Chaldean Estate Vineyard - A Hertfordshire Arable Estate Building a Sparkling Wine Vineyard from Scratch
Chaldean Estate is best known as one of the largest privately-owned farms in Hertfordshire, but since April 2019 its owners have also been quietly building one of the more interesting commercial vineyard projects on the edge of East Anglia. Three plantings across just over six years have taken the estate from a standing start to approaching 40 acres under vine, with all of the fruit destined for English sparkling wine rather than estate-bottled releases.
Where is Chaldean Estate?
Chaldean Estate is a 1,155 hectare arable holding in the village of Much Hadham, on the eastern edge of Hertfordshire. The estate office is at The Old Grain Store, Bromley Lane, Much Hadham, SG10 6HU and the principal phone line is 01279 843 861, with general enquiries directed to info@chaldean.co.uk. The holding is run in partnership with two local farms under the consortium Gilston Crop Management LLP, which covers around 4,500 acres in the local area and shares the capital cost of modern farm and vineyard machinery.
Much Hadham sits in a quiet stretch of the upper Lea and Stort valleys. The estate is bounded to the west by the River Rib, a rare chalk stream, and includes more than 120 hectares of woodland, much of it classed as ancient. The farm grows wheat, barley, oats, field beans and stewardship crops and participates in DEFRA's Countryside Stewardship Scheme, which means a substantial part of the holding is managed primarily for environmental outcomes rather than food production.
The Chaldean Group of Companies
Vineyards are only one string to the Chaldean bow. The estate sits within the wider Chaldean Group of Companies, which is chaired by Gordon Morrison and includes:
- Chaldean Properties Ltd - a family-owned property investment company with a commercial portfolio spanning Wakefield, Colchester, Cardiff, Bishop's Stortford, Beckenham and Banbury, plus residential homes on and around the estate and a developments arm active in East Anglia and the South of England.
- Chaldean Estate Ltd - the farming and woodland enterprise, including the vineyards, the firewood business and the self-storage brand.
- C-Logs - Ready to Burn accredited hardwood firewood, kiln-dried from the estate's own woodlands.
- C-Storage - secure self-storage containers near Much Hadham, marketed at homeowners, businesses and site operators.
- Houndbeam - natural hornbeam dog chews made from the smaller timber produced by the estate's coppicing cycle.
The group also supports Helping Herts, a Hertfordshire children's charity co-founded by Gordon Morrison, and the Chaldean Charitable Trust, which makes grants to registered children's charities including World Child Cancer.
A Brief History of the Chaldean Estate Vineyard
Wine was not part of the original Chaldean business plan. The decision to plant vines came out of a deliberate review of how to diversify away from low-margin arable production, which had become increasingly difficult to make pay. In researching the project, the owners looked closely at other UK vineyards and reached two conclusions that have shaped everything that has happened since.
The first was that many UK vineyards had failed, not because the sites or varieties were wrong, but because the businesses could not generate enough yield or sell the wine at a price high enough to cover costs. The second was that the rise of high-quality English sparkling wine had finally created a price point at which UK vineyards could be commercially viable - provided they planted the right varieties in the right place and marketed the result effectively.
Scale, the owners decided, was also non-negotiable. A profitable vineyard needs economies of scale, which is why Chaldean has never considered a token half-acre plot. The estate's stated long-term target is 40 acres (16 hectares) of vines - substantial for a UK grower and more than enough to justify dedicated equipment and a full-time vineyard team.
The first 10 acres, known as Hadham Hills, were planted at Barley Hills, to the north of the estate, in April 2019. A second planting of around 15 acres, known as Great Field, followed in 2023. A third block - sometimes referred to as Camber Spring - went in over the May Day bank holiday weekend in 2025, taking the total to roughly 37 acres or 15 hectares.
The Vineyards
Hadham Hills - the original 10-acre block
Hadham Hills is the most established of the three sites, fully laid out on a 10-acre footprint at Barley Hills. Of the original 18,500 vines planted in 2019, half are Pinot Noir and half Chardonnay - the two varieties that anchor almost every top-quality English sparkling cuvee, and the varieties Chaldean's eventual buyers were specifically asking for.
The site is now fully established and producing commercially. All of the fruit from Hadham Hills is currently sold on contract to Bolney Wine Estate in West Sussex, one of the longest-established English sparkling producers, where it is made into their cuvées. Chaldean is essentially acting as a grower for Bolney rather than as a brand owner.
Great Field - the 2023 expansion
Great Field is the 15-acre block planted in 2023 and represents a small but deliberate diversification in varieties. Rather than doubling down purely on sparkling's two flagships, Chaldean planted an equal split of three varieties:
- Bacchus - the aromatic German-bred variety that has become England's signature still white grape.
- Pinot Noir - continuing the sparkling programme.
- Chardonnay - the other half of the sparkling backbone.
The first year's growth on Great Field was encouraging, with viable quantities of fruit expected from 2027 once the vines have come into full production.
Camber Spring - the 2025 planting
The third vineyard, planted in 2025, extends the estate into varieties that hint at a longer-term ambition beyond pure sparkling. The mix includes:
- Pinot Noir
- Chardonnay
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Small trial plots of Gamay Noir and Cabernet Franc
The inclusion of Cabernet Franc and Gamay - two varieties better known in Beaujolais and the Loire respectively - is a tentative nod towards red and rosé production. Some of the estate's fruit has already gone into a still Chardonnay wine, and the team is working with a new winery hoping to produce a local Pinot Noir red - both firsts for the estate.
Terroir: Climate, Soil and Site
Much Hadham is not where most people would instinctively look for English vines, but the conditions are recognisably good. The estate benefits from a temperate maritime climate with mild winters and increasingly warm summers - the same broad pattern that has enabled the English wine industry to expand rapidly over the last two decades. Late spring frost is the principal weather risk and remains the one thing the team cannot defend against, although careful site selection and substantial perimeter fencing have largely solved the deer and rabbit pressure that once threatened the original planting.
Soils on the vineyard sites are a mix of chalky and clay loam. That combination gives the two characteristics Chaldean is looking for: good drainage in a high-rainfall part of the country and good heat retention through the long, slow ripening window that cool-climate varieties need. The minerality and structure that chalk can lend to a base wine is exactly what English sparkling producers prize.
One small, often-overlooked advantage is hydrology. The estate sits on chalk, and in dry seasons the vines can draw water up through capillary action from the bedrock. This was visible during the very dry spring and summer of 2025, when the new plantings at Camber Spring held up far better than many arable crops on the same estate.
Who Makes the Wine?
Chaldean is a grower, not a winery. All of the estate's production is currently sold on contract to Bolney Wine Estate in Sussex, where it is turned into English sparkling wine. Bolney, founded in 1972, is one of the more established names in the English wine scene and an obvious partner for a producer looking to convert bulk contract fruit into a finished bottle.
The estate is also building closer relationships with Bailey Hills Winery, which opened in 2025 and is helping to establish a local Hertfordshire wine region. Some of Chaldean's fruit has already gone into still Chardonnay at Bailey Hills, and discussions about a local Pinot Noir red are well advanced. As grape volumes grow, more of the crop is likely to stay in the local area rather than being shipped to Sussex.
Vineyard Management and Equipment
Day-to-day vineyard work is led by Vineyard Manager Emma Gattlin, supported by a small team of seasonal pruners and pickers. The wider viticultural strategy is delivered in partnership with Tom Bunting Vineyard Management, based in Denham Vale, which provides expert guidance on canopy management, spraying and harvest planning.
Mechanisation has been central to the project from the start, in part because labour costs in the home counties are punishing and in part because Chaldean wants a business that can run without relying on a large casual workforce. Equipment in current use includes:
- A Case IH vineyard tractor, used for spraying, mowing and cultivating between the rows.
- A Braun mid-mount Rotary Star tiller for mechanical weeding under the vines.
- A Weidemann telehandler for moving bins, posts and trellis materials.
- A Caffini two-row sprayer with recycling wings to reduce drift and overspray.
- A 1.8 m grass topper and a Provitis tool arm with trimmer attachment for pre-pruning, leaf stripping and trimming.
- A Boisselet mechanical weeder from Vitifruit, used to keep the undervine strip clean without herbicides.
- A New Holland Braud 9090L mechanical grape harvester, introduced in 2025 and used for the first time at the recent harvest.
Bringing the harvester in-house has been a deliberate step. The team used the machine for the first time at harvest in late September or early October 2025, and it had already paid for itself in productivity terms despite a number of frustrating breakdowns.
A Year in the Vineyard
The vineyard follows the same seasonal rhythm as the rest of the farm, but with its own calendar of operations.
Winter
Pruning is the critical winter job. The oldest vineyard, Hadham Hills, now has a pre-pruner machine that removes around 70% of the previous year's growth before the team comes through by hand to finish. The second vineyard, Great Field, is in its third full season and is being carefully shaped by hand. The newest planting, Camber Spring, was cut back to the second bud in its first winter, leaving only a couple of inches of stem to encourage root development before any main stem is allowed to grow.
Spring
March is when the vineyard season really starts. Prunings are mulched back into the rows, herbicides are applied under the vine lines, and early fungicides may go on if disease pressure is high. This is also when the vines come back into leaf - a moment that has become more dramatic as plantings mature, with the 2025 third block visibly coming into leaf within weeks of going in.
Summer
Canopy management, trimming, leaf removal and bunch thinning are the priorities through June and July. The 2025 summer was unusually hot and dry across the south-east, with the Met Office later declaring an official drought. Bunch counts looked promising but, as with the estate's cereal crops, yields were expected to fall back while quality improved. Disease pressure was unusually low, although the team had to keep a close eye on wasps and spotted wing drosophila, both of which can do serious damage late in the season.
Autumn - Harvest
Harvest 2025 began in late September or early October, slightly earlier than usual thanks to the warm summer. For the first time, the estate used its own New Holland Braud harvester rather than contracting the work out. Most of the fruit was once again delivered to Bolney for sparkling wine production.
Sustainability and Environmental Credentials
Sustainability is not a marketing line at Chaldean; it is built into how the estate has always been managed. The whole farm participates in DEFRA's Countryside Stewardship Scheme, which is specifically aimed at protecting and enhancing the environment while producing crops.
Energy is a particular focus. A biomass boiler installed at the principal farm house and estate office in spring 2010 is fuelled by woodchip from the estate's own woodlands, removing the need for oil-fired boilers in five of the buildings on the holding. The woodlands themselves are managed under Forestry Commission management plans, with rotational coppicing and felling supplying both the boiler and the firewood business.
The new Caffini sprayer with recycling wings and the move towards mechanical weeding with the Boisselet machine both reduce agrochemical use, while a planned small 2.5 MW solar park at Chaldean Farm, if approved, would add another significant source of renewable energy to the holding.
Wildlife Around the Vineyards
Because much of the estate is open to walkers - there are 10 km of footpaths, 13.4 km of bridleways and a small network of BOATs - the vineyards sit alongside some exceptionally rich wildlife habitat. Recent sightings on and around the estate include:
- Red kites - now a regular sight over the chalk streams and woodland edges.
- Turtle doves, one of the UK's fastest-declining farmland birds, still recorded on the holding.
- Grey partridge and mistle thrushes.
- Spotted flycatchers in Bowles Wood.
- Glow worms in the set-aside land north-east of Barwick Ford, where a 2019 count recorded 35 glowing females in a single evening.
The River Rib, which runs along the estate's western boundary, is a chalk stream of significant ecological value. Brown trout of more than 2 lb have been caught in recent surveys, and the river supports mallard, moorhens, coots and the occasional kingfisher. Sadly, non-native signal crayfish are outcompeting the smaller native crayfish - a problem shared with most other lowland English rivers.
English Sparkling Wine - The Market Context
Chaldean's commercial logic depends on the broader trajectory of English wine. The UK now has more than 1,100 vineyards and 240 wineries, producing around 10.7 million bottles in 2024 despite a difficult growing year. Sparkling wine accounts for nearly 70% of total output, and exports grew by 35% in 2024, reaching 9% of total sales, with Norway, Japan and China named as the most active new markets.
Benchmark English sparkling brands such as Nyetimber and Chapel Down now retail between roughly £30 and £42 a bottle, putting them into direct competition with entry-level Champagne. The fact that Chaldean's fruit is going into bottles in that price band is the whole reason the vineyard was planted.
Tastings, Tours and Visits
Chaldean does not currently open its vineyards or any winery facilities to the public. There are no advertised tours, tastings, vineyard walks or open days. Visitors can enjoy a great deal of the wider estate on the public rights of way network - including footpaths, bridleways and BOATs - and the woodland, the River Rib and the arable crops are all openly accessible. But the vineyards themselves are a working commercial block and are not set up for visitors.
Chaldean-grown fruit currently appears in sparkling cuvées made by Bolney Wine Estate in Sussex.
Other Things to Buy From the Estate
While you cannot yet buy Chaldean wine, the estate runs three other consumer-facing businesses that share its woodlands and infrastructure:
C-Logs Firewood
Chaldean's firewood arm sells Ready to Burn accredited hardwood logs, kiln-dried to below 20% moisture from hornbeam and other timber coppiced on the estate. The Woodsure accreditation, granted on behalf of the UK Government, guarantees the moisture content and provenance - an increasingly important point given the ban on the sale of wet wood in small quantities. Stock levels run to several hundred bags going into each autumn. Orders go through c-logs.com.
C-Storage
C-Storage offers secure self-storage containers near the estate office in Much Hadham. The containers have proved popular with homeowners decluttering, businesses expanding and construction sites needing flexible space, and most units were already reserved by the end of 2025. Remaining availability enquiries go through property manager Rita Geraghty on 07566 766530.
Houndbeam Dog Chews
Houndbeam turns the smaller hornbeam timber left over from the firewood operation into natural dog chews, sold online for home delivery. Hornbeam is unusually hard and dense, which is exactly what aggressive chewers need.
The Team Behind the Project
The vineyard sits inside a wider team with very deep roots in the local area:
- Gordon Morrison, Chairman of the Chaldean Group, founded over 20 years ago.
- Alan Granger, Estate Manager - a Rural Chartered Surveyor and Agricultural Valuer responsible for the farm, woodland and diversification projects including the vineyard.
- Emma Gattlin, Vineyard Manager.
- Sally Bond, Personal Assistant and Editor of the estate's quarterly newsletter.
- Jo Perrotton, Company Accountant.
- Kate Rolph, Administrator/Accounts Assistant and manager of C-Logs.
- Adam Gamsu, Development Director, an MSc-qualified Chartered Surveyor responsible for sourcing development opportunities.
- Michael Pettifer, Investment Director, a Chartered Surveyor with global real estate experience who runs the commercial property portfolio.
- Rita Geraghty, Property Manager, responsible for residential lettings and the C-Storage business.
How to Get in Touch
The vineyard itself is not staffed for walk-in visitors, but general enquiries about the estate and the vineyards can be sent to info@chaldean.co.uk or by phone to 01279 843 861. The postal address is:
Chaldean Estate Ltd
The Old Grain Store
Bromley Lane
Much Hadham
Hertfordshire
SG10 6HU
For the wider group's other businesses, the relevant websites and contact details are:
- c-logs.com - firewood orders and delivery
- c-storage.co.uk - self-storage enquiries
- houndbeam.com - hornbeam dog chews
- helpingherts.com - charity events and fundraising
Final Verdict
Chaldean Estate is one of the more interesting quietly-underway vineyard projects in the home counties. It is not, yet, a destination winery - there is no cellar door, no tasting room and no Chaldean label on a bottle. But it is a serious, well-capitalised commercial vineyard with three plantings totalling around 37 acres, a proper mechanical harvester, a dedicated vineyard manager and a long-term contract with one of England's best-known sparkling producers. If the volume comes in as planned from 2027 onwards and the relationship with Bailey Hills Winery develops into a properly local Hertfordshire cuvée, it is the kind of operation that could quite plausibly put Much Hadham on the English wine map.