Our Vines & Wines
What we produce
We produce a still white and a pink (for we are English), which are dry or off-dry wines that have a uniquely floral and fruity character that hints at the English countryside and hedgerow flowers that the grapes are enveloped by. We also produce a high quality traditional method sparkling wines that gives many decent Champagnes a run for their money. Our single varietal and blended wines sing like skylarks on the tongue.
Our growing ethos is to grow vines that are grown with minimal artificial inputs such as herbicides and pesticides - to grow as organically as possible with an ultimate aim of being fully organic.
Our wines are suitable for Vegans too.
What we make...
We love what we do and it shows. We grow a range of grapes to make our wines. We know what we want - good wines that please our drinkers and that are interesting and not run of the mill. People tell us we've hit the right note with our Elsa Pink and Millstone Solaris white. But here's the thing.... we have barely started to make the wines that we want to!
What we are going to make...
Our 2018 vintage was a bumper crop, our first one that enables us to make the wines we've always wanted to make. For the first time in 2019, we will release our first single varietal white wine made from Solaris grapes. We are also making and releasing a pink from Phoenix and Rondo (with some Bolero too).
Our first sparkling wine made with Seyval blanc, with a hint of Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier was crushed and made from the 2018 harvest too and this unique Derbyshire fizz was released in late 2020.
White Grapes
We grow a range of grapes for still and sparkling wines. Of our white varieties, some of which are experimental, most go into still white or rose (with the red varieties). Solaris is perhaps our most widely planted variety and is an aromatic and fruity early ripener that has good disease resistance. Next is Seyval blanc, a higher acid variety that makes great fizz. We have lots of Phoenix too, which has Bacchus as one of its parents and has Sauvignon fruit charecter and can be versatile but the 2018 will be blended with Rondo to make what we hope will be a super pink wine. Other minor varieties include Chardonnay-like Auxerrois and spicy Siegerrebe.
Red Grapes
We nearly all love a glass of red but, alas, our Derbyshire climate isn't kind enough to these harder to ripen grapes to make a decent one (in my opinion). Nonetheless we can make a lovely drop of Pink up here! It's our fastest selling wine (we're nearly always sold out) so we are making more than usual from the 2018 harvest. Rondo is our most planted red variety and is the mainstay of our pink, blended with Phoenix for the 2018. With a lovely racy acidity, fresh cranberry-like fruit character it can make a fabulous pink. We also grow an early ripening clone of Pinot Noir, along with Pinot Meunier, which feature in our unique Derbyshire sparkling Lindway Brook.