Take a look at some of Yorkshire's vineyards and growers producing award-winning wines

Vine grower and winemaker Jon Fletcher knew he had produced something special.
Stanley, the dog in charge at Ryedale Vineyards, checks the crop.Stanley, the dog in charge at Ryedale Vineyards, checks the crop.
Stanley, the dog in charge at Ryedale Vineyards, checks the crop.

“I could tell this was a medal-winning wine when first I tasted it,” he says of Ryedale Vineyards’ Strickland Red 2018, which has just picked up a silver medal in the 2020 WineGB Awards. “What set this wine apart was its warming fruity flavours, with a balance of acidity and smooth tannins.”

The medal is an accolade well worth having. Wine GB is the most important association of vineyards in the UK and with TV wine personality Oz Clarke and several Masters of Wine in charge of awarding the medals, only the best are selected.

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This is not the first medal that Ryedale Vineyards has won. It has a record of notching up wins in other prestigious competitions, such as the International Wine Challenge.

The Dunesforde Vineyard team with dog Sam.The Dunesforde Vineyard team with dog Sam.
The Dunesforde Vineyard team with dog Sam.

Ryedale Vineyards, situated between Malton and York, was first planted in 2006, and Jon started working with the vines ten years ago, eventually taking over the estate in 2016. Since then he has expanded the vineyard to 14,500 vines, as well as making significant changes to winemaking, storage and the blends.

Despite planting more vines, Ryedale Vineyards struggles to meet demand. “We sell out every year,” says Jon. “This year the crop was hit by a frost in May which wiped out 60 per cent of the vineyard known as ‘Paradise’, although we were able to save a lot more at the main vineyard at Farfield Farm by lighting fires and keeping the air circulating.”

With a busy B&B which is booked up for months ahead, as well as apple and plum orchards, Jon is helped in the business by his wife Michelle and sons Jack and Kit. “We have a new cider which we make with apples co-fermented with Pinot Noir skins. It is named Miss Sheila’s Cider after one of our long-standing customers,” says Jon.

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One of Yorkshire’s newest wine ventures, Dunesforde Vineyard, also did well in the WineGB Awards. Owned by Ian and Mandy Townsend, who are helped by their children James, Peter and Georgina, it was planted in 2016 after James had spent several summers helping with the vines at Castello di Potentino in Tuscany.

“We are all fans of wine, so we started to look for a vineyard to buy,” says Peter. Despite looking in Italy – where every vineyard came with a castle, and in France where there were similar large property issues – they eventually decided on a plot of land 100 metres from their own front door in Upper Dunsforth. A team of agronomists came and looked it over and decided that this four-acre site of gently sloping, sandy clay was a good place to grow vines. It was planted to 6,000 vines, using the usual English grapes of Solaris, Bacchus and Pinot Noir Précoce, plus some slightly less usual Pinot Gris.

To win a medal for their Bacchus 2018 means that all their decisions were right. “This is the first wine competition we have entered and to come away with a bronze medal is recognition for all the time, effort and passion we have put into our vineyard,” says Peter.

There are expansion plans at Dunesforde too. “We have a new building on site where we can do tastings, and we hope to have an exhibition too. It is quite likely that there have been vines grown in this area since Roman times,” says Peter. “We are on the road to Aldborough where we know the Romans traded wine. We already have an antique press and some amphora so this will make a link between old and new winemaking.”

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One thing that Dunesforde Vineyard has done is to build a team of volunteers who come and help with the vines. “Almost everyone in the village has come along to help with weeding and pruning, and of course it will be harvest soon, so we are looking forward to seeing the team then too. These lovely people are not just neighbours now, they are friends,” adds Peter.

Volunteers are essential at Yorkshire Heart Vineyard, in Nun Monkton, where Chris and Gillian Spakouskas and their family look after 14 acres of vines as well as a brewery. Starting out with just 35 vines in 2000, the vineyard has gradually expanded, and there are probably another three acres left to plant, although Chis has also been eyeing up 19 acres of grassland. “I might leave that job to the next generation,” he says.

Just like Ryedale Vineyards, Yorkshire Heart was also hit by a frost on the night of May 13. “It was just a short sharp frost for four hours but it took out the buds on the young vines. Older vines were less severely damaged but it means that the harvest will be later this year. We think we will start around October 12,” adds Chris. Frost is bad news for quality but the grapes are small and after a wonderful summer the flavours are good, so quality will be high.

The other major change at the vineyard has been caused by the pandemic which meant the whole site closed to visitors for five months. Over the years Yorkshire Heart has developed a significant tourism business with vineyard tours, picnics among the vines, corporate fun days and wine-tasting events. All these were cancelled and are gradually being restarted with all the necessary Covid-19 procedures in place. “We used to take groups of 100 people around on a Saturday and now we have small groups of just a few people. I really enjoy meeting these small, enthusiastic groups,” says Chris.

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Check the Yorkshire Heart vineyard website and their Facebook page to stay in touch with their events, and to sign up to volunteer to pick grapes.

Vineyards are springing up all over Yorkshire, from Goole to Nidderdale and from Sheffield to Ripon and this slow, steady recognition of the quality wine they produce is perhaps just the start of a major industry. One thing these vineyards do is inspire a new generation to get into wine by growing grapes, making wine or just selling and serving it.

Maybe some will study winemaking, go off to college and then, one day return to make even more wine in the North.

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James Mitchinson

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