." And so, in January, the machinery moved on


to the land, owned by Paul Barker, a farming friend of Dave's - hence the name Lancky Cow Vineyard - and began preparing the ground for planting by cutting down grass and scrub and digging out trenches for the vines. The vines, grafted on to a disease-resistant


rootstock, were planted on March 14, and so the dream that developed during Dave's time in France began to grow into a reality. Both the Solaris (white) and Rondo (red) vines


are thriving so far, with about three feet of growth covered in pale green leaves. Come November, Dcive will be nipping them


back to leave just two or three buds on the main stem, and later he will choose the strongest of these to grow on. This happens every 12 months, providing a single new stem each year higher and higher up the vine, until year four when both branches are allowed to grow and full production is reached. By doing this, and by early removal


CO U to prove


Ic n't do it...well, that was like a hm wrong'


of anybunaies of grapes that form, growth is concentraii d into the strongest stems. "We’rea ning fora thousand vines," says


Dave, 'Aft :her 400 will go in next March and then 500n >re the following year. That should give upab ut 2,000 bottles of wine a year." Oncethi stage is reached, Dave plans to


bring somapne in to produce - and taste - the wine, v;hid he is hoping to sell to local res­ taurants as former fair


ote Stones wine, named after the he hopes to convert for production,


For Dave.i ho admits that alcohol had become 'a problem that will not be an issue. "I'll be in says.


PICTURES: DONNA CLIFFORD


are over. "If I'd been 20 years younger I'd have developed the vineyard," he says. In fact, he didn't become interested in it until he was in his seven-


ties, and, like Dave, wanted to prove a point by successfully producing wine in a northern climate. Now, he is optimistic about Dave's venture.


"He's certainly got a very good site; if anyone's going to succeed, he will," says Michael, who has been on hand to offer advice since the start. "It's south facing, on limestone and well-drained-


so there a plenty of pluses, and because it's near the sea it's relatively frost free! Frost can be a real problem when the fruit is setting; in France they will do anything do keep it away." As for the wet conditions, which can cause


downy mildew and botrytis, Michael thinks the @ choice of disease-resistant varieties should offset this risk. "The vine variety is important, because in this part of the world we need an early-ripening fruit," he says. Ultimately though, Michael feels that the key to


a good wine is in the making rather than the grow­ ing. "It's much more interesting," he says. "I would say a good wine is 10 per cent vine variety and site' and 90 per cent down to the wine maker." , While he waits for a sip of Dave's first bottle in


four years' time, he is still happily raising the occasional glassful of his own wine, grown and © made in Lancashire.


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