Based in the sunny and sheltered Waveney Valley in South Norfolk, overlooking the villages of Earsham and Bungay, winemaker Ben Witchell crafts wines using a blend of innovation and a respect for tradition. The vineyard site was selected as one of the driest and sunniest regions in England and the south-east facing vines are planted on free-draining gravel and flint soil.

2021 vintage report

Strangely, although we’ve heard lots of reports of it being a difficult harvest for other growers, we had our best ever yield and quality.  Ripeness was slightly lower than previous years in some varieties but not by much and overall we were delighted.  We avoided all potential issues such as mildew, thankfully.

Obviously we did pick later than previous years. We started and finished approx 3 weeks later than usual but apart from that, we didn’t feel too much of an impact from the cold start to the season and the lack of sun in August.  We avoided the frosts in May as our buds were so late coming out (although after the frost damage we sustained in 2020, we deliberately pruned some areas of the vineyard later, which certainly helped.)