First Harvest At Mannings Heath Golf & Wine Estate
Discover the start of our English Wine Journey!
You may know the story of the vineyard planting; how in 2017 we converted one of the two 18-hole golf courses into a 9-hole and used the free space to plant sparkling wine cultivars, 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier.
This year on the 29 September 2020 we were lucky enough to harvest our first English Chardonnay. We hope to produce an estimated 5000 litres of grape juice this season, for some 6500 bottles of wine.
We Were Also Very Excited to Host Our First Harvest Event at Our Sister Estate Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens.
Members of Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, near Horsham in West Sussex, picked grapes and enjoyed lunch on 9 October 2020 to celebrate the first harvest of the vineyard planted on the Grade I Listed gardens estate.
At Leonardslee, guests picked from the experimental 0.5-hectare planting for non-sparkling Pinotage, which the estate is using to evaluate the suitability of the growing conditions in Sussex.
Follow Our English Wine Journey From Bud Break To Bottle
The total production from the Mannings Heath vineyard is projected at some 75000 bottles of sparkling wine annually, with the first release of wine to be enjoyed in 2023.
Penny Streeter Says:
“Our wine estate managing director Barry Anderson and his team of pickers at Mannings Heath managed to avoid the heavy downpours of rain, to bring in a good first harvest. To celebrate the occasion, we invited members of Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens to join in, as well as those of the Benguela Cove wine club - which brings wines from our vineyard in South Africa to the UK and is the inspiration for creating the vineyard and wine tourism experience in Sussex.”
Visitors in the UK can enjoy wine tastings and pairings with artisan cheeses, and golf buggy tours of the Mannings Heath vineyard. At Leonardslee, in addition to the attraction of the Grade, I Listed gardens, Restaurant Interlude under South African chef Jean Delport has won its first Michelin star after less than one year of opening.
Wine production in the UK and South Africa is overseen by cellar master Johann Fourie. He recently won a series of awards for Benguela Cove Lagoon wine estate, which he is hoping to follow up with similar accolades in the UK, says Penny Streeter.
Explore Our Awards From Our South African Vineyard: Benguela Cove Wine Estate
Recent awards for the Hermanus vineyard, in the Walker Bay region of South Africa, include a score of over 90 points out of 100 and winning Medals of Excellence for all six of the entries by the wine estate for the first time in Tim Atkin’s annual South Africa Special Report.
The estate also won gold medals for its Malbec and Semillon/ Sauvignon Blanc blend, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and a further nine silver medals in the South African Champion Young Wine awards - the188th year of the event, which is the oldest of its kind in the world.
Other accolades include the Novare SA Terroir Wine Award for the Benguela Cove Catalina Sémillon 2018, and four gold, with a double gold medal at the Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards.