Matt Gregory. The Red

Matt Gregory The English Winemaker
Wine of England 
Grapes:  Pinot Noir 50%, Pinot Gris 50%

A natural red wine which is fun and easy to drink.  The fruit comes through with clarity if left open for several hours before drinking. 11%

 Matt Gregory (The English Winemaker) producer page

All the grapes for these wines come from Walton Brook vineyard in Leicestershire, which is farmed by Matt Gregory.
It is a 3 hectare (7.5 acre) vineyard, South facing and 100m above sea level: one of the highest points on the Leicestershire Wolds.
Comprising of 200 million year old Jurassic fine grained limestone mud made up from carbonates of coral and shell, overlain with 2-million-year-old glacial deposits featuring limestone, flint, ironstone and quartz.
Planted in 2009 with mixed 2,500 vines of Solaris, Seyval Blanc, Regent and Madeleine Angevine and then subsequently with 2,000 each of Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Bacchus. Set in the middle of a 500 acre conventional arable farm, the aim is to farm the vineyard
organically, but certification will not be sought due to its location.

2022 was hot and dry. Most of the Solaris fruit was lost to frost but otherwise nothing dramatic. Hard pruning over the winter was purposely aimed at a low yield high quality crop. The drought conditions produced smaller bunches of grapes with thicker skins than
usual, but the hot weather led to balanced ripeness in early October. A small but perfectly formed vintage.
The Pinot Noir and 1/3 of the Pinot Gris was de-stemmed.
2/3 of the Pinot Gris was pressed whole bunch.
The juice from the Pinot Gris was returned to the tank of de-stemmed grapes. Due to the ripe nature of the vintage careful fruit handling was critical to prevent over-extraction, the tank was only plunged once to keep the fermentation happy.
Pressed out after 4 weeks and allowed to go through
Malolactic naturally. Rested in stainless steel on lees for 14 months and bottled in February 2024