After the challenges of 2024, this year has felt like a very welcome change. The growing season started with ideal conditions: plenty of sunshine and early warmth - and from there the vines seemed to settle happily into the rhythm of the year culminating in our earliest ever ripening. It was a dry season, but the vines don’t mind that - their deep root systems mean they can grow and thrive in really dry conditions. Disease, an unromantic but ever-present part of viticulture was mercifully light this year. Very little sign of our old pals, powdery and downy mildew, and, despite dramatic autumn rainfall, the fruit came in beautifully for both our still and sparkling wines.
As ever, balance was key. Acid is an ally - it’s what gives particularly our sparkling wines their energy and zing but we’re always chasing that sweet spot where sugar levels, phenolic ripeness and flavour all meet. The goal is always to keep the tension for knockout fizz while building enough ripeness for expressive stills… always a bit of a dance.
So far in tank we have three pet nats, an Ortega skin contact, an Ortega in amphora, and lots and lots of base wines destined for Pelegrim NV, our main traditional method sparkler. There’s also a blanc de blancs, a blancs de noir, a Pinot based rose and a piquette on the go plus a few other experimental bits that we can’t wait to see develop.
Nearly everything has been wild fermented this year.
This harvest also marked our first ever pick at our sister site, Birling. The young vines there have produced some great fruit, which will be heading into one of the three pet nats.
Nothing at Westwell goes to waste. Some of the grape skins have trundled off to our friends at Pelegrims for use in their skincare range, while a few tubs have made their way to Burning Sky Brewery. The lees will find new life too - heading to artists and makers to be used as glass additions, ceramic glazes and textile dyes. Whatever’s left will return to the land as compost.
A huge thank you to our brilliant team who, as ever, worked their socks off picking, pressing, cleaning, dreaming, drinking and being absolutely bloody amazing.
We can’t wait to show off and share the wines with you!
- The Westwell Bunch
