Curload Vineyard - A Family-Run Somerset Levels Vineyard Putting Local Vines in the Glass
Curload Vineyard is one of the newer faces on the English wine map, but the vines themselves have been growing quietly on the Somerset Levels for more than three decades. Tucked away in a leafy hamlet just outside the village of Stoke St Gregory, the vineyard is run as a true family affair by Paul and Paula Tillen, who took ownership in February 2021 after falling for the place on what was meant to be a Christmas-tree reconnaissance trip. Their story is a charming reminder that some of the most distinctive British wines of the moment are coming from small plots tended by first-generation growers rather than centuries-old estates.
Although the wines are not yet on general release and are currently out of stock while preparations continue, the vineyards themselves are well established. The 2021 vintage was harvested, processed by a Gloucester-based winery and bottled, and a 2022 vintage followed on the calendar. Anyone interested in tasting the result can sign up to the Curload Vineyard email list to receive a 10% discount on their first purchase and be notified when stock is released.
About Curload Vineyard
Curload Vineyard sits on the Somerset Levels, the low-lying, fertile wetland that stretches south of Taunton and has long been associated with cider apples, peat moors and slow, deliberate farming. The vineyard itself was originally planted over thirty years ago and has been quietly producing grapes ever since. It is now looked after by Paul and Paula Tillen, who describe themselves as enthusiastic amateurs rather than lifelong vignerons.
The vineyard's strapline - "a local wine from a local vine, lovingly grown on the Somerset levels" - captures the philosophy of the project neatly. The aim is to keep everything as local as possible: local grapes, local wine, and a sense of place that comes from the flat, light-soiled, frost-managed Levels landscape rather than from any borrowed identity.
Location and Setting
The vineyard is on Curload Road, in the quiet rural hinterland east of Taunton in Somerset. The postcode begins TA3, placing the site within the broader catchment of the Somerset Levels - an area well known in English wine circles for its suitability to early-ripening, disease-resistant grape varieties. The flat topography, moisture-retentive soils and relatively mild autumns give growers a workable climate for hybrid and classic varieties alike.
For visitors, the address is:
- Curload Vineyard, Curload Rd, Taunton TA3, UK
The site lies just outside Stoke St Gregory, a village with deep farming roots on the Levels, and is within easy reach of Taunton, Bridgwater and the M5 corridor.
The Story - How Paul and Paula Found the Vineyard
The Curload story begins, as many English wine stories do, with a slightly different plan. In their own words, Paul and Paula spent several years searching for a parcel of land they could use to plant Christmas trees as a retirement project. Their combined experience of wine up to that point was, in Paul's cheerful admission, limited to choosing which bottle to put in the trolley on the weekly shop.
That all changed the moment they stepped into the vineyard. The couple fell for the place on first sight, abandoned the Christmas tree idea, and bought the vineyard in February 2021. From there they threw themselves into learning the craft: hours of YouTube tutorials, conversations with neighbouring growers, and a great deal of hands-on trial and error among the rows.
The results came quickly. In their first full season they harvested 1.4 tonnes of grapes in October - a respectable yield that the team modestly describe as evidence they "got some things right." Those grapes were sent to a Gloucester-based winery for processing, and within a few weeks Paul and Paula were taking delivery of their very first vintage.
It is a story that resonates with the wider English wine story: people arriving from outside the industry, learning fast, and producing surprisingly accomplished wines from sites that have quietly been growing grapes for decades.
Meet the Team
Like many small vineyards, Curload is very much a family operation - with a few four-legged supervisors thrown in.
- Paul and Paula Tillen - Owners of the vineyard. Paul writes much of the project's public story.
- Alfie and Digby - Chief supervisors and self-confessed escape artists. The two dogs are constants at the vineyard and seem to enjoy the Somerset Levels as much as their owners do.
- David and Grace - The grown-up children of Paul and Paula, often to be found helping out at busy times of year.
- Brian - The Tally Man, who keeps the records straight.
- The Picking Team - A wider circle of friends and family who turn out for the autumn harvest.
That reliance on family and friends is part of the charm. There is no corporate language, no glossy marketing-speak - just the honest enthusiasm of people making their first wines and documenting the journey as they go.
The Vines and How They Are Grown
Curload's vines are trained as cordon-pruned vines, a system in which each plant has a central stem that divides into two and runs along the lower wire of the trellis. Grape bunches only grow on the previous year's wood, so the first big job of the season is winter pruning, cutting the canes back to short spurs of roughly two buds.
Pruning was, Paul confesses, the moment the team were convinced they had killed every vine in the ground. After three decades of growth, the canes came away in their hands and the rows looked worryingly bare. Grape vines, it turns out, are resilient - even in the face of what Paul politely calls "the most naïve of barbers" - and the buds soon broke in spring, beginning the cycle that ends with another October harvest.
The Levels climate favours varieties that ripen early and shrug off the damp. Curload's plantings reflect that, with a clear lean toward hardy, aromatic hybrids that perform reliably in marginal English summers.
The Wines
The Curload range is deliberately tight. Rather than trying to cover every colour and style, the team is focusing on a single white blend that showcases the varieties best suited to their site. Both products are currently out of stock while preparations continue.
Dry White Wine
The flagship Curload release is a Dry White Wine, bottled at 75cl and priced at £9.50 per bottle. It is described as a lovingly crafted and unique blend that comes in at dry to medium-dry, made from three complementary varieties:
- Seyval Blanc (85%) - the backbone of the wine, contributing characteristic citrus undertones and the crisp acidity that gives the blend its structure.
- Solaris (10%) - an early-ripening German variety that adds fruity, aromatic lift.
- Müller-Thurgau (5%) - a traditional aromatic variety that brings delicate hints of gooseberry and elderflower.
The combination is intended to be refreshing in its own right - a sociable glass to share with friends - while still being flexible enough to sit alongside a meal. The grape blend deliberately leans on varieties known to thrive in cool, damp English seasons, which is why Seyval Blanc dominates the cuvée. Enquiries and orders can be directed to the Dry White Wine product page.
Case of Six Bottles
For anyone looking to commit more seriously, the vineyard also offers a Case (6 bottles) priced at £70.00, which works out at the equivalent of the single-bottle price across six 75cl bottles. It is the natural way to get to know Curload properly, whether laying the bottles down for a dinner party or simply wanting to see how the wine evolves over a few evenings. The case is available through the Curload Vineyard shop, with a 10% discount offered to email subscribers.
Free Local Delivery
Free delivery is offered on orders over £40, which neatly covers a single case. Combined with the 10% pre-launch discount for email subscribers, the case option represents particularly good value for anyone within reach of the Levels delivery route.
The 2022 Vintage - A Year in the Cycle
Paul writes candidly about the realities of small-scale English winemaking, sharing the seasonal rhythm of the vineyard in detail. A piece titled From Local Vine to Local Wine - 2022 Vintage, a Year in the Cycle, published on 25 July 2022, walks through the year from dormancy to harvest.
Once the leaves drop, the vines go dormant for the winter. Bud break comes in spring, followed by flowering, fruit set and a long, slow ripening through the English summer. By October the bunches are ready and the picking team - family, friends, dogs included - moves through the rows. For Curload, that 2022 vintage was their second commercial harvest, with the team sharing both the wins (a healthy 1.4-tonne crop the year before) and the inevitable learning curves along the way.
There is no spin - just the honest account of people figuring out spur pruning for the first time, worrying that they have ruined their vines, and then watching them bounce back the following spring.
Visiting Curload Vineyard
Because the vineyard is in its pre-launch phase, formal tours and tastings are not currently offered. The focus is on bringing the wines to market before opening up further visitor experiences.
Contact Details
- Address: Curload Rd, Taunton TA3, UK
- Email: Sales@curloadvineyard.co.uk
- Telephone: 07780 707785
Shop and Pre-Launch Offers
Both the Dry White Wine and the case of six are currently out of stock while preparations continue. Subscribers to the email list receive a 10% discount on their first purchase and a notification when stock is released.
Why Curload Matters
Curload Vineyard is a small example of something bigger happening in English wine. The site has been growing grapes for over thirty years, but it is only under the Tillens' ownership that those grapes have been turned into a labelled, bottled, blended wine sold in the open market. That trajectory - long-established vines, new custodians, a tight single-cuvée range - is being repeated at vineyards all over the country, and is one of the reasons British wine production has grown so dramatically over the last decade.
For wine lovers, the appeal is obvious. A Seyval Blanc, Solaris and Müller-Thurgau blend from the Somerset Levels is not going to compete with Champagne or Chablis - it never set out to - but it offers something equally valuable: a genuinely local glass of wine, made from vines grown a few metres from where the bottle is filled, by a family who can point to the exact row of vines the grapes came from. That is exactly the kind of provenance English wine is built on, and Curload has it in abundance.
Final Thoughts
Curload Vineyard is still very much at the start of its commercial story, but the foundations are already in place: well-established vines, a clear single-cuvée approach, a family team that is happy to share the learning curve in public, and a home on the Somerset Levels that suits the varieties they grow. The blend in the bottle is a thoughtful, deliberately local expression of a site that has been quietly producing grapes for more than three decades, and the Tillens have given it a voice, a label and a future.