Newick Wine Estate

Why did we plant a vineyard?

It’s a good question, and one we often ask ourselves! The vineyard was planted in the spring of 2023 on 8.5 hectares (about 20 acres) of land that we own in Newick. We have lived at Ketches in Newick since 2007 (and lived in The Twitten House next door from 2000 until we moved into Ketches). The Ketches land was let for a peppercorn rent to a local farmer who grazed his cattle on the land when we moved in. We switched land use to sheep grazing from the local Newick and Sutton Hall Estate and did not really consider doing anything else with the land for many years. We always have taken great pleasure from walking the land, most recently with our three dogs, Dylan, Bertie and Peanut, but busy work lives and three growing children did not leave much time for considering other uses for the land.

The idea for the vineyard did not come from a single lightbulb moment but more from a confluence of several factors. I think COVID played a factor, giving us enforced time at home and the space to reflect on what we might do for the next twenty years of so (or the rest of our lives, whichever is longer!). Certainly our time of life is an important factor, with our three children having left home and reaching an age when, if we are going to do something new, then we need to get on with it, especially given how what a long term project a vineyard and wine-making is.

We certainly have an avid interest in wine as consumers and collectors, and the growing reputation and quality of English wine is hard to miss. Our goal is to produce the highest quality wine we possibly can from our patch of Sussex. Studies showed that the site is a good one, with perfect south facing slopes, the right altitude and a sheltered aspect – the vines don’t like being too exposed to wind. You can’t make good wine from bad grapes, so we have been working hard over the last three years to tend each of our 37,000 vines to produce strong and healthy plants that will slowly produce steadily growing yields over the coming years. However, it is important not to be too greedy too soon and push the vines to produce more fruit than they can support in the early years.

We planted Chardonnay (15,000 vines), Pinot Noir (12,000), Pinot Meunier (5,000) and Bacchus (5,000). We have over 20 clones of these varieties in the vineyard, which produce grapes with different characteristics, depending on the season. Our goal is to produce small quantities of high quality still and sparkling wine, pursuing the “grower” philosophy of making the best possible wine depending on the season, rather than the same products every year. We hope that our wines will genuinely express the characteristics of our site, and climate and our values, that they will be enjoyed by the community and beyond.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this first blog – we’ll be back soon with more information regarding our team, and recent harvest and the wines we will release in 2026.