Marvellous Mereworth: Enjoy a

Uncorking THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

Who knew that the ancient Meade drink would be the latest tipple of choice for discerning drinkers? SO magazine’s James Viner talks to its creators

Mereworth Wines,

to find out more about their business

DID YOU KNOW?

‘Honey wine, the base of Will and Scott’s Marourde Spritz, is believed to be the world’s first alcoholic beverage, stumbled upon by the chance discovery that honey could be blended with water and would ferment.’ T he Boscawens have been farming the fields around Mereworth – or Marourde, to give it its historic name – near Hadlow for over 250 years. Over the centuries, their hops and apples have gone into many of England’s best beers and ciders. More recently, they’ve turned to grape growing in Kent’s remarkable soil. Hooch, you could say, is in their blood.

Mereworth Wine’s CEO William Boscawen spent many years mainly working in marketing and finance in London and Asia but always knew that he would one day return to the Upper Medway Valley.

It was whilst working in Hong Kong, juggling an MBA in his spare time, that his love for wine truly started to show. In 2015, the chance came for William to return to Kent to take on some family farming interests. He jumped at it. Within a year, he had planted his first vineyard and become vineyard manager. First, he made a winery in a garage, and a year later, a larger one at Brewers Hall Oast down the road, in Mereworth.

Mereworth Wines produced its first commercial vintage of English sparkling wine to great acclaim in 2018; the start of a long and exciting journey crafting tasty wines from their home in the Garden of England. Within a few months of release, their ‘White from Black 2018’ Sparkling Wine had already won its first national award, achieving a Silver Medal in the WineGB Awards 2020.

All the while, as Will waited for the vines to grow and for the wines to age and mature, he set himself another challenge of re-inventing the world’s oldest alcoholic drink, mead. Named ‘Marourde’ it is brewed in-house at Brewers Hall Oast, and takes inspiration from local botanicals and honey from the 70 hives on the estate. Here we discover the rest of the story so far…

William Boscawen

What makes Mereworth Wines and its products so special?

Will: At Mereworth Wines we pride ourselves on championing English wine, and moreover the fabulous drinks which can be made right here in Kent. The Garden of England has grown the ingredients which have gone into many of England’s finest drinks. Brewers Hall, the home of our winery, is a fantastic example of this heritage. It used to be a working farm and our oast itself would have been filled with hop pickers bringing in the hops from the fields to be dried, cooled and pressed into hop pockets. We want to continue this legacy of beautiful drinks made in the heart of Kent, inspired by the produce grown from the fields which surround us. “There is a fantastic Tell us a little about your vineyards and traceability as our grapes travel a mere where you make mile to our winery where bestow. Our your awardthey are then pressed, winery is just a winning sparkling wine fermented and aged” short journey down the road in and two Marourde Mereworth. There is Spritzes? a fantastic traceability Will: Our vineyards are as our grapes travel a mere perfectly positioned on the southmile to our winery where they are facing slopes of the Kent Downs in then pressed, fermented and aged Wateringbury, benefiting from the with just myself and Scott involved perfect growing conditions which in the full production process. We the climate, soil and elevation make our sparkling wines by the

traditional method, using the same processes as are used in the production of Champagne.

Our Marourde Spritz and Rosé Spritz [sparkling mead] are also made at our winery by myself and Scott.

What makes the grapes from your vineyard so special?

Scott: Our vineyard naturally gives us a fantastic base to start from

MEREWORTH AT A GLANCE: Owner and vineyard

manager: William Boscawen Winemaker: Scott Gebbie

Winery Location/

Capacity: Brewers Hall, Mereworth, Kent; ca. 15,000 bottles p/a

Vineyard established:

2016

Area under vine (2020):

2.5ha Grapes: 54% Chardonnay, 42% Pinot Noir, 4% Pinot Meunier

Vineyard Production

2018: 3500 bottles

Vineyard Production

2019: 10,000 bottles Vine density: 4,300 vines/ha Elevation: 80m Average yield: 6-8 tons/ha

– the combination of the well-drained rocky soil and the aspect of the vineyard, fortunately well-positioned on the Greensand Ridge. We have supplemented this with a dedicated and adaptable team, as well as access to high quality vineyard workers which goes a long way in keeping a well-maintained canopy; essential for sustainable high-quality fruit production.

What is your winemaking philosophy?

Will: It is very much determined by patience. We believe English wine is here to stay and we want to take people on this journey with us, encouraging them to migrate away from other world wines and embrace English winemaking. We are fully aware that this isn’t going to happen overnight, but even over the last decade we have seen English wines, and wines from Kent vineyards particularly, really coming to the fore and gaining the recognition they deserve. We are confident we are setting the template for a very prosperous future.

Do you have a shop where we can sample and buy your wines?

Will: Since the beginning of lockdown, we have opened our cellar door to the public. With many shops and pubs closed, we wanted to be able to provide our local community with quality, locally-produced drinks on which they could rely. The response has been fantastic and demand has continued, and grown, as lockdown measures have eased. We have plans to expand and improve our retail offering going forward.

What’s your favourite thing about being a craft English drinks producer?

Will: The English wine trade is just starting to grow and that means it’s a small community at this stage which is a blessing. You get to meet great similar minds all trying with one goal to raise the bar and increase awareness in this exciting new trade.

What’s been your biggest achievement at Mereworth thus far?

Will: The easy answer to this would be to say it’s the awards we have won, but this wouldn’t be my answer. I would say my biggest achievement to date is the great people who now work for me. I’ve always maintained, a business is only as good as the people it employs. I’m seeing extremely great minds joining me, and that’s really reflected in the enthusiasm for the product we have, and how we talk to our friends and consumers who come to our cellar door. I can feel that sense of pride going out of the door with every bottle we make.

Scott Gebbie

What’s the best part about your job?

Will: I started a very small vineyard to cut my teeth and understand every intricacy that goes into vineyard management. And as I grew the business, I was able to bring on other people, and focus on building up the winery. The greatest privilege of this role is that every day is varied – you have to learn anything from electrics to plumbing to tractor management, vineyard management, fermentation, chilling, bottling. It has been, and continues to be a huge, beautiful learning curve which I’ve been incredibly lucky to be involved with.

Scott: There is a tremendous satisfaction in working with a product every step of the way, from soil to consumer, and having ownership and interaction with the product at every stage.

What’s next on the horizon for Mereworth?

Will: 2021 looks incredibly exciting for us. Alongside continued production from our own vineyards, we look forward to making wines for other people as we grow our production capacity. We intend to make a huge change to our cellar-door offering, with the objective of creating an experience which we hope will be of great value to those who live around us. In 2021 we will release our ‘White from White’ Sparkling Wine made from Chardonnay grapes. Fingers crossed for a very exciting 2021.

MAD ABOUT THE MEAD

Here William Boscawen tells us more about Mereworth Wine’s two award-winning Marourde Spritzes, which put a modern twist on a drink that has been made for millennia

As an English winemaker, it was really important for us that we use the craftsmanship of winemaking techniques to restore mead, or honeywine, to the palate of the modern consumer. Although honey wine is experiencing a resurgence, we didn’t want to recreate the sweet, syrupy traditional mead of old. The great versatility in the wine-making process has allowed us to experiment with ingredients and conditions to reinvent this ancient drink, transforming it into our revolutionary English Spritz, Marourde; a medium-dry sophisticated drink, bursting with captivating flavours.

It was important for Marourde to reflect its home in the Garden of England, which is why we have taken inspiration from the best of the local produce and botanicals right here on our doorstep, and infused this with our passion for wine-making.

We add cool Kentish water to honey and slowly ferment with a pinch of Champagne yeast, before infusing locally inspired botanicals, then finally adding the spritz. The result is a modern mead, nine thousand years in the making. We offer our Marourde in two varieties: our Marourde Spritz is aged in oak barrels before we add the Spritz, giving the woody undertones which complement the citrus, honey flavours, whilst our Rosé Spritz bursts with honied hedgerow black fruits, with the delicate infusions of elderflower and elderberry.

MEREWORTH’S TIMELINE (2016-2020):

2016 – Will Boscawen planted his 1ha vineyard in Wateringbury, Kent 2017 – A further 1.5ha of vineyards were planted on the estate 2017 – Brewers Hall Oast restored to become their new winery 2018 – First vintage of English Sparkling Wine 2018 – Marourde wins ‘Product of The Year’ in the Taste of Kent Awards 2019 – Vineyard production increases to 10,000 bottles March 2020 –Marourde Rosé Spritz wins ‘Best Alcoholic Drink’ in the Taste of Kent Awards April 2020 – ‘White from Black 2018’ Sparkling Wine is ready for release April 2020 – They open the cellar door for retail August 2020 – ‘White from Black 2018’ Sparkling Wine was awarded a Silver medal at the WineGB Awards September 2020 – Enlarged the tank capacity for future harvests of their vines, which are another year older and more abundant with fruit; Mereworth is now ready to make wine for other people

DID YOU KNOW? Mereworth’s traditional method English sparkling wine is produced entirely by just two people: hands-on owner Will Boscawen and winemaker Scott Gebbie.

For more information

on Mereworth Wines and to buy their sparkling wine and Marourde Spritz, head over to www.thebrewershall.co.uk Free local delivery on orders over £50 and free shipping over £99.

Mereworth Wine products are also available from Brewers Hall cellar-door shop, Tonbridge Rd, Mereworth, Maidstone ME18 5JD whuch is open Mon- Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 10am-4pm.