Local people making their corner of rural Britain unique
This week
SaturdayÌý19 April
Repeated ThursdayÌý24 April
St Georges Day is fittingly the day when English wine producers hold their annual wine tasting so Helen Mark takes a look at the current renaissance in the wine industry as she meets Bob Lindo, the chair of the UK Vineyards Association, and his family at their vineyard in the Camel Valley in Cornwall.
English wine makers are now regularly winning the top international competitions. The Lindo family at the Camel Valley Vineyard is no exception. In 2005 Bob Lindo won Gold in the International Wine Challenge and his son Sam is the current holder of the 2007 UK Wine Maker of the Year, just two of their many titles. This is no mean feat when you consider that they only planted the vineyard in 1989 after a career change for Bob from RAF fighter pilot to taking on a farm.
Bob’s wife Annie is also involved. She has heeded the old adage that ‘the best wine is made in the vineyard’ meaning that care of the vines is of the utmost importance. For 20 years she has single-handedly pruned her half of the vineyard, that’s over 11,000 vines treating them as individuals each with their own needs.
At the Camel Valley Vineyard they produce both red and white wine but their specialty, as is the case now with many UK wine producers, is their white sparkling wine. Of course it cannot be called Champagne so instead rejoices in the name of ‘Cornwall’.
The Lindo family firmly believe there should be no secrets to wine making and that sharing knowledge among producers will only enhance the quality of English wine. But even with our climate getting warmer and potentially vines becoming a more common sight in our countryside, they warn that it’s never going to be easy to be successful. It needs flair, dedication and exactly the right south facing slope.
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