East Meon Vineyard

Tucked into a fold of the South Downs where the chalk ridge bends northwards, East Meon Vineyard is a one-acre, family-run English vineyard whose singular ambition is to produce a single, unblended vintage sparkling wine that captures the season and the soil of a single Hampshire close. Planted in 2006 and tended by George and Clare Bartlett with the help of family and a harvest brigade of local volunteers, the vineyard makes just one wine: Berrygarden, named after the close itself, which has been known by that name since ancient times. Available in the current release as the 2018 and 2020 vintages, Berrygarden is grown, picked and fermented as a single batch - a deliberate inversion of the blended, multi-parcel norm that characterises most large-scale sparkling wine production.

Where East Meon Vineyard Is and Why It Matters

East Meon is an ancient village in the Meon Valley, surrounded by high downs at the point where the chalk ridge of the South Downs turns northwards. The River Meon - pronounced "Mean" - rises a mile from the village and flows west and then south for some 22 miles before reaching the sea at the foot of Southampton Water. Among the village's many fine old buildings are All Saints Church (12th century and later) and the 14th-century manor house of the Bishops of Winchester, The Court House, which is also the postal address of the vineyard itself.

The vineyard lies within a small close on the edge of the village known for centuries as the Berrygarden. It sits on a south-south-western slope that rises from 375 to 400 feet (114 to 122 metres) above sea level and is backed on the north by the down known as Park Hill, which rises steeply behind it to 650 feet. The altitude, slope and aspect combine to give the site a particular microclimate and a particular set of geological conditions that, the Bartletts believe, distinguish it from the larger, flatter South Downs vineyards that sit on Upper Chalk.

A Brief History of Vines at East Meon

The Berrygarden is not the first vineyard to have grown in East Meon. Vineyards had been planted in England since Roman times, although with mixed success, and during the Middle Ages much of the cultivation was for verjuice - the sharp, acidic juice of unripe grapes used as a culinary vinegar and condiment.

A period of unusually warm, mostly dry summers between 1284 and 1311 - in which May frosts were virtually unknown - gave new encouragement to viticulture in southern England. The manorial accounts for 1307 record work on a vineyard in East Meon. While it is possible that the medieval vines were planted in the Berrygarden itself, a more probable location is a little steep-sided valley set into Park Hill some 150 yards to the north-east that is still known today by the evocative name Vineyard Hole. How long the medieval vineyard survived is not recorded.

Seven hundred years later, in 2006, the present East Meon Vineyard was planted on the one-acre Berrygarden close. By that time the suitability of southern England for growing grapes to be vinified by the champagne method had been proved and extensive new plantings had begun to be made across the South East.

Anthony Trollope put it memorably in his 1863 novel Rachel Ray: "The best grapes in the world are perhaps grown in England, though England is not a land of grapes." At the time Trollope was thinking of dessert grapes grown under glass. The same year, 1863, was also the fateful year in which the devastating Phylloxera louse first made its European appearance, in a greenhouse in Hammersmith, on vines imported from America.

The Land: Geology and Soil

East Meon and its vineyard lie at the extreme south-western end of the Wealden Basin, an elliptical formation of sedimentary beds that were uplifted and eroded in the middle, leaving a ring of chalk surrounding sandstone and other sediments. At its eastern end the chalk formation is cut through by the English Channel, leaving the white cliffs of Dover as the termination of the North Downs and Beachy Head as the end of the South Downs.

East Meon lies on the Lower Chalk, a narrow bed outcropping below the steep slope of the Middle Chalk (the chalk of which the cliffs of Dover and Beachy Head are formed). The Lower Chalk is a greyish stone that weathers to white over time. It is this grey chalk that underlies the Berrygarden.

The soil above it is an argillaceous loam with a depth of about 2 to 3 feet (60 - 90 cm) before the chalk is reached. It is free-draining, but with more substance and depth than the thin, hungry soils of the Upper Chalk on which most South Downs vineyards are planted. Crucially for vine-growing, it shares with those Upper Chalk soils a similarly high alkalinity.

The Climate

The maritime climate of southern England produces a weather pattern of generally mild winters and cool summers, but with very significant variations year by year in both temperature and rainfall. Annual and monthly historic averages are no useful guide to what may be expected in any particular month or in any year, and the small temperature effect of global warming is overshadowed by these monthly and annual variations.

East Meon shares the sunshine of the southern counties and enjoys comparative temperatures that reflect its height above sea level. It also has a high rainfall - consistently about 40 to 50 per cent above averages for the south of England - induced by the surrounding hills. That combination of altitude, aspect, rainfall and a deep, alkaline, free-draining soil on Lower Chalk is what gives Berrygarden its particular character.

Vines, Clones and Rootstock

The vineyard was planted in 2006 with 75 per cent Pinot Noir and 25 per cent Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir plantings consist of the Burgundy clone 115 together with the Champagne clones 521 and 386. The Chardonnay consists of the Burgundy clone 96 and the Champagne clone 277. All vines are on rootstock 41B, which has very good resistance to chlorosis - the yellowing of leaves caused by an alkaline soil.

Harvest is generally in the second half of October, with both the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir being picked on the same day. In most years the Chardonnay is about a week behind the Pinot Noir in achieving full ripeness, and in late years - when harvest is not until the end of October - it is necessary to select the ripe bunches only of Chardonnay. As a consequence, the proportions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the wine vary from year to year, both because of natural variation in performance and because of the need to remove the less ripe Chardonnay in late vintages.

Cultivation and Harvest

The vines are trained on trellises 6 feet (1.8 m) apart, with 3 feet 3 inches (1 m) between vines. The growth of grass and wild flowers down the aisles and beneath the vines is managed according to the season, and there are no exposed soils to be sprayed with herbicides.

Pruning is carried out between December and April. Training is by a variation on the single Guyot system which the Bartletts call the East Meon dual Guyot, under which two canes of unequal length are tied down in parallel, giving a balanced distribution of shoots that can be readily managed. Because of the need for a single crop that will produce a fine wine without blending, great care is taken - through management of the canopy, basal leaf removal and, where necessary, bunch selection - to ensure that only healthy and ripe grapes are sent to the winery.

A large force of local volunteers assists with the harvest, which is conducted on a single day for any given vintage.

The Aim: Purity and Intensity

England's long daylight hours and cool climate give a long growing season, enabling the production of wine with concentrated flavours. The aim of East Meon Vineyard, which it shares with its winemakers, is for a wine characterised by purity and intensity - the two qualities that the Bartletts believe are the essence of fine English sparkling wine.

The aim is not to produce a wine that is the same year by year, but one that reflects the weather from April through to October in that year, recognising that every year is different in this respect.

The Approach: One Batch, One Day, No Blending

In contrast to most other wines of its type, East Meon Berrygarden is the product of grapes that are:

• harvested on a single day;
• pressed together;
• co-fermented as a single unblended batch.

The small scale of the vineyard - one acre - allows an uncompromising and highly detailed approach to quality that is closer in spirit to Grand Cru Burgundy production than to most English vineyards.

The winemaker, Dermot Sugrue, explains the appeal of the project in his own words:

"What I enjoy most about making the East Meon Berrygarden wines is the moment each year the fruit arrives at the winery, it is always so pristine! I have never known such rigorous selection at harvest, every bunch delivered is quite literally perfect - with no trace of disease or underripe berries - and this is a fantastic starting point for making fine sparkling wine. This meticulous attention to detail is only possible on a small vineyard, and is more akin to Grand Cru Burgundy production than most English vineyards."

Making the Wine

After the single-day harvest, the grapes are pressed together and co-fermented. Each vintage is thus a celebration of the season and the terroir of the vineyard. After fermentation and conditioning - usually in oak barrels - the wine is bottled and undergoes its second fermentation in bottle, followed by further conditioning for many months before disgorgement.

The current releases are the 2018 and 2020 vintages. Both were warm-summer years with an early October harvest and are therefore comparable. Each was made at Wiston Estate Winery and disgorged, after more than three and a half years on its lees, at Itasca Winery.

The 2018 is exceptional in that, unusually, it was fermented and conditioned for 9 months in tank, whereas the 2020 was fermented and conditioned for the same period in oak barrels, as is the usual practice. The result is that the 2020 is a deeper gold in colour and has a fine toastiness in its flavour profile. What both vintages share is an intensity and length of flavour, a complexity that is the result of their conditioning and the time spent under cork, and a fine, persistent mousse.

The Wines: Berrygarden 2018 and 2020

Berrygarden 2020

The deeper gold of the two current releases, the 2020 vintage is the product of a warm summer and an early October harvest from a single picking day on the Berrygarden close. Fermented and conditioned in oak barrels before secondary fermentation in bottle and more than three and a half years on the lees, it shows a fine toastiness on the palate alongside the intensity and length of flavour common to both releases. Berrygarden 2020 is available to order from the vineyard at £33.00 per bottle.

Berrygarden 2018

An exceptional vintage, in that the wine was fermented and conditioned for 9 months in tank rather than in oak, the 2018 was disgorged at Itasca Winery after more than three and a half years on its lees. It shares with the 2020 the same intensity, length and complexity, and the same fine mousse, while reflecting the particular character of the 2018 season. Berrygarden 2018 is also available to order at £33.00 per bottle.

Ordering the Wine

Both current vintages can be bought directly from the vineyard at £33.00 per bottle, with orders placed online.

Visiting East Meon Vineyard

East Meon Vineyard is a small, family-run operation that does not offer regular public opening hours, tours or tastings. The postal address is:

East Meon Vineyard
The Court House
East Meon
Petersfield
GU32 1NJ

Telephone: (0044) (0)1730 823274
Email: grbartlett@ymail.com

The Court House is a 14th-century manor house, originally the manor house of the Bishops of Winchester, and forms a striking backdrop to a visit to the village. The village itself - with All Saints Church, the River Meon and the surrounding downs - is well worth exploring on foot.

Following East Meon Vineyard Online

The vineyard is active on social media:

• East Meon Vineyard on Facebook
• East Meon Vineyard on Instagram
• East Meon Vineyard on Twitter

Final Notes

East Meon Vineyard is, in many respects, the antithesis of the large, blended English sparkling wine operation. One acre of vines on Lower Chalk on the edge of a Hampshire village; one day of harvest; one batch of pressing and fermentation; one unblended wine; two current vintages (2018 and 2020) released under the name Berrygarden; and a winemaking philosophy that prizes purity and intensity over consistency.