Wines made from Ortega grapes

When I started my nomadic winemaking project, in 2018 at Niepoort Vinhos in Portugal’s Douro region, I had no idea how large a part Spain would go on to play – I certainly never intended to make it the locus of my project. So how did it happen? Yes, there was an element of chance and taking opportunities where they arose. But also, among the talented winemakers to whom I pitched collaborations, I sensed an openness and a readiness to collaborate which seemed particular to Spain. Held in June las ...

Producers including Rathfinny, Ridgeview and Bolney embarked upon their quest to turn Sussex into an appellation back in 2015. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has now finally recognised Sussex wine as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). It will enter the register on 5 July, 2022, giving Sussex wine the same legal status as Jersey Royal potatoes, Cornish clotted cream and Stilton cheese. Mark Driver, the former hedge fund manager who set up Rathfinny Wine Estat ...

Sealwood Cottage Farm in Derbyshire, central England, has been put up for sale with a guide price of £1.4m ($1.66m). A five-bedroom, Grade II-listed cottage is the focal point for the 8.68-hectare (21.44 acres) estate, but it also features a vineyard of around 1.6ha established by the current owners, John and Elisabeth Goodall. Listing agent Fisher German said the Swadlincote-based estate’s guide price doesn’t include ‘any apportionment of the [wine] business’, but the owners would be ‘open to s ...