News

This month, beekeepers Roland and Anne Thomas visited to install our first Westwell hive. Set at the top of the vineyard, just below the Pilgrim's Way, and right on the edge of our wildflower meadow. We have approximately 25,000 bees in the hive which sounds like a lot, but once the queen starts laying eggs in spring, we could have have up 70,000. Bees swarm if the hive becomes too cramped, so if that happens, we might be able to scoop them up and have another hive. We opened the hive and scout bees came out to investigate. The scouts...

We are beyond delighted to announce the relaunch of our non vintage traditional method sparkling wine, Pelegrim: newly rebranded and now wholly produced by the current team. Pelegrim started life as a traditional method wine created by the vineyard's previous owner, John Rowe. When the current team took over, we continued its evolution, choosing to pick later for ultra-ripe fruit, lowering the dosage and extending the lees ageing to three years to give further balance and elegance. Winemaker Adrian explains "Pelegrim is a real crowd pleaser: a good fruit-forward base wine with a large proportion of Pinots to give red...

The Vyneyarde, Westwell Ln, Charing TN27 0BW3rd, 10th and 17th December11-5pm Join us at Westwell to celebrate Christmas with foraged wreath making, festive tastings, vineyard tours and plenty of festive gift ideas. Our special Christmas open days will run on Saturday 3rd, 10 and 17th December, so drop in for lunch, a glass of wine, our natural wreath making workshop and have a browse through our festive gifting ideas, too. Tours and tastings will be running as normal. For our workshops on 3rd, 10th and 17th December, we'll be taking groups out into the vineyard to forage for vines, plants...

Adrian Pike, Winemaker Harvest really starts for me once the sugar comes into the grapes and we can start to get an idea of flavours and what this year's fruit will give us. Last week's walk and taste with Marcus, our Vineyard Manager, picked up really lovely floral notes in the Meunier. I've always wanted to make a white still Meunier because with its delicate flavours and floral aromas, it feels like it would really work well. This year, it seems like the Meunier is on its way to being flavoursome and ripe with a soft acidity. The Ortega really...