Chapel Down

“Furleigh Estate has arrived,” said a delighted Ian Edwards in response to winning the 2012 Winemaker of the Year accolade in the UK Vineyard Association's annual awards. “We had taken a bit of a risk,” he admitted about his youthful winery, still less than a decade old.

With no major producers nearby, he and his wife Rebecca were quite literally ploughing their own furrow when they bought the farm her father used to own and planted their vines back in the early noughties. “It shows it was all worth it,” he smiled.

And the wines what won it for them? Two trophy winners – the best sparkling wine for his Classic Cuvée 2009 sparkler, and the most outstanding oaked wine trophy, for his Bacchus Fumé 2010 – his prize is the modest size wooden ornament you can see in the image – plus a pair of Golds for two other sparkling wines.

Bearing in mind some of the more entertaining Royal Wedding paraphernalia out there, it seems to me that the British drinks industry has acquitted itself rather well. After all, there is a fine tradition of special brews for special occasions in the world of beer, with many older breweries having done this for generations, including Adnams – three and counting.

According to Beer Genie, the custom really ramped up around the time of the Queen's Silver Jubilee, when 70 were brewed. When Charles and Diana wed in 1981, the number more than doubled to 147.

Weeks before appearing at Artisan & Vine’s and DrinkBritain’s next Best of English Meet the Winemaker dinner on 20 April, Chapel Down chief executive Frazer Thompson found himself jetting off to Argentina. Not to brush up on his tango as you might have thought but to witness the 2011 harvest.

But why the concern all those miles away from his own vineyards? Well Chapel Down is one of three wineries around the world celebrating World Malbec World Day on 17 April in real style: freshly harvested grapes from the Gaucho Group’s estate are making their way to Chapel Down in Kent, Vintage One Winery in Toronto and City Winery in New York state ready to be crushed on 17 April.

Seven of the UK’s leading winemakers are coming to town to share with consumers their visions in a new series of mid-week tasting dinners.

In a UK first, the award-winning Artisan & Vine wine bar is teaming up with DrinkBritain.com to launch a Best of English Meet the Winemaker series of events. Taking over Artisan & Vine’s popular Wednesday evening slot, the winemakers will guide guests through five of their wines alongside a three course meal specially created by resident chef James Robson.

Despite an inglorious summer, England and Wales look as if they have secured a bumper harvest, certainly in terms of volume. Ideal weather during Wimbledon coincided with the all important flowering phase, meaning that all the grapes that could develop did – often not the case in the UK.

Chapel Down in Kent reported 30% more fruit than in 2009, RidgeView in Sussex saw its largest harvest to date, while Camel Valley in Cornwall took in 50 tons compared with the norm of 40 tons. Meanwhile over in Wales, Parva Farm saw its second largest crop, with seemingly good quality too.