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Wissett Wine was conceived and the first 3 acres of the vineyard planted at Valley Farm in the Spring of 1987 with vines brought from Alsace, France.
A further 5 acres were planted in the Spring of 1992 making 8 acres in all, which will yield on average some 15,000 bottles of quality English wine each year.
The vines are all grafted on to disease-resistant root-stock suitable for our soils and climate, and are planted at 1.8m (6ft) to 2.4m (8ft) centres in rows 3.6m (12ft) apart. They are trained either on wires at eye-level -- trellis system known as Geneva Double Curtain (GDC) after the wine-growing district of that name in upper New York state, USA or on the Scott-Henry system which is used extensively in New Zealand.
The principle varieties grown here are Pinot Gris, Madeleine Angevine, and Auxerrois, which is grown extensively in Alsace where although shunning the limelight (hogged by Riesling et al.) it contributes famously to the success of the sparkling Cremant d'Alsace as well as - we hope you will agree - to that of our own Wissett bubbly.Other varieties grown on the property include Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir (both mainstays of Champagne), and Muller Thurgau, and these are often blended with the principle varieties to add a little "je ne sais quoi" !
English Wine has now well-and-truly come of age, holding its collective head high among the rest of the world's major producers -- as witnessed by repeated successes of English Wines in blind tastings with French and German estate-bottled wines at international conventions.
Our wines are dry to off-dry and we recommend you serve them slightly chilled -- they are delicious on their own as an aperitif and complement perfectly summer salads, fish and seafood dishes.We hope most sincerely that you will continue to enjoy these wines.
Our wine label design is based on a roof boss in Norwich Cathedral which depicts Noah tending his vines, and is reproduced with the kind permission of the Dean & Chapter of Norwich. The bible reports that planting a vineyard was the second thing that Noah did after landing on Ararat but fails to mention what the first thing was!
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