Award Winning sparkling Wines – Terlingham Vineyard

Terlingham Vineyard sits on top of the North Downs, behind Folkestone.  From its secluded setting, you can see Folkestone town, and the channel beyond.  It’s a beautiful place for this boutique vineyard that produces between 2000 and 5000 bottles of award-winning wine each year. Under new ownership, David Lowe is managing the vineyard for voco The Clifton Folkestone.  Folkelife went to visit to see how the vines are coming along.

Boutique vineyard

“I went to school in New Romney and grew up in Dymchurch, but have been away working in hospitality for over 30 years.  Folkestone drew me back and I’ve been working at voco The Clifton for a few years as the operations manager.  We heard that Terlingham was up for sale last year, and our owner wanted to add a vineyard to his portfolio.  I wanted the challenge of learning how to manage the site, and so am based here now.  My role is to run all the events, the sales, and also to maintain the vines. 

“We took over in the winter, so getting to grips with the business has been done when the vines were dormant. Now, the work is stepping up, as soon as the weather warmed, and there was a little bit of rain, the vines exploded into flower and you can even see little bunches of grapes forming.  There’s been a lot to do in terms of maintenance of posts and the site, but I’m really looking forward to harvest, that’s going to be fun.”

Natural farming

“The previous owners had been farming Terlingham with a very natural, organic approach.  I want to continue that as much as I can.  The site is small, we produce between 2000 to 5000 bottles of wine each year, and that yield is very dependent on the weather.  To put that into perspective, Chapel Down – another Kent vineyard – will be producing over 1 million bottles this year.  

“We are situated on the hill above Folkestone, before you reach Hawkinge.  It’s sheltered from the extreme weather, and with the sea breeze, that helps protect the vines from frost.  It’s a South/East facing slope, and the soil underneath is chalk, which means it drains well, and the vines don’t get waterlogged.  That’s really important.

“The bounce-back that you can see from not using chemical pesticides etc is amazing.  We’re surrounded by ancient grassland, and you can use the natural bugs to help with vine maintenance. But, having said all that, there’s still a regular amount of manual labour in tying the vines in place and setting them on the right path.  It took me seven and a half hours in mid-March this year to do that, and I now understand the importance of waterproof shoes and warm socks.”

sparkling white wines

“We are still growing the same 5 different grapes.  Bacchus is a Germanic white grape which is fast becoming the grape of English sparkling wines.  We have Rhondo and Doornfelder which make our red wine and Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier which blend for our white.

“Britain is very good a producing brut, or dry, wines.  We don’t get much sun, so the grapes don’t ripen and get as sweet as they would in hotter climes.  Everything we produce has a brut taste to it, our red is a really interesting and unique flavour.  It tastes a little like fresh apples, and has a cider hint to it.  It’s dry on the palette, but it’s also light, and goes very nicely with cheese.  Well, we say our wine goes very nicely with everything actually!

“We’re coming to the last bottles of the Terlingham Gin so will have to make some more of that.  It’s used as our house gin in The Clifton so it’s important to us that we have a good stock of that.  The good thing about having the hotel is that we can run tours from Folkestone to here, and then you can continue drinking our produce with your food in our restaurant. “

Wine tourism

“We still have our three rooms here at the vineyard which people can book.  You can take it as the whole cottage, or book a room within and share with others.  Our wine tours have started up again and those run on Fridays and Saturdays every weekend.  And we’re still part of the Produce in Kent hut at Folkestone Harbour Arm Marketplace, so expect to find us there too. 

“One thing I have really loved is that there is a huge amount of support within the local wine industry here.  I’ve had invitations from Simpson’s already to come and look around and see their set up.  There’s a lot of sharing of information, because we are all part of the English Wine label and it’s great to feel so supported.

“Wine tourism is a big business, and getting even bigger over here.  In France, they don’t seem to make such a thing of visiting the vineyards and learning about how things are grown, but it’s something that the English wine scene has really embraced. The French are moving into the area too. The changing climate is making wines in the Champagne area much more acidic, and our wines here are more fruity with notes of apple and pear, so it’s interesting to see who else thinks this area is worth cultivating for wine growing for the future.”