Southern England 2024

Once again, the journey took us to a distant and, moreover, unfamiliar yet up-and-coming wine region: to southern England! The trip was organised by Annette, Eiko and their daughter Meike – long-standing connoisseurs and visitors of the garden scene in southern England. So the idea of combining wine and gardens was quickly born! Alongside visits to various landscape gardens, the wineries were also on the programme. We started with a visit to the Tickerage winery and a tasting of their sparkling wines. Afterwards we headed to our excellent accommodation, the “Camden Arms” in Pembury (highly recommended – great people, outstanding food and a sensational breakfast), where after dinner we enjoyed an exclusive tasting of English still and sparkling wines, hosted by Joanne McLean.

The next day we visited the sparkling wine house “Rathfinny” – which now grows Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on 93 hectares for the production of their sparkling wines modelled on Champagne.

The following day we went to the small wine producer “Beacon Down”, which grows a wide variety of grape varieties on just 7 hectares – so not only the 3 Champagne varieties but also Bacchus, Pinot Gris and even Riesling (which, however, they have to ripen under plastic sheeting so that it reaches reasonable ripeness). Of course, particularly where Riesling is concerned, there is no comparison with German Rieslings, though this may also be due to the ageing in barriques.

To round things off, on the last full day we went to “Wiston Estate” – a winery that certainly sets the bar very high in the field of sparkling wines!