Tasting of our Luxury awardwinning Sparkling Wine again….

Spring can be a nervous time for all the brave and perhaps foolish dreamers who choose to make wine in a marginal climate like England. But after a busy and nervous month of watching our many weather devices and apps, the frost-risk has hopefully passed, and it now feels like we have really properly entered the 2021 growing season.

Hello once again friends. We hope that everyone is very well, and like us, casting minds forward excitedly to what the rest of the year will hold. We’re back with another little update for you on life and times at our East Sussex wine estate, so if it’s a suitable time of day, why not settle down with a glass of something and read on…

So, what can you see here in this picture? Yes, it’s really true – Douglas is speaking to people in our vineyard! This was at the weekend, where the clouds and our newly bursting vines made a dramatic and textured background for our first group of 2021; and our Brut 2018 went down very well indeed.

Talking of which, this week that same wine was also sipped by wine presenter and journalist Olly Smith on the latest episode of his podcast ‘A Glass With‘. It was a wonderfully foodie conversation with Tom Booton, the inspiring young head Chef at The Dorchester, who had some fabulous ideas about what to pair it with, so do go and have a listen to that.

And did you see that The Drinks Business magazine included us in their ‘DB Meets‘ section? They did a nice profile on Douglas – we’re always very grateful when people are interested in our story and help us to tell it. It seems like it’s all about D this month!

We also wanted to share with you that in connection with WineGB and a number of other colleagues, we have been helping with a vineyard wildlife PhD study by Natalia Zielonka. Natalia is conducting a two year ‘Birds in UK Vineyards’ study with the University of East Anglia and she has found so much life out here – her first field report is incredible!