Joining me on this week's episode of The English Wine Diaries podcast is William Coren, the CEO and founder of House Coren, a vineyard and négociant, based near Horsham in West Sussex.   After ten years of wine retail and hospitality, William and his family decided to plant 30,000 vines in 2020, with the aim of creating innovative and high-quality English wines that are accessible to all.  Whilst waiting for Lower Lodge Vineyard's first harvest, William pioneered the launch of Boco by House...

This week's guest on The English Wine Diaries podcast is Jose Quintana, winemaker at Vagabond Wines – one of London’s urban wineries.   Despite the Spanish name, Jose grew up on an arable farm in Sussex and agriculture was always a part life. After attempts at careers in music and property, Jose took inspiration from friends and family, who were grape growers and winemakers in Spain, and enrolled at Plumpton College to study viticulture. While there, Jose worked at Davenport Organic...

Joining me on today's episode of The English Wine Diaries is Lucy Hulland from Huxbear Vineyard, situated in the rolling hills of the picturesque Teign Valley, just outside the ancient wool town of Chudleigh in Devon.  Lucy and her husband, Ben, established the vineyard in 2007, planting roughly 15 acres of the three classic Champagne varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – alongside Bacchus, Siegerrebe, Schonberger and Pinot Gris. The couple had two aims: to produce delicious...

My guest on today's episode of The English Wine Diaries is Kirsty Goring, brand director for Wiston Winery, wife of Richard Goring and daughter-in-law of Pip and Harry Goring, who call this historic estate in West Sussex home.  Kirsty read history at Oxford before signing up to a course at the famed Irish cookery school Balleymaloe. Her time on the 100-acre organic farm sparked a passion to grow and utilise the freshest and most delicious ingredients wherever possible.  After marrying Richard...

Welcome back to the eighth series of The English Wine Diaries podcast! Joining me on today’s episode, in the week that we celebrate National Cheese and Wine Day, is author, speaker and cheese and wine expert Steve Parker.   Having worked for an international brewer and wine distributor, Steve left corporate life to set up an award-winning cheese shop, delicatessen and wine bar in South West London.  A judge for international food and drink competitions, such as the British, International...

Joining me on today’s episode are Coworth Park’s executive chef, Adam Smith, and Director of Food and Beverage, Jonathan Ellson.  Adam grew up in Birmingham, starting his culinary career as a pot wash at his local pub aged just 13. After joining The Ritz in 2004, he rose up the ranks and won numerous awards including the Roux Scholarship in 2012. Three years at The Devonshire Arms followed before Adam joined The Dorchester Collection’s only county house hotel, Coworth Park in 2016. The...

On this week's episode of The English Wine Diaries is Gavin Hills, wine director and assistant restaurant manager of the only pub in the UK to hold two-Michelin stars,  The Hand & Flowers, in Marlow. Born in Cambridge, Gavin grew up with a passion for cooking and a strong love of baking, which led him to study Food Technology at Cambridge Regional College. His professional life began in kitchens but it wasn’t long before his ambition to work front of house took over.  After supervising a...

Joining me on this week's episode of the English Wine Diaries is Jacob Leadley and Zoe Driver, winemakers at Black Chalk Vineyard in Hampshire.  In 2009 Jacob left a comfortable job in the City to re-train as a winemaker at Plumpton College. Since then, he has worked in the English wine industry including seven years at Hattingley Valley, where he helped produce a number of award-winning sparkling wines. In 2015, he launched Black Chalk together with his brother-in-law Andrew Seddon and is...

Joining me on today’s episode is Sam Mount, Managing Director at Kentish Pip Cider and Woolton Farm in Bekesbourne near Canterbury.  Sam grew up on the farm where his parents, Mark and Rosie, grew apples, pears and soft fruits and was encouraged to muck in with all aspects of farming life from an early age.  After travelling and living abroad in his early 20s, Sam settled in London and built a career as an event producer and operations manager working on projects such as the London 2012...

This week's guest on The English Wine Diaries is Cherie Spriggs, Head Winemaker at Nyetimber in Sussex.  Cherie was born and raised in Canada and after completing a master’s degree at the Wine Research Centre in Vancouver she and her husband, Brad, who is also a winemaker, decided to follow their dream of working together at a winery that shared their passion for producing only the best sparkling wine.  Cherie had previously tasted Nyetimber and detected a texture and potential in the wine...

Joining me on today's episode of The English Wine Diaires podcast is wine enthusiast, entrepreneur and modern-day innovator, Lucy Hitchcock.  Lucy is an e-commerce and branding consultant and the founder of Partner In Wine, a business born out of need ­– the need to avoid drinking warm rosé wine at all costs.   Partner In Wine was launched during lockdown in 2020 but it was when one of Lucy’s TikTok videos racked up half a million views in 12 hours, that the business went viral, with sales...

My guest on this week's episode of The English Wine Diaries is Dermot Sugrue, who is widely recognised as the UK’s most successful and decorated winemaker.  After studying viticulture at Plumpton College Dermot joined Nyetimber in 2003 and oversaw the West Sussex vineyard’s emergence as one of the world’s greatest sparkling wine producers.  He went on to help Harry and Pip Goring establish Wiston Estate a few miles down the road and for the next 16 years was responsible for making some of...

My guest today is award-winning author, drinks writer, presenter and founder of The Knackered Mother’s Wine Club, Helen McGinn. Helen started her wine career as a supermarket wine buyer for Tesco, before founding her successful wine blog, which garnered so much attention that it is now a best-selling book. She writes for the Daily Mail’s Femail Magazine, as well as Waitrose Food Magazine, and regularly appears on television as a wine expert on BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen and ITV’s This...

Joining me on the podcast today is Joe Beckett from Kinsbrook, a young, progressive vineyard in the heart of West Sussex wine country.  At just 29, Joe remains one of the youngest vineyard owners in the country and, together with his partner Rebecca Dancer and an enthusiastic team, produces an exciting range of English wines from grapes grown on his third-generation family farmland, just outside Thakeham.  At the top of the team’s agenda is to create an inclusive and sustainable lifestyle...

Joining me on the podcast today are Sam and Ben Ellis, owners of Everflyht, a new single vineyard estate set at the foot of the Ditchling Beacon.  Both planners by career, Sam and Ben built a designer house for their family on the estate, before planting 6.8 hectares of vines. These included the traditional sparkling varieties of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, as well as some Pinot Gris, Pinot Précoce and Gamay.   Under the watchful eye of general and vineyard manager Luke...

My guest on today's episode of The English Wine Diaries is Ian Kellett, owner and managing director of Hambledon Vineyard in Hampshire.  Ian grew up in Yorkshire but ventured south for university where he studied biochemistry before qualifying as an accountant and working in the food and drink industry in general management, equity research and then corporate finance.   After buying a house in France, Ian fell in love with the idea of owning a vineyard but, instead of purchasing one in Medoc,...

Today's guest on The English Wine Diaries is Cindy-Marie Harvey, owner of private wine tour company, Love Wine Food, and author of the newly-released cookbook Watercress, Willow and Wine.  Cindy-Marie’s career in wine began after she spent a year in Piemonte and discovered the local’s passion for ‘abbinamento’ – the Italian name for food and wine pairing. She fell in love with the area so much, she ended up staying for five years. When she returned to the UK, she became a wine importer and...

We're back with the sixth series of The English Wine Diaries! On this week's episode, my guest is Tamara Roberts, CEO of Ridgeview Wine Estate in Ditchling, Sussex.  Founded by Tamara’s parents, Mike and Chris Roberts in 1995, Ridgeview produces award-winning traditional method sparkling wines that are now sold across the globe, have been served at Buckingham Palace and are the official sparkling wine for all receptions at No. 10 Downing Street.  Tamara took over as CEO of her family...

Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is Dan Farrell-Wright from online wine merchant Wickhams, The Great British Wine Merchant and our sponsor for this series of the podcast.  Dan started Wickham’s in November 2020, at the height of the pandemic and quickly caught the attention of the wine industry. Within a year, the Newton Abbot-based company had been shortlisted for two Decanter wine awards.  The team at Wickhams are hugely passionate about knowing the story behind the...

My guest today on The English Wine Diaries is Alex Preston, head sommelier at Isaac At in Brighton – the first restaurant in the UK to have an exclusively English wine list.  Alex caught the wine bug early at vocational college and, after joining the Isaac At team in the summer of 2016, he rebuilt the then limited English-only wine list into a library of unconventional pairings that champions English Wines, Beers, Ciders and Spirits. Since the restaurant re-opened post-lockdown, Alex has won...

Joining me on today's episode of The English Wine Diaries is Charlie Stein, the youngest of celebrity chef Rick Stein’s three sons and director at the family’s restaurant brand, where his passion lies in creating extraordinary dining experiences with excellent wine. Born in Padstow, where his mother and father opened their first restaurant in the early seventies, Charlie was immersed in food and wine from a young age and regularly joined his father on his travels across the globe. After...

Joining me on today’s show is Phil Norman, who is head of production at The Uncommon, the UK’s number one producer of English wine in a can.  With a French mother and family ties in Burgundy, Phil has never been far away from fine food and wine. He studied viticulture and enology in the mid noughties whilst completing an apprenticeship alongside Denis Bachelet in Gevrey Chambertin. Since then he has worked at vineyards in France, New Zealand and the UK, including Nyetimber in Sussex and The...

On this week's episode of The English Wine Diaries is award-winning wine writer Susy Atkins. Susy began her career in the early nineties at WINE magazine before heading to Australia to get her hands dirty working as a cellar hand at wineries in the Barossa Valley. When she returned the UK, she began to edit Which? Wine Monthly, eventually becoming the co-editor of the Which? Wine Guide. She now writes a regular weekly column for The Telegraph and is the drinks editor of delicious....

On this week's episode of The English Wine Diaries, I am joined by Sam Linter, managing director and head winemaker at Bolney Wine Estate in Sussex. Sam’s parents, Janet and Rodney Pratt, founded the vineyard in 1972, at which time Bolney Wine Estate was one of the first commercial vineyards in England and Sam spent her childhood living on the vineyard, joining the family business in 1995.  Since then she has led the estate to win numerous awards including the IWSC UK Wine Producer of the...

Welcome back to series 5 of The English Wine Diaries! Joining me on this week's episode of the show is one of Britain’s most acclaimed chefs, Michael Caines MBE. Michael held two Michelin stars for 18 consecutive years before he took the leap of faith to open his own country house hotel at Lympstone Manor in Exmouth in 2017. His restaurant there was awarded a Michelin star within just six months of opening but Michael’s vision for Lympstone was to offer far much more than a luxury hotel...