Blog
It’s bottling time at Hencote Estate
On Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd of March, we will be bottling our 2018 White and Rose vintage. We invite you to attend our winery tour at Hencote Estate to learn about our process, passion and experience used to create the unique Hencote Wine which you can sample while taking in the idyllic views across Shrewsbury, Shropshire Hills and the Hencote Vineyard.
On Friday we will be bottling and labelling our 2017 Solaris white wine which placed bronze at the International Wine Challenge 2018. After the amazing year we had last year we are very excited about both new offerings – the warmest June in Shrewsbury since before 2000 and the second warmest July made 2018 one of the best vintages for English wine in recent history. Once transferred into bottles it won’t be long before they’re ready for release, just in time for spring.
Across our entire range, we will be producing eight different wines and releasing five of them this year at special launch parties, the first being held in April. Wine Club members will have a free invitation to these events where our winemaker will discuss our ethos and you will have the opportunity to sample the wine and canapés. For more information on the Wine Club please contact us.
On Saturday, we will be bottling our Blanc de Noir Sparkling white and Sparkling rosé wine ready for secondary fermentation. We start the process in the tank by adding the ‘tirage’ (a yeast and sugar mixture that restarts fermentation) before transferring the wine into our champagne bottles and adding a ‘crown cap’ (a beer bottle cap). This traps the fermentation in the bottle, causing the CO2 released to dissolve in our wine creating the fizz.
The bottles will then be laid down to rest in our cellar for between twelve and eighteen months to create the complexity and aromas associated with high quality sparkling wine that can rival champagne.
The first set of sparkling is currently laid down to rest and you can view the next stage which is disgorging during our tours in April.
Book your tour here or contact us for more information reception@hencote.com
