Hattingley has always sourced fruit from a wide range of England’s regions rather than just relying on our own vineyards in Hampshire. Although England is a small country, there is a multitude of soil types and microclimates which make all the difference in a cool, marginal climate. Frost can be a major problem so being able to spread the risk across a variety of areas is very useful.
Over the past few years, we have worked with a number of established farmers who either had vineyards already or who wished to diversify from other types of farming. Emma has travelled countless miles to find the best growers with the ideal conditions to establish vineyards. Growing grapes successfully is tremendously difficult in the UK so she only chooses those sites that have true potential. We enter into long term (usually ten years as a minimum) contracts to ensure that it is viable for all.
The old adage of ‘you can make bad wine from good grapes but it is impossible to make good wine from bad grapes’ remains true meaning we work very hard to ensure that we work with only the very best fruit possible.
We are now pleased to see these vineyards starting to bear fruit (quite literally) and we wanted to show you some of our partner growers.
