Description
About Hattingley Valley Wines in Hampshire, England
From its birth as a farm diversification project back in 2008, we have grown to become one of the leading wineries in the UK, based in rural Hampshire. The Robinson family made their initial steps in 2008 by planting our very first vineyard on some of their farmland but had no idea that it would lead to where we are now. We have a 600 tonne, eco-friendly winery that was purpose built under the guidance of our then Head Winemaker, Emma Rice. Emma took full advantage of Simon’s lack of industry knowledge (and at the time, large chequebook) to coax him into buying the best equipment throughout, so now we have one of the most advanced wineries in the world, and Simon has a much smaller chequebook.
The only thing we take seriously is the winemaking, the rest, we try and have a little fun with, so expect the unexpected, embrace the unconventional, throw off the shackles of tradition and join us in some rather remarkable wines….. People used to laugh at English wine, they don’t seem to be laughing any more…
Hattingley has always sourced fruit from a wide range of England’s regions rather than 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. Growing grapes successfully is tremendously difficult in the UK, so we only choose 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..
