About Meopham Valley Vineyard
Meopham Valley Vineyard Sparkling wines and sparkling Pinot Gris.
Meopham Valley Vineyard Description
About Meopham Valley Vineyard
At Meopham Valley Vineyard the following varietals are grown Pinot Gris, Madeleine Angevine, Reichensteiner, Triomphe and Leon Millot together with the champagne varieties Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The vineyard is cared for organically as defined by EU legislation. All vineyard practices are carried out by hand and tractor use is kept to a minimum.
The production of wine is given to particular wine makers who, we believe, are sympathetic to expressing the characteristics of the grapes from each particular vintage. Currently our Sparkling Wines being offered for sale have been made by Dermot Sugrue of Wiston Estate Winery and our still wine has been made by Piers Greenwood of New Hall. Ulrich Hoffmann of Vivid Wines is currently making our Sparkling Pinot Gris from our 2013 harvest.
Since planting in 1991, the work was carried out mainly by Pauline and David Grey helped by the tireless work of a neighbour, Gunther Duebel. Gunther came to Meopham in 1946 as a prisoner of war and on his retirement looked around for voluntary work. He became trained in vineyard work and by 2005 had made his mark on the vineyard.
Janette Devlin came to work with us part-time in 2006 whilst completing her viticulture and oenology degree at Plumpton College. In 2007 Janette became a fulltime member of the vineyard involved in all aspects of the business. Her passionate interest in horticulture generally and viticulture in particular together with her hands on knowledge of the retail side of the wine industry brought a new energy to the business. Janette left our employment in December 2013 to take up a position with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
The vineyard has had the benefit of Rebekah Glockling’s creativity in the design and production of the wine labels since the first harvest in 1994. Her labels have often featured a picture of “Happy Valley” adapted from a painting by a local artist A W Rogers. The artist granted a worldwide copyright of the picture to be featured in all forms of the vineyard’s publicity in perpetuity. It seemed appropriate therefore for the valley itself from which all the fruit has arisen to be paid tribute in the publicity material of the vineyard, in particular in the labels.
In November 2014 David and Pauline retired from the vineyard. A year later Pauline unfortunately suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage. She was missed by all who had known her.