3 minute read
Meet the Winemaker
Dan Farrell-Wright makes a pilgrimage to Breaky Bottom, East Sussex, to visit English wine pioneer Peter Hall
Visiting Peter Hall, a legend of English wine making, is to journey to a different time. Leaving the main road you head for two miles along a farm track. Following a sharp right-hand bend you descend through a small vineyard to a picturesque farmhouse. Sheep gently graze the slopes. This is Breaky Bottom.
It is little wonder that Peter, a self-confessed hermit, is happiest when ensconced in this secluded valley.
Peter arrived here from Gloucestershire in the 1960s and swiftly saw the potential for vines. His grand-père (Peter's heritage is part French) imbued the young Peter with a respect for, and love of, wine. He owned Le Petit Savoyard, a popular Soho restaurant, "he was a fabulous cook with a wonderful cellar," reminisced Peter. "He taught us about all the wines of France He told us to acknowledge the label, respect the wine, but, with a clap of hands said, remember, it's only fermented grape juice!"
In 1974, Peter planted early-ripening Seyval Blanc and Muller-Thurgau. In 1993 he won a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge. Breaky Bottom was quickly established as a quality producer of still wines.
From the start, though, Peter felt that Seyval Blanc would make a great fizz. His first sparkling wine came in 1995, which he named to honour his mother Since when, Peter has focussed only on sparkling wine. As with the first, each cuvée is released only when Peter thinks it is ready and each is named for someone important to him. Cuvée Maranne Pooks 2016 honours his grand-mère; Cuvée John Agard 2017 honours the poet and good friend; and Cuvée David Pearson 2015 is named to honour the man who provided wine boxes to Breaky Bottom.
Peter acknowledges that viticulture in a coolclimate can be challenging, especially with the erratic English weather Though, to make things more difficult, Peter chooses to harvest as late as possible. This maximises ripeness and allows the full expression of Breaky Bottom's terroir.
In 2002 Peter replaced his Muller-Thurgau with the three Champagne varieties. Bottlings are limited to the yield harvested each autumn In a typical year this might amount to 10,000 bottles (although in some years the entire crop has been lost to floods or pheasants)
Peter's wines are highly sought after and well regarded. In 2021 wine writer Hugh Johnson, suffering from Covid, chose 10 wines to "cheer us up", Breaky Bottom was the only English wine to make the list.
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