Victor Keegan

David Morris, winemaker at Ancre with a bottle of the  vineyard’s global winner – a 2008 sparkling white

(Reprinted from Village News, Goodrich, Herefordshire as typical of what is happening in the UK)

There is a palpable buzz in the air even on a misty day when you visit the Ancre Hill vineyard just outside Monmouth, less than 9 miles from Goodrich. This is not surprising because Ancre recently won a prize for the best sparkling wine. Not for the best in Monmouthshire, not for the best in Wales nor indeed Great Britain. Its 2008  vintage was voted the best sparkling wine in the world in a prestigious competition in Verona, Italy in a blind tasting – which included some Champagnes – by a couple of dozen international experts. This is the biggest boost the Welsh wine industry has ever had  but such was the shock it wasn’t even reported  in the Monmouthshire Beacon.
David Morris , the winemaker whose parents own Ancre, takes it all in his stride. This is not surprising because he was a manager at Nyetimber when the West Sussex vineyard won the same prize in 2009 which helped established British sparkling whites as among the best in the world. He is clearly confident about the future. He thinks that Ancre’s still whites have as least as good prospects as the sparkling ones and that the 2009 sparkling is better than the prize-winning 2008 which has now sold out. He puts part of the success of the 10-acre vineyard down to its biodynamic principles and the meso-climate of this part of the Wye Valley which gets lots of sunshine even when you can see rain over the Brecon Beacons.Chinn-Chinn, a lovely sparkling white grown in the field  above by the UK’s major asparagus farmer
Ancre is but the most recent star of a cluster of vineyards that have blossomed in this area in recent years. There are approaching 20 vineyards within 20 miles of Goodrich led by Three Choirs near Newent now one of the UK’s most successful vineyards several of whose wines are sold by the very picky  Wine Society. Three Choirs offers accommodation and a fine restaurant overlooking its slopes and is well worth a visit. It also processes the grapes from other vineyards too small to do it themselves like the nearby Strawberry Hill which produces lovely sparkling and still wines and is the only vineyard in the country to grow grapes under vast greenhouses. Nearby also is St Anne’s in Newent whose wines can be bought from the vineyard or at farmers’ markets.
Among those closest to Goodrich are two off the Walford road to Ross-on-Wye. Frank Myers started planting 3.5 acres  in the land around the wonderful Tudor mansion Wythall two years ago and hopes to be harvesting in another two years. Further on, along the turning through Coughton, Ccbrey Farm, famous for its asparagus, has set aside a few acres to grow grapes for sparkling white wine. Since the Chinn family has lived there for hundreds of years there was only one thing they could call it – Chinn-Chinn. The first vintage 2006 won a silver medal from Decanter magazine and the 2007, now available for sale, is at least as good. It can be bought from their web site www.cobrey.co.uk or tasted at the Mill Race restaurant in Walford.
Other nearby vineyards include Treago at St Weonards, the excellent Monow Valley in Monmouth, Wernddu at Pen-y-clawdd  (1.5 acres) and Parva Farm at Tintern. John Boyd  grows grapes on his half-an-acre vineyard st Upton Bishop which is sold to local shops and pubs like the Moody Cow. The one in the gardens of the Pengethley Hotel appears to be resting and two tiny ones at Llangrove (featured in the Village News a decade ago) have fallen by the wayside. Otherwise the area’s contribution to Britain’s viticultural revival, appears to be in rude health despite the calamitous weather of 2012 which has severely affected harvests everywhere.
Meanwhile, vineyards are creeping ever closer to Goodrich itself. One wonders how long it will be before the village itself, once famous for its cider, has a vineyard of its own.

Victor Keegan has a Twitter feed @vickeegan and also @BritishWino aimed (independently) at promoting English and Welsh wines