Matt Gregory. Hedge Line

Wine of England 
Grapes: Seyval (70%), Bacchus (20%), Magdeleine Angevine (5%) Solaris (5%)

Elder, hay, lemongrass, apple, rosehip and peach aromas, there is something wild, with an almost nettle-like lift, and mandarin skin.  Bright salt and elder fruit, fresh and pure, genuine summer woodland fruit flavours, a lovely texture and fine balance.  9.5%
1100 bottles produced

Matt Gregory (The English Winemaker) producer page

The bunches were de-stemmed and separately fermented on their skins where they remained for up to 10 weeks.  After pressing the wine was returned to steel tank and rested on the lees for 15 months before bottling with 20ppm SO2 and without fining or filtration.

2023 was not quite warm, and certainly wet.  The vines loved it, so did their associated diseases and the season was a long battle which culminated with 10 glorious days of September sun that brought a generous crop up to full ripeness.

This wine is both in honour of, and to support, the planting of a biodiverse and wildlife friendly hedge on the Eastern boundary of the vineyard.
The original line of Alder planted 15 years ago has largely failed and offers little to no protection from either the bitter Easterly wind or from whatever gets sprayed on the field that side.
The first new plants will be put in late Winter 2025, which will see the whole boundary planted to a tree type (Field Maple, Silver Birch, Dogwood, Spindle, Crab Apple, Guelder-rose and Hazel).
Matt has enough Hawthorne to plant about 20% of the boundary and will concentrate on the most exposed top section. The remainder will be filled out over the Winters of 2026 and 2027.