Our Blog - News - Rathfinny Wine Estate, Alfriston, Sussex

Flint Barns take shape

Another busy, varied week which started with a trip to the Home, Craft and Top Drawer exhibition at Earls Court with Georgia and Nikki. Not only were we looking for ideas for the Gun Room’s spring and summer collections, we were on the look out for everything to fit out the Flint Barns. After what seemed like miles of trekking down row after row of over-lit aisles, trying to keep up a pace, we left exhausted but full of ideas.

The Gun Room and Heritage Centre with its history of Alfriston and the Cuckmere Valley, has been a big success and Nikki and her team have done wonders in creating a stylish, peaceful place to escape, read and browse. I for one am sold on the Caudalie range of beauty products (made from grape and vine extracts) – you may not recognise me, I look so young and radiant! The candles, wine jellies, leather notebooks, gorgeous glasses, vases, books about Sussex – the list goes on and on – are soon to be supplemented by a new spring range and we are talking to local artists about new ideas. Watch this space!

Equally exciting was my first visit to the Flint Barns since the roof has gone on. It has really changed the space and made it seem much bigger. Within the ‘body’ of the old barns, two floors have now appeared and you can really begin to see the vision. It’s been, and will continue to be, a challenge. I’m so glad we started work on them before the recent storms, as I’ve no doubt they wouldn’t be standing if we hadn’t. (They were originally damaged in the 1987 hurricane). As always, we are trying to mix the old with the new, keeping and restoring the original flint walls for example, yet creating windows that will allow the light to flood in.

We are aiming to achieve a comfortable, stylish ‘home’ that will house and feed up to 50 people at a time, be they seasonal workers tired from the vineyards, groups of school children who have spent the day exploring the Cuckmere Valley and the South Downs or a special interest group of 12 who have spent the day bird watching, painting or writing. It’s an ambitious project – we’re not a hostel, but we’re not a hotel. We hope to be a ‘home away from home’.

Final exciting ‘high’ of the week is that we have agreed to become sponsors of the Charleston Festival, a literary festival that runs between 16^th – 26^th May and again with Small Wonder, a short story festival in the autumn. We aim to collaborate with them on a range of things as time goes by, so again, watch this space.

Sarah Driver

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Why does English Sparkling sell at a discount to Champagne?

8 January 14, Mark / Our Blog

One question we are often asked is why does English Sparkling Wine cost so much? I think we should be asking “why does English Sparkling wine cost less than Champagne?”

No one seems to question the price of French Champagne or alternatively question why many Prosecco’s are cheaper than Champagne and English Fizz! So I thought I’d try and explain and hopefully convince you that far from being expensive, English Sparkling Wine is in fact a bargain.

In the BBC’s recently aired “The 12 Drinks for Christmas”, drinking buddies Alexander Armstrong and Giles Coren ‘chose the booze that will give them their Christmas spirit’. They each chose a sparkling wine for Christmas day and tasted it against the other. Armstrong chose Bollinger Special Cuvée, a safe choice. A wonderful rich, premium Champagne, aged for over three years on the yeast lees and made predominantly of pinot noir with chardonnay and pinot meunier. Giles Coren chose an English Sparkling Wine – Gusbourne’s 2008 Brut Reserve, made predominantly of chardonnay with pinot noir and meunier. And guess what? When tasting the two wines side by side they both agreed that the Gusbourne was the preferred wine. This is nothing new. English fizz has won more awards in international competitions than any other wine region in the world over the last eight years. However, the most interesting thing for me is that Bollinger generally sells for £35 a bottle whilst Gusbourne costs £25.

So why do people keep saying that English Sparkling Wine is expensive? Perhaps they are comparing it with Prosecco or other new world fizz. So let me explain why you may not be comparing like with like, or apples with apples.

The reason is that English fizz is made in the “traditional or Champagne method”: the grapes are hand picked, the whole bunches are pressed in the same way, the juice is fermented in similar tanks, then the wine is bottled with a little sugar and yeast for its secondary fermentation and aged on the yeast lees for a length of time (generally 2-3 years). The secondary fermentation puts the bubbles in the wine! Yes, some English fizz is made of the grape variety Seyval Blanc, but the majority is made predominantly from the same classic three varieties (chardonnay, pinot noir and meunier) as Champagne. It therefore costs the same to produce, if not more, as we generally don’t have the same economies of scale as the French. Oh, and the excise duty and VAT involved is the same on both wines.

So why is Prosecco and certain other fizz cheaper? The main reason is that it that might not be made in the same “traditional method”. Prosecco is the coca-cola of the wine world. It is generally mass-produced in large tanks in what’s called the “Charmat or Italian method”. This means that the secondary fermentation (which puts the fizz in the wine) takes place in these large stainless steel tanks and the sparkling wine is then transferred into bottles under pressure. Whilst the “traditional or Champagne method” means that the secondary fermentation takes place in individual bottles over a number of years, not months. So please don’t compare English fizz to Prosecco, compare it to the Italian Franciacorta, which is made in the “traditional method” and interestingly costs £28-60 a bottle!

Next time you are looking for a sparkling wine to celebrate a special occasion, reach for the English and stop saying that English fizz is expensive. As Messrs. Armstrong and Coren discovered it’s actually very good value compared to French Champagne. It’s the same wine, made in the ‘traditional method’ and often considered better.

Wine made in the same method, on the same band of chalk, just 80-100 miles north of the Champagne region, often considered to be better than and priced at a 20-50% discount to the French stuff, sounds like a bargain to me!!

So perhaps it’s time we started saying “why does English Sparkling wine cost less than Champagne?”

Mark Driver

PS – Before you write and tell me how much you like Prosecco, or Cava, I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t or that they are not good wines. I’m not a wine snob, but please consider the differences rather than the similarity i.e. they are both fizzy, but certain wine producing methods cost more than others and lead to other benefits – bottled fermented wines yield finer bubbles, which last longer in the glass and have those yeasty characteristics and depth of flavour.

PPS – Have you visited our shop or the Heritage Centre yet in the Gun Room on the Tye Alfriston?

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Grenada and back for Christmas

30 December 13, Mark / Our Blog

As many of you will have heard, I recently sailed across the Atlantic from the Canaries to Grenada in the Caribbean. It took us seventeen days and it was a real adventure.

I’d always wanted to cross the Atlantic, but in a comfortable boat with enough water and food, in a safe enough environment, in a boat designed for the task. So with six like-minded chaps we set off from Gran Canaria on the 22^nd November in an Oyster 66 sailing yacht and headed south to find the elusive trade winds that are meant to blow you over the Atlantic. We sailed and motored south then west then south again and sadly we didn’t find the ‘Trades’ until we were six hundred miles from Barbados. We did catch lots of fish and read a few books on the way. Some of you might have followed our blog – http://goodwindsatalantic.wordpress.com

When we arrived in Grenada our wives had flown out to join us and we had a brief cruise up through the Grenadines to St. Lucia where we left the boat to fly home for Christmas.

We returned to a damp, stormy UK. Luckily the vines are resting at this time of year, and although our old cattle barn sustained a little damage and the Cuckmere flooded the valley and parts of Alfriston, the rest of Rathfinny got off lightly from the recent storms and luckily the new roof had been completed on the Flint Barns.

I’d like to thank everyone at Rathfinny for all their hard work over the last year. We have achieved a lot in the last twelve months – we planted a further 20 hectares of vines and the vineyard team put up all the trellising. We completed the Winery building, removed all the overhead electricity cables running across the estate and replaced them with underground cables, and we opened the Gun Room, our store in the Alfriston. We started work on the seasonal workers accommodation at the Flint barns and got planning permission for a new entrance. It has been a very busy year.

Happy New Year to all and may the weather gods shine brightly on us for a more normal summer in 2014.

Mark Driver

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More than meets the eye

20 December 13, Richard / Our Blog

The Heritage Centre and our cellar door, the Gun Room, are now in full swing and just like any puppy they are simply ‘not just for Christmas’

Upstairs the Heritage Centre provides an insight to the wealth of history in the village of Alfriston and its surrounds. There’s information on the history of wine with some key facts on its production in England. This is enhanced by a time lapse film showing the rise of Rathfinny Wine Estate up from the Downs supported with some stunning still photography from Viv Blakey.

Going back downstairs and into the warmth of the oak clad cellar door (where in the future we will be selling our wine). Now – we are all happy in the knowledge that Jonathan bathes in Beaujolais Nouveau. But the power of wine does not stop there. I always tell myself that a glass here and there is good for me, and now I know that wine and the mighty grape IS good for me!

I can consume it and wear it. Thanks to Caudalie who produce a vast array of products made from grape stems, seeds and skins which form the basis of their skin care range. Being a bloke I was rather sceptical of all the blurb. Breaking away from the mould I decided to read the instructions (ingredients in this case). As I’m not adverse to wearing pink, I can say that it is rather clever and from my point of view – natural. And it works.

So now I have younger looking skin – what next? Firstly, we need to gem up on our wine knowledge and that can be done with the hand picked selection of wine literature available or even tickle our nasal hairs with some olfactory obstacles in the form of a wine sensory kit. But this is not as good as the real thing and for that you need some attractive looking receptacles. There are glasses, goblets and decanters to suit all tastes and consumption levels.

Once replete with the beverages there are some fantastic champagne chocolates and the devilishly tasting Brix ‘slabs’ of chocolate specifically created to accompany wine. Absolute heaven. (Did you know that Brix is the measure of sucrose in solution and more importantly the name of Jonathan’s dog? – Ed.)

So skin smooth, stomach sufficed and glass full. Now to sit back, light a candle, read a book or just relax. Did I mention there are wine smelling candles, leather bound folios and a myriad of other gifts?

In the future the Gun Room will also be the start and finish point for our Estate Tours and will also be holding specialist events so keep your eyes peeled for updates on the website and in our Newsletter.

Richard James – Trainee Assistant Shop Substitute

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Windbreaks

13 December 13, Cam / Our Blog

As most of our avid readers will now know, we have come to the realisation that we do indeed have a windy site. The trees that we planted, some of them over 2 years ago are slowly growing up to provide shelter for the vines, but the problem being the operative word is slowly.

So we’re now installing windbreaks for our windbreaks.

With a start made toward the end of November, the guys from Negus Glass have been first setting out the lines and then drilling holes ready for the upright supports of the windbreaks- they even managed to find where our water main went, which has always been a bit of a mystery to its exact location.

Over the last couple of weeks they’ve been setting in the base steel, before the uprights go in. As we do get such strong winds these windbreaks have to be of a top standard and as a result are incredibly sturdy.

This is not a 5 minute job, these guys will be on site for the next 3 months.

Once finished we’ll have 4m high windbreaks, which should provide shelter for most of the vineyard, meaning we can finally get the growth that we’ve been waiting for on the vines. The other benefit being that it will allow our trees to grow up to their full potential, once this has happened we’ll then be able to recycle the windbreak for another part of the property to allow other trees to grow faster. The idea of the windbreaks is not to completely stop the wind, just slow it down to a level that we can live with, the product we are using will slow the speed down by 50%.

In terms of vineyard team, they as Richard mentioned in the last blog have been clearing scrub- and repairing the odd water main. It’s a quiet time of the year for the vineyard before we start pruning. It’s the time of year when everyone takes a well-earned break and we can catch up on all the essential maintenance and odd jobs that need doing.

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Clearing the Way.

6 December 13, Richard / Our Blog

Those fortunate to live in sight of the South Downs may feel that the Red Indians are in full swing at the moment as the skyline becomes peppered with small fires and the associated smoke (signals).

Don’t worry. No need for the Lone Ranger just yet. From October to the end of February is the ideal time to manage the internationally important chalk grassland which forms the back bone of the Downs. During the winter, while so much wildlife lies dormant, we have a window of opportunity to clear any ‘unwanted’ vegetation.

Now the word ‘unwanted’ is a contentious one. The vegetation we wish to see is the previously mentioned chalk grassland and its myriad of colours. This can be lost if shrubs and trees such as blackthorn, hawthorn and bramble for example go unchecked. Historically, the pressure of grazing animals would keep any ‘unwanted’ growth at bay. Times have changed and it is now down to person power (and the odd chainsaw) to remove this vegetation and allow the flowers and grasses to thrive. The areas of blackthorn and hawthorn are often referred to as scrub. And with all things in life, it is a question of balance. We would like some scrub, as it is important for all kinds of wildlife such as birds and butterflies for example. Whereas too much scrub means the wonderful flowers are overshadowed and lose out – which affects all manner of things further up the food chain.

We are fortunate, that being within the South Downs National Park, we can utilise the highly skilled workforce which is the South Downs Volunteer Ranger Service. Here are some of them after a great days work assisting us to restore our chalk grassland. Thanks so much to them and we hope to see them again soon.

As our vines are dormant at the moment, the vineyard team have done an amazing job clearing the scrub. The image below depicts the great lengths Health and Safety will go to make us less susceptible to harm. Even our pitch forks have protective covers on the prongs.

But we do find the marshmallow protectors rather tempting.

After a good day cutting and burning a warm bath is always welcoming. From reading Jonathan’s blog I may just sink into a bath of Beaujolais instead….

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Beaujolais Nouveau!

1 December 13, Jonathan / Our Blog

I always make a point of tasting Beaujolais Nouveau—and it’s that time of the year again. Beaujolais Nouveau often gets a bad rap (sometimes deservingly so), but it’s more than that. It’s a celebration of the most recent harvest, and a time for community celebration. The pub next door to my house even offered a French cuisine menu to celebrate the release of the 2013 vintage, which was well received in my local Sussex community.

Beaujolais Nouveau is not a complex wine—after all, it is usually sold a mere six to eight weeks after being harvested—but nonetheless is an interesting wine, at least for being quite atypical. Because winemakers use whole berry carbonic maceration (anaerobic fermentation) instead of a crushed berry aerobic fermentation, the wine is driven on fruit aromas and lower tannin levels.

By keeping the berries whole or intact, in an environment artificially saturated in carbon dioxide, the fermentation process does not extract as many potential harsh compounds (tannins, for example), and the overall metabolism produces fruitier molecules compared to a “classic” fermentation.

In fact, it is technically very hard to achieve a pure carbonic maceration: filling a tank with several tonnes of grapes will automatically generate grape crushing because of the weight applied to the berries at the bottom of the tank. What occurs is that both anaerobic and aerobic fermentations occur simultaneously.

In practice, a tank is filled with whole berries and goes through carbonic maceration for a week or two. Then it is emptied, pressed, and the wine produced goes through the aerobic alcoholic fermentation.

Beaujolais Nouveau can be very soft and quite light. Some may say that it lacks of complexity, but what you are looking for when you taste such a wine is that it is simple, straight forward, and affordable. No snobbism there.

Frankly, I feel it can be nicer than some of the wines found in supermarkets in the same price segment. But if you don’t care so much about drinking it, maybe you would consider bathing in it?

Jonathan Médard – Winemaker

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Rathfinny Wine Estate opens historic Cellar Door and Heritage Centre

1 December 13, Sarah / Our Blog

RathfinnyGunRoomopeningFIN.pdf

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GRAND OPENING OF THE GUN ROOM – MONDAY 18th NOVEMBER!

16 November 13, Sarah / Our Blog

I’m in trouble, should have done this by yesterday and instead I find myself doing it early on Saturday morning before we go on and beat the All Blacks later today, Cam! (Might have to edit this later!)

So what has been going on? The Gun Room is up and running and we are having our first opening on Monday evening, to thank all those involved in the project. Anthony Sherwin has done an incredible job, working with Martin Swatton, in designing the interior of the building so that it complements all our other designs on the Estate and blends ‘the old with the new,’ which is a recurring theme at Rathfinny, and Paynes Builders have been a delight to work with.

Nikki and Georgia have been working flat out for several weeks getting all the stock ready and this week have been concentrating on getting it on the shelves. It looks fantastic, as I think you’ll agree.

Their attention to detail is incredible and Nikki, as the Manager, has really set the standard. We’re also delighted to have recruited two new members of staff who we know will fit right in with the Rathfinny family.

So as well as interviewing prospective staff, what else have I been up to? It’s the range of work that always amazes me. I’ve been working on the Employment Handbook, ably assisted by my daughter, Faye. We’ve been battling with those crucial issues such as, under the heading ‘Appearance’, how do you encourage deodorant and yet say not so much perfume that it interferes with tastings in the future? Don’t get me started on the debates about tattoos (a personal bug bear of Mark’s, though I’m sure one of our kids has or will have one lurking away) or piercings. All high-powered stuff!

Then there’s the Tasting Room, which has all come together under the wonderful eye of my designer friend, Susie Atkinson. She has done an amazing job, again linking the ‘old and the new’ to create a room that will sit at the heart of the Estate and deliver a really unique experience to our visitors.

We held our end of year party there last week, which was brilliant. The vineyard boys had us in hysterics as they donned facemasks of the Great British Bake Off judges to judge all the entries of the Great Rathfinny Bake Off.

Everyone got a prize, though I ‘woz robbed!’ as the ultimate prize went to Nikki, despite my showstopper.

Not that I’m bitter and twisted! (I did think that in revenge I would put in the photo of her winning the wooden spoon that Cam made, but even I couldn’t do that to her.)

Finally, the notes arrived for the Level 2 WSET wine course that Georgia and I are going on in the New Year. Being a swot (Georgia, be worried!) I opened the pack with interest. I’d like to say that I started with ‘The Wise Drinker’s Guide – Alcohol, Health and Responsible Drinking – first, because it was obviously the most important part, but that would be a lie. It was the only booklet small enough to hold in the bath in one hand while balancing the much needed large glass of wine in the other!!

PS Here’s a quote about Champagne that will work whatever the result this afternoon.

“In success you deserve it and in defeat, you need it.” Winston Churchill

Sarah Driver

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Cultivating hair rather than vines, Movember

8 November 13, Cam / Our Blog

While the Great Rathfinny Bake-Off is drawing to a close, Movember is just getting underway with the boys at Rathfinny.

Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer, and mental health.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants, known as Mo Bros, have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their Mo, raising money along the way to benefit men’s health.

The Team at Rathfinny have (mostly) taken up the challenge and have begun cultivating their faces for charity- mainly because they are unable to do anything else from all the cake they’ve been eating. We’ve even managed to get Jonathan to shave his beard, which he has had for 11 years.

jonathanmedard

Before…… and after.

The whole idea behind Movember is that we get people talking about men’s health by the growing of moustaches and the community to support them by creating an innovative, fun and engaging campaign that results in:

• Funds for men’s health programme investment

• Conversations about men’s health that lead to:

– Greater awareness and understanding of the health risks men face

– Men taking action to remain well

– When men are sick they know what to do and take action

So get behind the guys and support the Rathfinny Mo’s, and help us change the face of men’s health. All of those who have organised themselves to register are on the Rathfinny Team page ( http://moteam.co/rathfinny-mo-s) and there are individual links from there. So whether you want to donate a little or a lot, it all helps. And if you’d just prefer to have a laugh at the Mo’s, the pictures will be updated regularly.

At the end of the first week, some of the mo’s.

Briefly, in news from the vineyard, the guys have finally finished putting all the posts in for this year, and they’ve even self-proclaimed a world record posts per day of 768. The vines are in the stages of shutting down ready for winter, most of the leaves have been turned autumnal by the St Jude’s day storm, but otherwise everything weathered the storm well.

The last few posts going in.

Cameron Roucher – Vineyard manager

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The great storm of 2013

1 November 13, Mark / Our Blog

I remember the storm of 1987 very well and I must admit I slept through it. We were living in Brighton, well Hove actually. Waking late as my alarm clock didn’t work because we had lost power in the night, I was a little surprised to see so many trees down across Brighton as I tried to drive to work in Tonbridge. The A27 was completely closed by fallen trees, so I headed back home and spent the day reviewing the carnage along the sea front in Hove and Brighton.

Our Flint Barns were also a casualty of the same 87 storm. The roof was lost and never replaced and so they fell in to disrepair. Until now.

The roof is being replaced, walls rebuilt and repointed and an extension added to provide a kitchen, dining room, laundry and wash rooms for our seasonal workers’ accommodation. It’s beginning to take shape as you can see from the photo above. The white wooden glulam beams you can see will form the frame for the roof which sits above, housing solar panels to the south and roof lights to the north.

This week we had practical completion of the Winery and we have the keys!! We also completed the Tasting Room at the Winery.

This has primarily been designed as a trade tasting room. However, early next year we hope to start offering organised tours of the Vineyard and Winery. We will collect people from The Gun Room in Alfriston in a big Rathfinny van and provide a simple ‘wine makers’ lunch or afternoon tea in the Tasting Room. Watch out for the ‘Visit Us’ tab which will soon appear on our website.

So whilst the vineyard crew have been finishing off the landscaping and cleaning up the debris blown around the vineyard by the storm, the ladies (and Martin, the designer of our Winery) are busy cooking in the Great Rathfinny Bake Off #GRBO. Someone has cleverly worked the ladies up into a frenzy of baking so the boys get freshly cooked cakes at their morning break! The final show stoppers have to be presented before Friday!! Well done Giles….

That’s all for now….

Mark Driver

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Four Seasons in One Day

25 October 13, Richard / Our Blog

I was going to report on the seasonal changes on the Estate as the autumnal colours develop and leaves fall and the majority of our feathered friends have left for sunnier climes.

To tell the truth, I’m not totally sure which season we are in! I know spring was about 3 weeks late because I waited patiently for the blackthorn and hawthorn blossom. Then today I started in full waterproofs and wellies as if it was a monsoon, and when I joined the ‘elite squad’ down at the Gun Room, to view the build progress and discuss oak flooring, the bright sun was out punched by the gale force wind. It’s this same wind which Cameron is planning to tame to allow our vines and shelter belt trees some respite. I’m investigating the more micro climatic properties of using inter row planting of species such as phacelia and clover. The phacelia could provide some shelter and combined with the clover would support a plethora of predatory insects to aid our vines. I just need to clarify how to manage/control the phacelia in the future.

Back to today and it was tipped off in our resplendent Winery Tasting Room which was draped in full summer sun! Good ol’British weather.

Since my last blog, my time has been spent landscaping around our rather majestic looking Winery. All of this work has been ably supported by the rest of the vineyard team. I say ‘supported’ in the loosest sense as I spent my days bouncing around on the dumper truck under the watchful eye of Rick (“the other Kiwi”) as he is our resident Chelsea Flower Show medallist. Every vineyard should have one!

It has warmed my cockles to see the native plants being used in the landscaping such as holly, beech, white beam and my personal favourite the spindle tree.

Its outstanding fruit in pink and orange is totally juxtaposed with its angular edged bark. To me, spindle is a vastly underrated element of our countryside. I can’t wait to see it flourish.

The tree gets it name from its use as a spindle for spinning wool and I won’t dwell on its other use as a laxative. I’ve personally used it in basic bushcraft as a very useful and straight skewer for cooking with.

Which brings me to the BBC’s announcement of this year’s winner of the Great British Bake Off. The jury is still out here at Rathfinny for our own Estate award. Nikki launched a full on assault at the title with a stupendous chocolate cake last week. This full throttle fat inducing cake puts her in the lead. The only flaw in her composition was its size. Far, far too small for my liking.

(image taken after only 3.2mins of round 1)

We patiently await the next entrant to the Bake Off….

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VITeff 2013

19 October 13, Jonathan / Our Blog

I’ve just come back from Epernay where the biennial VITeff trade show was taking place. All the usual suspects were there: manufacturers of tanks, presses, pumps, packaging/labelling, and bottling lines, in addition to vineyard equipment and vine growers, and more.

Wednesday being the “Winemakers Technical Day”, I attended a conference on the filtration of white wines and, more specifically, of Champagne wines. The goal of filtration is to obtain a clear, sediment free and microbiologically stable wine.

Wines do not have to be filtered – it depends on the kind of wine produced. For example, in the case of either a red or white still wine barrel aged for 18-24 months, filtration may not be necessary before bottling: solids and yeast/bacteria might have all settled sufficiently, resulting in a clear wine that can be bottled as is. As an alternative, or in addition to filtering, winemakers can also use fining agents to help clear the wine of undesirable components.

With regards to sparkling wines, the base wine first goes through a primary fermentation, possibly a malolactic “fermentation”, and cold stabilisation. These processes generate a lot of solids including yeast, bacteria, and crystals that need to be removed by filtration prior to tirage (when a base wine is inoculated and bottled for secondary fermentation).

You might wonder: what happens to the solids after the second fermentation in the bottle? During tirage, we include adjuvants that help particles to settle and aggregate in the bottle, making riddling and elimination of the sediments by disgorging easy.

Deciding on the filtration method and medium is not always easy, since not only each vintage but also each “batch” of wine are different. From experience, one learns when and how to filter, bearing in mind that bench trials and experimentation help pinpoint the final setup.

Each method of filtration has its pros and cons, and methods might need to be combined in order for the winemaker to get the expected result. I will not go into detailed descriptions today, but here is a (short) list of some of these filtering media: D.E. (diatomaceous earth), cellulose, polymeric membranes, ceramic…

At the VITeff conference, one manufacturer unveiled a new high-performance cartridge filter, adding to the list of options available to winemakers.

I was also able to view this Pierre Guérin egg-shaped tank which is the only one of its kind for the moment (some exist in concrete or oak, but not in stainless steel like this one).

It is a bit pricey, but the buzz a statement cellar piece like this can generate amongst the winemaking community is priceless. Plus, maybe it’s cheaper by the dozen!

Jonathan Médard – Winemaker

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The Great Rathfinny Bake Off

3 October 13, Mark / Our Blog

It has been said in the office that when Mark and I are working at ‘full steam,’ it takes everyone three days to recover. I thought about this at some length this week and think I have worked out why that is. We are all dealing with such a variety of issues and that, in itself, is tiring.

For example, I now know more than I ever wanted to about fire standards, PSV operator licences, the strength of bunk beds, modern lighting regulations and employment contracts to say nothing of trade marks around the world. I have been to design fairs showcasing English products, tested soaps for the Flint Barns, chosen pepper pots for the Tasting Room, learnt about the million ways you can make coffee, chosen floorboards, designed a bar, learnt about branding, PR and marketing and on it goes! Life is never boring and it is certainly full, but it wasn’t quite what I imagined when my husband wistfully said one balmy evening – “shall we start a vineyard?”

And then to top it all, we now have the Great Rathfinny Bake Off. It started with a flippant remark by one of the vineyard team.

“It would be nice to have a bit of cake with our morning coffee… I hear Sarah makes a good lemon drizzle.” It has been reported that Nikki (Cameron’s wife) was heard to retort, “that’s because she’s been doing it for 50 years!” You can guess where this is going. Suddenly (and I’m talking the very next day) she produces a Victoria sponge, complete with cream and home-made jam (behind my back!)

Then Liz, who at one stage taught home economics (cooking to you and me) in New Zealand, chimes in with a claim that she makes the best scones in Western Europe and that she won a ‘highly commended’ medal from some local fete in some part of Christchurch, NZ. The next thing I know, she has snuck down to the vineyard with gingerbread and started selling cakes to the guys building the winery to raise money for Macmillan nurses!

I had decided to rise above the fray, keep the mystery of the lemon drizzle a mystery and leave it at that. However Mark decided to take an experimental ginger cake (I blame the recipe) down to the cabin on Monday. Let us just say Cameron took great pleasure in informing me 3 days later, there was still some left!!

Has no one heard that Christmas bonuses are under review as I write??

PS Felix did say thanks so I guess he’s safe!

Sarah Driver – The Boss

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