Words by Louise Fletcher Photos by Max Miechowski
Raising a glass to Yorkshire’s finest
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After hearing a broad Yorkshire accent butchering the delicate pronunciation needed to order a world class bottle of wine, it’s hard to imagine a Leeds landscape ever producing a bottle to rival it’s old world counterparts. Besides, the weather just wouldn’t be good enough… Well that’s where you’re wrong. Although we may be preconditioned to believe that you only find vines growing in countries bathed in sun-kissed weather, you might be surprised to find out that as far back as Roman times, it wouldn’t have been uncommon to see vineyards across the country. Although these skills mostly died out when the 1st world war unfolded, there are plenty of people bringing wine back to the UK and we’re lucky enough to have one of these vineyards right on our doorstep. Started 30 odd years ago, George Bowden set out to create Leventhorpe Vineyard from a piece of land he spotted one day in an agricultural magazine with a title so niche, you can’t ever imagine an audience large enough to read it. After scoping it out and nodding in the wrong places at an auction, the land was his and he started out on a journey to
build a name for Yorkshire wine around the world. Now before you all go running out to buy some vines to supply your two bottle a week habit, there’s a little bit more to growing vines than planting seeds, pointing them towards the sun and hoping for the best. Something which George’s background in chemistry and geography helped with; “It’s not a case of just buying a bit of land and planting some vines. You might as well throw your money away. It has to be the exact right spot. “It’s a long hard slog. You can only make wine after four years of planting vines and then you need to know what your land is capable of, you need to know what your vines are capable. You have to learn over the years what to do with your grapes given a certain type of weather pattern. Too many people think the kids have left home and we have got rid of the horse, let’s grow some vines.” And although a bit of geographical know how is no doubt handy, George’s trips to Californian Vineyards in the 60s have also helped build up a bank of knowledge, even if he can’t always remember how he got home… “I used to work in Canada and the States in