Grape varieties:
Madeleine Angevine (100%)
Quality status:
English Wine PDO - Protected Designation of Origin (Certificate ref: STPDO 20669)
Grape source:
Oatley Vineyard, Cannington, Somerset. Vineyard parcels: Madeleine upper block, Madeleine lower block. Planted by hand 1987 by the Awty family and tended by them ever since. Trained on 90 cm-high originally spur-pruned cordons, converted to double guyot 2015.
Viticulture
Grown on sustainable principles, no herbicides or insecticides. Some fungicides, well below permitted levels, applied as preventives early in the year, using integrated pest management to keep them to the minimum. Only our own farmyard manure, hay mulch and chipped hedge-trimmings as fertiliser, highly biodiverse environment, hand tended and picked, with minimal soil compaction.
Growing Season
Budburst was slightly late after a wet winter and a cold, snowy spell in early spring - "The Beast from the East". No late spring frosts though, and then we had record warm and sunny weather from May to September, with the occasional rainy few hours to swell the grapes, making it our earliest harvest ever for the 2nd year running, by 1 day, with the grapes riper than we normally pick the Madeleine but acidity holding up well, better than in 2017.
