New sparkling wines

A sparkling rosé and new sparkling white wine are now available.

Hendred Brut Rosé is a new addition to the range and has subtle hints of peach and rose petal with a zesty base.

The latest Hendred Brut is crisp and zesty with flavours of citrus, white cherry, green apple and brioche.

The still rosé is tantalizingly fruity yet dry, with essence of summer berries, especially strawberry.

The still white (Spring) has a floral aroma, a fruity fusion including passionfruit and lime on the palate and a crisp finish.

Drop in for a taste of the new range Saturday 16th December any time between 4.30-6.30pm when the shop will be open and gift packaging available. Click and collect or delivery available too.

Hendred Brut and Hendred Cuvée Sold Out!

Hendred Cuvée and Hendred Brut are sold out. There may be a few remaining at Hendred Store and Post Office, Q Gardens Farm Shop, Oxford Grazing Co or Millets Farm. Some of the Brut labels were wrinkled (mostly back labels, a few on the front) which we picked out as we didn’t want to sell a less than perfect bottle of wine at full price. These are available at 30% discount until stocks last.

The new Brut and the long awaited rosé sparkling are ready and will be available in a couple of days time.

Seyval Blanc and Pinot Noir Harvests

It was the biggest harvest ever and a really great team – huge amount of picking was done and truly rewarding though it was a bit sticky at the end!

Harvest Time

The Madeleine Angevine crop which was picked the earliest ever was deceptively big – in fact our biggest so far, the grapes and tendrils entwined in the trellising, it takes a bit of unwinding. Very excited about the wine from these as the wine-maker’s stats on sugars/acids are perfect after pressing. The other varieties of grapes are much easier to harvest and present themselves, basket ready.

Best Rosé 2023

We thought it tasted pretty good and delighted that the eminent panel of judges did too at the Thames and Chiltern’s Vineyards Association awards this September. The glorious Pinot Noir grapes have done it again, after winning this award back in 2019. And this year’s crop is looking juicy too, a bunch picked a bit early for this picture!

A Summer of Local Entertainment

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While we have been busy on projects around the vineyard – inlcuding installing solar panels on the out-building roof,  planting a wildflower meadow and more trees and getting to grips with a mechanical weeder to name a few, we thought you might like to know about a few local events we are involved with over the spring/summer.   

Sunday 23rd April 10am-3pm – Ardington Food Fair in aid of Riding for the disabled – in  The Loyd Lindsay Rooms – Village Hall  A delicious array of local goodies and tasty lunch options.

Sunday 14th May 12-4pm Childrey WI Craft Fair at Childrey Village Hall including afternoon teas, pottery, beauty products, jewellery, plants, flowers.

Sunday 18th June 11am-5pm Thames Valley Food & Drink Festival at Brightwell Vineyard.  A gathering of local food and drinks producers including local vineyards offering tastings and a relaxed atmosphere with live music.

Friday 11th – Sunday 20th August  Waterperry Opera Festival  Hendred Wines are delighted to be wine partner and you can order food (and our wine!) in advance with your ticket.   8 productions this summer; including the critically acclaimed productions of Mansfield Park and Peter Rabbit’s Musical Adventures. Headlining are new productions of Carmen and double-bill, Acis and Galatea/ Dido and Aeneas.  We have enjoyed events at Waterperry Gardens ourselves over the years and wholeheartedly recommend them.

Hendred Brut vs Bollinger

How do Hendred sparklings compare to other well known brands? Over the years we have heard of several blind tastings where Hendred sparkling has been voted favourite. We were delighted to receive this from an independent wine tasting company in Berskire:

” Just wanted to let you know we used a bottle of your Brut for a blind tasting event last night, up against a Bollinger Special Reserve – the game was which of the wines would you pay £49 or £21.50 for – and 12 of the 14 in the group all thought your Brut was the wine they’d pay £49 for, which was excellent.

This was a very experienced group as well, so always nice when a good English fizz wins out with those! “

This year’s Brut is now £22.50, but still pretty good value we think!

Just as delightful is a write up like the one below from the well-travelled Allie of Englishvineyards:

Vineyard is 50!

To mark the vineyard’s 50th year we wanted to create a presentation box that captures the essence of the environment here. Ideal as a gift and heightens the anticipation of the sparkling inside! Now available on the online shop for ‘click and collect’ and at our open afternoon on Saturday 26th November.

Evening sparkle at the ball

Our sparkling went down very well at a local ball on Friday evening: ‘It set the perfect tone for the evening and everyone was very impressed by its quality’ said the organiser Margaret. This cuveé served on Friday was described by wine judges previously: ‘Pale lemon-green, tiny bubbles; green apple, fresh yeast, delicate aromatics; Brut style, racy acidity, light body, creamy mousse texture, lovely definition, good integration and long finish. Elegant, pristine.’ This was from the regional trade association competition in September, where both the brut and cuvée were awarded silver medals.

Harvest 2022

Well, you couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to pick grapes; the sun shone down from the heavens and the grapes were all picked by noon. Although the berries were very numerous and sweet – the volume was a little less than the bumper crop last year, but still a couple of tonnes from this harvest and just less than a tonne of Madeleine Angevine from the smaller harvest a couple of weeks ago. The Pinot Noir and Seyval Blanc grapes are now at the winemakers and will be made into a still rosé and a sparkling rosé. The merry band of harvesters tucked into a delicious lunch brought to the vineyard by Bill and Carmel from the Wheatsheaf village pub and some apple crumbles made with Bramleys from the apple trees around the vineyard. Thanks to Marian Bean for some of these photos which captured the atmosphere perfectly. More exciting video footage to come…….