With 2017 witnessing the planting of the one millionth vine in Great Britain and the viticulture sector continuing to grow from strength to strength, it is with great pride and excitement that I introduce to you the first edition of Vineyard.
An independent, monthly magazine, Vineyard is a platform to not only celebrate our industry’s many achievements, but to facilitate conversation and knowledge sharing between growers, winemakers, industry experts, suppliers and wine buyers alike.
As well as being distributed to the all-important vineyard and winery owners and managers across the nation, Vineyard has also been created with the drinks trade in mind. The magazine will also be delivered to wine buyers and sommeliers. Our news, profiles on vineyards, and the wine reviews from acclaimed critic Matthew Jukes will be of interest to those responsible for putting English and Welsh wines in front of their customers. Vineyard will keep them up-to-date with the sector’s developments and new wine releases.
Alongside news updates, social pages, a ‘meet the manager’ profile and an editor’s visit, we have secured a top-flight team of monthly columnists and contributors to share with you their insights into different sectors of the industry, from out in the vineyard to back in the winery.
As vineyard managers are busy pruning, wine makers skilfully blending and retailers recovering from the festive period, our January edition focuses on Bacchus, the variety putting English stills on the menu.
In our meet the manage profile, we find out more about the creator of Bacchus Block, Lyme Bay Winery’s head winemaker Liam Idzikowski; I met with Lee Dyer at Winbirri Vineyard, Norfolk, to explore the impact of winning a globally recognised award; and in our wine reviews, Matthew Jukes thinks he has found England’s “Grand Cru” of the future.
This month, Sally Crowder from Vine Works poignantly reminds employers about the importance of getting to know seasonal vineyard workers; Agrii dig deeper into the benefits of knowing exactly what’s in the soil and how to monitor changes; Matthew Berryman from CLM draws inspiration from the solar sector; and would you wrap your vineyard in plastic? With evidence to suggest yield increases of between four and 22 tonnes per hectare, Dr Richard Smart discusses the benefits of cloches.
I hope you enjoy your first instalment of Vineyard. If you have any comments or feedback, why not write to us at letters@vineyardmagazine.co.uk or find us on social media? If you want to be featured, have news to share, or suggestions of topics you would like to see covered in 2018, please email me at
editor@vineyardmagazine.co.uk
– Victoria Rose
