News and Events at Yearlstone

June 2010: Yearlstone's Juliet White Scoops 13 Awards at Wine of the Year Competition

The results of the 2010 English & Welsh Wine of the Year competition have confirmed Juliet's position as one of the country's top winemakers.

Juliet won gold for her Rondo-based 2009 red, Yearlstone Number 4 - going one better than with her 2008 red, which (only!) won the President's Trophy for best red in South West & Wales.

Her 2009 Yearlstone rosé and a Bacchus-based dry white wine she made for Willhayne Vineyard both won silver.

9 more of her wines won bronze, with the 10th winning highly commended. It brings to over 50 the number of awards Juliet has won at this competition in the last four years.

The gold-medal winning red can only bought direct from the vineyard and is priced at £12.95 per bottle. The rosé is stocked widely across Devon, and sells direct from the vineyard at £7.95.

Commenting on this year's competition Master of Wine Susan McCraith said:

As a panel we were all very impressed with the quality of this year's entries. The still rosé category was the highest quality we've seen - truly world-class, and the red categories were the best we've ever tasted.

June 2010: Charlotte's Kitchen - the Book

So here's a lovely foodie book from Charlotte Lampard matching some of her best recipes with Yearlstone wines - from butternut squash, lime & ginger soup (Yearlstone's crisp dry white Number One) to pea & lentil salad (Yearlstone rosé) and The Kitchen's Good Beef Stew (Yearlstone red), it's already selling like her trademark Tunisian Orange Cake.

Beautifully photographed by Mark Davison, regular visitors to Charlotte's Kitchen at the vineyard will recognise Charlotte's relaxed fun approach to cooking: most of the recipes are for between four and six people.

Comes with a foreword by Robin Hanbury-Tenison (husband of Marika Hanbury-Tenison, the long time cookery editor of the Daily Telegraph) who says:

Charlotte does not blind the reader with exact amounts but allows the cook to use his or her imagination to make the dish fund and flexible. I know how much hard work goes into making recipes look easy and tempting. Charlotte has just the right light touch.

So to sample the delights of Butternut Squash, Lime & Ginger Soup, Genevieve's prawn curry, Aubergine Stew with Halloumi & Herbs, twice baked Cheese Souffles, Lemon Posset or the Kitchen Plate..... pick up a copy of this delightful gift direct from the vineyard for £7.50, or order it via Amazon....... you won't regret it... Oh, and while you're at it. pick up a bottle of two of Yearlstone wine to make the recipes complete!

June 2010 News Update

Devon rosés took the top two places, 6 of the Top Ten wines, and our very own Juliet was the winemaker for 4 out of the top 10 - including the best two:

1. Ashwell Rosé 09 ( winemaker: Juliet White )
2. Pebblebed Pink Brut 06 ( winemaker: Juliet White )
3. Sharpham Rosé 09 ( winemaker: Duncan Schwab)
4. Cremant de Loire Rosé ( winemaker: Pascal Pibaleau)
5. Sancerre Rosé La Croix St Ursin (winemaker: Sylvain Bailly )
6. Rosé d'Anjou 09 ( winemaker: Andre Besnard )
7. Rosé d'Anjou Champteloup 09 ( winemaker not known )
8. Manstree Rosé 09 (winemaker: Juliet White
9. Pebblebed Rosé 09 ( winemaker: Juliet White )
10. Kenton Rosé 09 ( winemaker: Matthew Bernstein ).

May 2010 News Update

Devon Wine Week arrangements seem to have gone mostly smoothly and we are all looking forward to the Wine Challenge at the Devon Wine School, pitting our rosés against a selection from the Loire. Still spaces left on our summer courses (June 25 is the first one - How to Make a Living from an English vineyard ).

Bottling hasn't always gone smoothly, but we are on the last lap, bottling our 2009 fizzes - trying to forget an incident in which one stillage was tipped off the back of a lorry by an incompetent driver! It's all on camcorder, but insurance claim is proceeding. At least we've learnt that £1300 per ton is a standard road haulage insurance rate - now upgraded!

On the positive side, a rare success against that old bugbear - British wine.. It is quite incredible after all the fuss over honest labelling etc, and all the hoops we have to jump through just to put the truth on our label about the grape variety and vintage etc... that this imported grape concentrate muck can be labelled British and get away with it! Talk about total hypocrisy at official level! Worse still it was prominently displayed ( at £2 a bottle! shows how good it is ) at our local farm co-op, close to the entrance near a Taste of the West display. Of course a quick Google shows once again how most punters think it is English, try it as it's cheap - and bang goes English wine's reputation. What a country ! Anyway after a few emails and phone calls I'm delighted to say the co-op has agreed with me, de-listed it, and is now putting on Devon wines instead. But when will officialdom pay some attention to this fiasco?

Rant over, - sun out, French open beginning, - so life is pretty good really. Everyone enjoy English Wine Week.

Easter 2010: Yearlstone is OPEN again

Dec 2009: Yearlstone is CLOSED until March 26th 2010

Nov 2009: Top Quality Vintage - high hopes for wines of 09

While some press reports of a bumper crop were not generally borne out in Devon, with yields for most of between 1 and 2 tons to the acre - nevertheless most vineyards saw near-record sugar levels along with decent acidities promising much for the wines of 09.

For Yearlstone we saw a superb small crop of Pinot Noir, which is already fermenting away to make a small 400 litre batch of Pink Vintage Brut - which should be available from spring 2011. Because of pre-ordering and it's potential this flagship wine will only be available on a basis of one bottle per customer. The Pinots came in at near-perfect levels of fizz, at around 70 OE and 10 acidities. Other varieties to show good levels of ripeness were Reichensteiner ( picked at 11.5% natural alcohol ) and Siegerrebe (again over 11.5% natural). This should lead to some unchaptalised wines - a rare event. Red varieties (Rondo - Regent - Dornfelder) also came in with good ripeness.

Stocks remain short however - and the trophy-winning 2008 red has already sold out.

As of this weekend the last of the original vineyard planted in 1976 by Gillian Pearkes - has finally been pulled out and the exhausted 30+ year old vines will be replaced in spring 2010. We are planting the red variety Rondo in place of Gillian's Madeleine Angevine.

The winery has appoximatey 40,000 litres so far - with a possible late pick of Seyval Blanc still to come. This compares to 60,000 litres in the bumper year of 2006, 30,000 in 07, and 20,000 in 08. Some fermentations are already finished - and the new temperature-controlled tanks from Italy have been much in use in the late warm weather.

In 2010 we are planning more English-wine related courses here, and indeed expect to be chosen as one of the venues for training under the new European Union viticulture scheme (part of the reform of the wine laws).

Oct 2009: Roger starts a regular monthly column in Mid Devon Gazette

Sept 2009: Vintage Report

Crops already in as of September 26th: Manstree Siegerrebe - for aromatic white wine at 85OE and 8 acids. Pebblebed Pinot Noir Early at 83 OE and 10+ acids - for sparkling wine. We are picking our Madeleine Angevine Saturday Sept 26. Manstree are picking their Madeleine Angevine Sept 25. Pebblebed Madeleine Angevine & Rondo Sept 27. Staplecombe Madeleine Angevine Sept 28. Heavy crops of Seyval Blanc due in Mid October along with Phoenix and Regent.

Sept 2009: Yearlstone to Feature in New Book on Devon food

July 2009: Michael Caines Restaurants: English Evening in Exeter

July 2009: Vineyard Courses

June 2009: The Big Interview with Katy Manning. Mid Devon Gazette series profiles Roger White. Extracts:

May 2009: Devon Wine Week begins May 23!

May 2009: Yearlstone now open Wed-Sunday 11am-4pm

Yearlstone is now open longer, Wednesday thru Sunday every week from 11am to 4pm. There are regular Guided Tours every Sunday and Weds at 2.30pm - meet the owners and winemaker Juliet White, includes guided tour of vineyard, history of Yearlstone and English wine talk, tour & demo in winery, and full tasting of all wines... £10 per person....

Apr 2009: Winemaking Courses at Yearlstone

Making a Living out of a Vineyard in South West England -- July 9th

Here we will discuss the two or three proven ways to make a living out of growing vines and making wine - and the many ways which have failed. We'll examine the costs of going the various routes, the likely returns - pricing options for selling to the trade and retail - and the ancillary options to the core business.

Our second course Setting up Your Own Winery - the Practical Considerations -- July 23rd will follow our own experiences in graduating from having our wine made by the excellent Martin Cursham at Staplecombe through to our first winery in what is now the cafe, through to the major investments made in the last 5 years in our new winery. Costs, paybacks, training requirements, sourcing of equipment, the pros & cons of making wine in small batches - will all be covered. This will include a detailed inspection of our winery with award-winning winemaker Juliet.

Both are one day courses and include lunch at Charlotte's Kitchen. The cost is £95 per person. Places will be strictly limited. Contact us and have a chat if you're interested.

Mar 2009: March Updates

Wine Shortage gets Desperate

Can we supply a London restaurant chain - their chief sommelier tasted our wines in the autumn and was impressed? Well - sorry - no. Can we deliver another 5 cases of rosé to a regular hotel customer on the East Devon coast? Well - terribly sorry - but the rosé is down to the last 100 - and the season hasn't even begun. Can we supply 700 bottles to an official function in Exeter? Well no...that would take 5% of stocks alone...

It's truly embarrassing. Especially when I've spent the last two years urging the trade to offer Devon wines far more widely...and rubbishing those who don't!

Charlotte who took over the cafe risked a very early opening this year - but it seems to be paying off with a steady stream of customers in the March sunshine, many sitting out on the terrace under the parasols! Along with our many regulars, we are now seeing some new patrons - brought in by Charlotte's light touch and careful selection of local ingredients from the farmers markets...

Work in the Vineyard

This spring I have created the Potting Shed in a corner of the vineyard - where so far I have propagated well over a thousand cuttings of all my main varieties. I already have a few hundred from last year - Pinot Noir, Bacchus & Dornfelder - which will either be used for infilling or sold to visitors in the summer.

Work in the Winery

Mar 2009: We're Open Again - Weekends from 6th March

Feb 2009: Snow, Pruning and Bottling Approaches

Pruning in the snow here at Yearlstone - scenes never before seen in the Exe Valley (at least while we've been here). It was almost like pruning in Italy where a friend helped out a few years back in max daytime temperatures of -7C. The vineyard wood is poor after last year's dull summer, but we are hard-pruning and sacrificing yield for quality this time around. Roger has now pruned 1500 of the 6000 vines and has three hard weeks work ahead. We've got the builders back too - widening the driveway ready for a new posh resin-bound surface, creating some new car parking, flagstoning in front of the cafe, and creating a new extension to the bottle store - where we plan to hold courses on vineyard/winery skills, and also host more corporate events without taking over the terrace and cafe. The winery courtyard is also being newly surfaced, and a wide track concreted around the side for storage of bottle pallets. In the winery last year's small vintage is under control - Juliet will be filtering and checking everything in the next fortnight, ready for April/May bottling. But there won't be much wine to sell in 2009 - we have approximately 8000 litres in the winery, compared to 18,000 last year, and over 20,000 litres in 2006. More days at the beach! - and we may have to slow down on al the new trade enquiries we've been getting, so we can stick to our longtime supporters.

Jan 2009: Happy New Year - Closed til March - Thoughts on 2008

Looking back on 2008, despite the credit crunch, and much to our amazement. when we added up the sums sales are up by 1% on 2008 over 2007 - despite being closed an extra day during the summer season and handing over the café to Charlotte's Kitchen in October. Real organic growth must still be running at over 30% a year when these factors are taken into account - how many other businesses can say as much at the moment? The real difference this year seems to have been direct trade - with the hotspot undoubtedly being East Devon, with the very supportive and food-quality conscious people of the Topsham-Ottery-Budleigh triangle. But we also have made some progress in North Devon and even into Cornwall.

We had nearly 27,000 visits to our website in 2008, nearly 8,500 separate visitors we believe. About 1,100 of those returned several times.

Dec 2008: Exeter Xmas Market

And I'm glad to say we survived intact despite the distractions of a punch up between two local women at the nearby crepe stand and an all-day ordeal of Ghetto-blasted Pan Pipe music from the general direction of Boots.

Not quite the joyful and friendly celebration perhaps of the great foods and crafts of the region - but we just about broke even... A salutary reminder that despite all the awards and publicity received in recent years, just how much more there is to be done to persuade the "man/woman-in the street" that there are great wines on their doorstep.

Nov 2008: A small well made range of white, rosé and red wines - along with a fine sparkling Brut...

About the wines they say:

31st Oct 2008: Terrace Café reborn as Charlotte's Kitchen

We are pleased to announce that the Café is now called Charlotte's Kitchen, and is open once again. It is licensed, has a light, cheerful and airy contemporary feel, and can seat up to 30 people inside and 20 outside on the Terrace with fantastic views over the vineyard, Bickleigh Village, the Exe valley and the River Exe winding its way to the sea far below. Charlotte's Kitchen serves a range of light meals using local food ingredients - and will continue the tradition of sourcing local food and cooking local ingredients simply and seasonally where possible. Please click here for more information about Charlotte's Kitchen and the Terrace.

13th Sept 2008: New Winery Tanks from Italy

Yearlstone has just taken delivery of 18,000 litres of winery tank capacity direct from Italy. The new tanks - 4x 1500 litres, 4 x 3000 litres - are all variable capacity and temperature controlled.

6th Sept 2008: Yearlstone moving up the Rankings

In the Regional competition, wines made by Juliet White (Yearlstone's winemaker) scored 5+4+2 = 11 points, because we make wine for ourselves, Manstree and Pebblebed.

9th July 2008: Yearlstone Open Wednesdays to Sundays

1st July 2008: Yearlstone Wines win more Awards

On June 26th, the prestigious English and Welsh Wine of the Year 2008 competition was held at Brightwell Vineyard in Oxfordshire, with a top team of judges, chaired by Patricia Stefanowicz (Master of Wine). This year Yearlstone did even better than the past two years - with our own wines winning two Silver Medals, four Bronze Medals and a Highly Commended, and another two Yearlstone-made wines winning medals; so, in total, wines made by us won 8 out of 52 medals (Bronze & Silver) for 2007 vintage wines.

All the wines we entered got an award..... Our top scoring wines were:

More details about the competition from English Wine Producers (www.englishwineproducers.com), please contact Julia Tristram Eve at English Wine Producers, or Roger at Yearlstone on 01884 855700.

Yearlstone continues to invest heavily in its winery - with 10,000 litres of temperature controlled stainless steel variable capacity tanks due from Italy shortly.

Late June 2008: Mark Hix visits Yearlstone

The well-known food writer Mark Hix (of the Independent) visited Yearlstone vineyard in late June with some friends, and was inspired to write an article in the Independent on Sunday entitled Yearlstone and raspberry jelly, in which he uses our Fizz and local raspberries to make a lovely jelly. Describing our Fizz, he says: we were most impressed with the 2006 sparkling brut, which would sit happily alongside other international sparkling wines that I've tasted - including some of the great prosceccos.

June 2008: Marcus Kinch's second webmovie of Yearlstone up

June 2008: South-West England Catching North-East France

June 2008: Devon Wine Week 2008 just finished

Devon Wine Week 2008 has just finished, there were many events at Vineyards all over Devon - see our sister website www.devonwineweek.co.uk for details. Here at Yearlstone, the weather was rather mixed, so numbers were down - but we can't complain as sales were up!

April 2008: Marcus Kinch's first Yearlstone webmovie

April 2008: Wine writer David Moore visits Yearlstone

Award-winning wine writer David Moore visited Yearlstone Vineyard on Thursday - singling it out as one of the first English vineyards to feature in a new wine guide. Mr Moore - co-author of the respected Wine Behind the Labels series - was taken on a tour of the vineyard, winery and tasted the full range of Yearlstone wines.

The Behind the Label wine guides have won the Louis Roederer, Glenfiddich and Andre Simon wine writing awards in recent years -and aim to be " the ultimate guide to the world's leading wine producers and their wines. " David Moore is compiling an English Wine Behind the Label guide due for release in June - and published by BTL Publishing. He was accompanied on the visit by BTL's marketing and PR manager Janey Gilbert.

"David had to fit in this visit between many international assignments and we're flattered that he chose us" said Yearlstone's Roger White. "It's more proof that the best names in the wine world are sitting up and taking notice of our wines, and English wines too - and we're waiting eagerly for the book to come out!"  Wine Behind the Label 2008 is ISDN 9 780955 765704 priced £19.99.

Easter 2008: Yearlstone Open Again at Weekends

Feb 2008: Roger's Weekly Vineyard Diary in "Western Morning News"

Jan 2008: Yearlstone voted fastest improving vineyard in England in Tom Stevenson's Wine Report 2008

Yearlstone has been voted fastest improving vineyard in England for the second year running by the prestigious publication Wine Report 2008 - the Essential Insiders Guide to the World of Wine. The Wine Report is written by sparkling wine expert Tom Stevenson, with a team of regional specialists covering each major wine region of the world, published by Dorling Kindersley £9.99, and voted Best Wine Reference Book in 2007 by Decanter magazine.

The Wine Report put Yearlstone in the top place in its Top Ten   Fastest Improving English Vineyards for 2007 - the full list is:

1. Yearlstone
2. Astley
3. Brightwell
4. Heart of England
5. Plumpton College
6. New Hall
7. Bookers
8. Glyndywr
9. Warden Abbey
10. Wyken

The Report said "The Top 10 is probably the most useful indicator. While the rest of the market lags behind you can benefit from the inside knowledge of the Wine Report, buying up top performing wines long before others cotton on and prices increase". Yearlstone was in exalted company - in the Rhone Valley the fastest improving producer was Domaine de la Mordoree from Chateauneuf du Pape, and in the Loire Chateau de Passavant from Anjou.

In the national review of English wine, the Report said "The changes occurring in the English wine scene are remarkable. With the area under vine occupied by sparkling wine varieties having doubled in three years and even more planting in the pipeline.... the story has never been far away from the airwaves and the press."

Jan 2008: New Year update - Yearlstone now closed

May we take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2008!

Thanks to everyone who came to our pre-Christmas openings, it was a hard work but we had a lot of fun! With a certain amount of relief, the vineyard is now closed until Easter, while we get on with the mammoth task of pruning 6000 vines - which will take us right up to the grand re-opening at Easter.

The 2007 wines in the winery are all just about finished fermenting, bar one or two problem tanks - not a single one needed de-acidifying this year - which is some kind of record. The winery extension has been useful - and we now have close to 50,000 litres capacity. New kit for 2008 planned include an upgraded crusher destemmer and some more new top-of-the-range Speidel stainless steel tanks.

Dec 2007: Christmas update

We had an exceptional December for wine sales - and for new recruits in the wine trade, with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage coming on board, as well as Master of Wine Liam Steevenson's Red and White Wine Company, Honiton wine merchant Christopher Piper, South Molton's Bray Valley Wines, and too many more to mention.

Sales from Yearlstone have just about tripled - largely thanks to our second fizz, the Yearlstone Vintage Brut 06, going on sale at the beginning of December. This, as you may recall, was recommended by a certain Oz Clarke on BBC 1. This wine has been left for nine months in cellar - the minimum period allowed to make a real Champagne - but we have a second batch which will be left longer, about 15 months, and should be available by midsummer 2008.

December media coverage has been outstanding - a column in Devon Today, mentions in Devon Life, a page feature on Devon wines in the Western Morning News - and another BBC 1 series in contact.... Take a look at our new Yearlstone in the press and media page for details of all the above.

Oct 2007: Open 11am-5pm, Friday, Saturday and Sunday

We are now concentrating on our busiest period - picking several tons of grapes and pressing them to make next year's wine! Despite this, we are still open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays thoughout October, the weather's still (mostly) lovely, do come and visit us!

Sept 2007: Yearlstone Fizz gets rave reviews from BBC Countryfile with Oz Clarke

The BBC's Countryfile team recently brought TV personality Oz Clarke along to sample Yearlstone's sparkling wine - Vintage Brut 2004. The programme aired on BBC 1 on August 30th.

"More like Champagne than champagne itself" was Oz's message - as he waxed lyrical over the quality of a bottle of fizz during the filming of the Countryfile feature on the new Devon Wine Trail. "This is absolutely fantastic fizz" he announced as his fellow presenter Lotte Duncan cracked open our bubbly on the Yearlstone viewing area on a lovely summer's day. Back at the studio, the rest of the Countryfile team sampled the fizz again, and all three of them loved it! Oz was also impressed by Yearlstone's rosé (Number 3) and by the Number 1 and Number 5 dry whites. The Countryfile team also visited the new National Trust walled garden vineyard at Knightshayes and our friends at Pebblebed Vineyards near Topsham. Their wines came in for lots of praise as well! Our new 2006 fizz will be ready just before Christmas, priced at £14.50 - and we've sampled it already and reckon it's even better than the fizz Oz and Lotte tasted in June! We can take phone orders, please give us a call if you're interested!

Sept 2007: Who makes the Best Wine in the South West?

There's a record entry for this year's South West & Wales Wine of the Year competition, more than 120 wines from all over South West and Wales. The biggest region and the best wines!
Who will win? Don't miss the latest verdict in the rise of our regional wines. The competition is held at: Darts Farm Topsham at 11am Saturday 8th Sept. There are ten professional judges led by Alastair Peebles Master of Wine, ex director of famous wine firm Berry Brothers and Rudd of London.

August 2007: Yearlstone crop looking good!

Despite the torrential rains, our crop is looking good - with up to 5 tons on the Madeleine Angevine, and good crops on the Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir and Reichensteiner. A few varieties such as Seyval Blanc have hardly any crop at all - clearly unable to set in the rain. But overall we should be on target for a decent crop, perhaps one week behind normal at present. Some vine stress from leaching out of soil in the rain countered by foliar feeds. Other Devon vineyards report very mixed results - one vineyard with mainly Seyval is all but wiped out, another with more Madeleine like us is looking at a healthy crop. 2007 is clearly a year for the ever reliable South West varieties - such as Madeleine. Surprising how the Pinots have coped so well when they're often considered marginal.

August 2007: Other Updates

The extension to our winery is now mostly completed - this will enable us to move the press and crushing equipment out under cover, releasing more of the winery space for storage and the screwcapping/filling machine. Our new batch of sparkling wine is tasting brilliant - at least as good as the 2004 we think - and we should have the first batch ready for sale by December 1st. We have a new sparkling wine specialist centre project under consideration with a business partner. The new labels on bottles are now ready and have been well received - generally felt to be much smarter and more informative. Sales good - and cafe overflowing. 60 lunches from our tiny kitchen is a challenge - and not quite why we got into vineyards!

July 2007: Yearlstone Wine voted in Top Three Nationally

At the recent English Wine of the Year 2007 competition, Masters of Wine voted a Yearlstone Vineyard wine in the top three English white wines made in 2006. Yearlstone Number 5 2006 was awarded a silver medal, an impressive performance as only two other white wines from 2006 also won silver - out of a field of nearly 200 wines from all over the country. Yearlstone's rosé (Number 3) was awarded a bronze medal, and our Number 1 (dry white) and Number 6 (Pinot Gris oaked dry white) were awarded highly commended. We didn't submit a fizz to this competition as we had sold out of the current batch of the 2004 fizz and hadn't yet got the 2006 fizz ready.

The judges were all Masters of Wine - more details about the competition from English Wine Producers (www.englishwineproducers.com), please contact Julia Tristram Eve at English Wine Producers, or Roger at Yearlstone on 01884 855700.

Out of a total of 74 wines of 2006 vintage winning Commended or above - Juliet (Yearlstone's winemaker) made 7 of them! (our four above plus Pebblebed rosé, Willhayne White and Manstree Siegerrebe). Winning just over 10% of the awards when we made around 1% of the wines is another strong performance - and one which probably earned us the accolade "Fastest Improving Vineyard in England" in the 2008 World Wine Report.

June 2007: English Wine Week a storming success!

Despite last week's wind and rain there was a spectacular turnout in EWW across Devon. (See our Devon Wine Week 2007 page for details of events). On the first Sat & Sunday according to YAHOO English Wine Week was the most popular search ahead of Big Brother. Both Yearlstone's concerts sold out and we could have booked twice as many people - wine sales were strong - and even half a dozen new trade outlets are stocking our wine. Locally the Cadeleigh Arms 2 miles away has seen the light - the Tiverton Hotel (Best Western) is featuring Yearlstone wines as wine of the month for both June & July. Riverside Cafe in Tiverton is also stocking our wines now, and the Victoria hotel in Sidmouth is taking our Number 5. Plenty of other enquiries, Also in the Devon vs NZ wine competition just held at the Devon Wine School Yearlstone came out on top (at least of the Devon challenge!). See the next item for details.

June 2007: Results of the first Devon vs New Zealand Wine Competition

The first Devon vs New Zealand Wine Competition was held a few days ago at the Devon Wine School in Cheriton Fitzpaine Devon, with a distinguished panel of wine judges chaired by Master of Wine Alastair Peebles, ex-director of Berry Brothers & Rudd.

Devon wines put in a respectable showing against some of the world's best wines - selected and put forward by New Zealand marketers and importers. Yearlstone's Sparkling Vintage Brut led the Devon charge - rated as highly as New Zealand's Montana Chardonnay/Pinot Noir fizz - both were awarded a bronze medal.

Exeter vineyard Manstree also scored a bronze medal with their MayVal dry white wine in the Classic White Wine category - scoring equally with New Zealand's Craggy Range Sauvignon Blanc and New Zealand's Fern Bay Sauvignon Blanc. In all Devon wines were awarded two bronze medals and nine commendations out of a total field of 16 wines entered. New Zealand wines - including some of the best known names in the wine world such as Oyster Bay were awarded 1 Gold, seven silvers, 5 Bronze and 1 Commended.

Commenting on on the results Roger White from Yearlstone Vineyard said "It was a big leap for us to take on the might of New Zealand - some of the finest white wines in the world. We did not expect to beat them - NZ has 18,000 hectares of vines and Devon fewer than 20 vineyards totalling not much more than 50 hectares so far - but we're delighted that we did so well right across the board - and in the sparkling wine category can clearly compete on even terms already."

Chairman of the judges Alastair Peebles MW from the Devon Wine School commented: "This was a truly independent competition. All wines were tasted blind. No account of price was taken - just whether judges liked the wines put before them. Two bronzes and 9 commendations is more than respectable - and a sign of how rapidly our local wines are catching up."

Even in the red wine category Devon was represented - with Kenton Estate Red narrowly behind New Zealand's Trinity Hill Syrah - gaining a commendation. Other Devon wines commended were; Pebblebed Vineyard, Sharpham Vineyard, Willhyane Vineyard and Down St Mary. The list of judges is available - and included a New Zealand winemaker and a NZ importer.

The respected wine magazine Decanter will be printing a full account of the competition in the near future.

May 2007: Devon Wine Week 2007 - bigger and better than ever!

The second Devon Wine Week (which we organised again) ran from May 26th to 2nd June 2007, with 14 vineyards taking part - the perfect opportunity to learn more about just why wine from our beautiful county is beginning to make an impact. In the last five years the number of vineyards in Devon has doubled as a new wave of growers and winemakers follow the lead of the pioneers - Yearlstone Vineyard in Bickleigh, Sharpham Vineyard in Totnes, Down St Mary near Crediton and Manstree near Exeter - all of which have been winning awards for over 20 years in national and international competitions. The hub of growing currently is focused around Exeter. Ambitious Pebblebed Wines has planted 20 acres in and around Topsham, joined now by Kenton Vineyard with 5 acres on the other side of the Exe Estuary, and Old Walls Vineyard near Teignmouth. East Devon now has Willhayne and Highcroft Vineyards, and commercial crops are expected soon from Alan and Julia Petchey in the North.

After the tremendous success of 2006's Devon Wine Week, we planned even more events across the County - from river cruises to classical guitar concerts, regional wine & dine evenings matching local food to local wines, a Devon vs New Zealand competition conducted by Master of Wine Alastair Peebles, and many guided tours and talks of the vineyards and wineries themselves.

It's the biggest of all the regional Wine Weeks - so, next year, don't miss out on the opportunity to relax in the wonderful scenic settings of our vineyards, taste some of our fabulous whites, rosés and sparkling wines (even the odd surprising light red), meet the growers and winemakers, and with luck soak up the late spring sunshine!

For more information on the week look right here: Devon Wine Week or look at www.discoverdevon.com or www.yearlstone.co.uk or ring 01884 855700.

May 2007: Yearlstone open every day (11am-5pm) from 1st May

From 1st May, we will be open 7 days a week from 11am to 5pm.

Mar/Apr 2007: Exeter Festival of Food and Drink

We had a frantic first Exeter Food Festival from Friday 30th March - Sunday 1st April at Northernhay Gardens and Rougemont Castle Courtyard in Exeter. On the Saturday we reckoned to have poured 1000 tastings. Sales OK - some confusion over whether vineyards were allowed to sell wine by the glass - in the end we were allowed to, but told no one could go outside the marquee with a glass (how were we supposed to stop them?). Good display by the Devon vineyards - 5 big displays out of 100 producers Sharpham-Pebblebed-Manstree-Down St Mary and ourselves. Negotiating for a Devon WineBar in the Castle itself for next year!

Mar 2007 - we're open again!

Yearlstone vineyard has just reopened for 2007. Our opening hours are 11am-5pm, Fri-Sat-Sun in March. Then 11am-5pm, Fri-Wed from April 1 (closed on Thursday).

Mar 2007 - planning for Devon Wine Week 2007

This year's Devon Wine Week (which we're organising again in May/June 2007) looks set to be bigger and better than last year. New vineyards signed up to take part - Kenton Vineyard and the Petcheys near Barnstaple bringing the total to 15 (Down St Mary, Sharpham, Yearlstone, Pebblebed, Manstree, Old Walls, Ashwell, South Beara, Garden Cottage, Willhayne, Highcroft, Higher Living and Blackdown Hills + the new two). Once again Julia at English Wine Producers has pledged solid support for Devon Wine Week, as have Devon County Council, Exeter City Council, Mid Devon District Council, Taste of the West, Slow Food and Ashfords Solicitors.

We expect to have a fuller programme of events this year - all over the county - and a special Devon Wine Week List of wines for restaurants and pubs - all approved and tasted by our resident Master of Wine Alistair Peebles. Watch this space for more details!

Feb 2007 - New Capping machine from Germany

In late February 2007, having (finally) finished the pruning, we hired a van and trailer, drove to Dover, crossed the Channel in a ferry and then drove all the way through Belgium and into Germany - all in order to pick up a new GAI 2500 Top monobloc bottle filling and screw capping machine from Clemens engineering, based in the town of Wittlich in the Moselle valley. On the left is Yearlstone's expert winemaker, Juliet shaking hands with George Leimbrock (sales manager of Clemens) as we take ownership of the new machine. On the right we see Juliet doing a day's training course on the machine. Tests on visitor groups have shown the vast majority of people are now perfectly happy with screw caps - a far better technology than corks. The GAI 2500 is an all-in-one bottling and capping machine, minimising contact of the wine with air in the process - and capable of bottling 2000 bottles per hour. In the near future, we'll also be buying a rinser from Wolverhampton.

Jan 2007 - New Year news Update

The pruning has now begun. First 1000 vines pruned now - out of a total of 6000. The Mills planting of a new Bickleigh vineyard begins in spring - they are now going to plant 3 acres of vines under contract to us, mostly red (Rondo grape) and Seyval (sparkling grape). Dave Chappell from Cadeleigh is going to plough, subsoil, lime and till the Mills vineyard - then lay down black plastic Mypex - with rows 2m apart and vines at 1.4 metres from each other. We wish David and Simone Mills the best of luck, and look forward to using their grapes in future years!

Dec 2006 - Yearlstone special pre-Christmas weekend openings

The vineyard, café and shop were all open each weekend from 25th November right up to Christmas Eve - perfect for Christmas shopping! Special thanks to everyone who came, and here's wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.

Dec 2006 - Yearlstone's first Fizz nearly sold out

Our first fizz has disappeared from the shelves with astonishing speed! During 2005, we made 1000 bottles of Brut Sparkling wine using the 2004 vintage Seyval Blanc grapes. This has to undergo a double fermentation process taking about a year, so the fizz was only ready in September 2006. By Xmas 2006, we had ALMOST SOLD OUT, less than 100 left. We had expected our first 1000 to last a year - but they lasted about 3 months! Our next fizz - the 2006 vintage - won't be ready till around Xmas 2007 - but we're making triple the amount.

Nov 2006 - Strong performance in the 2006 Wine of the Year Awards

Top Masters of Wine reinforced the growing reputation of Bickleigh's Yearlstone Vineyard at this year's English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition. Yearlstone's barrel-aged Pinot Gris (Yearlstone no 6) was one of a handful of English wines to be awarded a silver medal - by a distinguished panel led by Waitrose wine consultant Julian Brind. The 2005 rosé (Yearlstone no 3) continued a run of success for Yearlstone rosés by winning a bronze medal (our 2004 rosé was named best English rosé by Easy Living magazine). All of Yearlstone's 2005 range of wines were awarded at least a commendation by the six judges. Out of 65 awards in the whole of the country for the 2005 vintage, 8 were made by Yearlstone winemaker Juliet White.

Finally, our brand new 2004 fizz (sparkling Brut-style wine) was highly commended - this is the joint highest award for a fizz!

Nov 2006 - Yearlstone featured in "the Great British Summer" on BBC1

Yearlstone's preparations for the 2006 grape harvest were featured on November 26th on prime time BBC1 television at 8pm, in the final episode of the Great British Summer presented by the indefatigable Alan Titchmarsh. Approximately 15 minutes of the hour long programme were dedicated to Yearlstone! Viewers were treated to a fine display of Juliet and Roger obsessively worrying about sugar content in their grapes, performing the essential hundred-berry test, and deciding exactly when to start picking - and who's available at very short notice.

Oct 2006 - Record Harvest in the South West

October was the most frantic month yet in the winery. Bumper crops of all varieties, from Seyval to the Pinots (Noir and Gris) just poured in, and with the TV cameras around (filming for the Great British Summer) as well! In all we pressed 50 tons - compared to 23 tons in 2005 and 26 tons in 2004. One ton usually makes about 1,000 bottles.

The new membrane press bought in August from Slovenia was a Godsend! Its capacity of 3 tons plus really made life a lot easier - enabling us to knock off some evenings before midnight! Beautiful juice too, with its gentle pressing - at no more than 1 bar - with very few solids and a high extraction of nearly 70% juice. We are hopeful of yet another jump in our wine quality with this press. We are also now awaiting delivery of a monobloc bottle filling and screw capping machine from Germany - tests on visitor groups have shown the vast majority of people are now perfectly happy with caps - a far better technology than corks. This is an Italian made all-in-one machine, minimising contact of the wine with air in the process - and capable of bottling 2000 per hour. The sugar levels on the crops were quite good - but with such a heavy load, not spectacularly high - with the exception of both Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris, which loved the summer. Acidity was generally very low - thanks to the warmth. There was definitely disease around in most vineyards we know about - both powdery and downy mildew - downy mildew was especially bad in the South West. But no bird or wasp problems for once.

June 2006: Devon Wine Week 2006 a Success!

From May 27th - June 3rd 2006, we organised the Devon English Wine Week, with many special openings and events at Yearlstone and several other Devon vineyards. The Yearlstone special openings and events were a great success, with over 40 people attending one of our Music and Mezes evenings - sitting on the Vineyard View Terrace, eating a delicious light meal and relaxing to classical guitar music. Timed to coincide with the wine week, we released our 2005 vintage wines. Sales were brisk, especially the sparkling wine!

Jan 2006: New Year News

Pruning begun. New Year Resolution - to potash fertilise the vineyard to encourage fruitfulness. Filling in the gaps in the young vineyards where deer and rabbits have done their worst.

WINERY: Phew - less pressure than 2005. We made much less this year - around 15,000 litres.

STOCKS: 2005 was a very average year for sales after two fantastic years of growth. Why? We won more medals than ever before. The local independent wine merchant did say sales were down 40% in 2005 compared to 2004. Is it the supermarkets? Or just a tough year?

2005 was a very similar winegrowing year to 2004, except for the heavy rains right at the end, in mid October, which did dilute the Seyval. Sugars high again, and acids low - warm weather day and night. Very strict control on cropping for quality.

Several new vineyards around are starting up - Ottery St Mary, Teignmouth, Honiton, Barnstaple - and one chap growing Shiraz to the west of us! Some seem not to be in the SWVA (South West Vineyards Association). We wish them all the best of luck.

Medals at UK Wine of the Year Competition 2005

At the UK Wine of the Year Competition 2005, Yearlstone wines won one Silver medal, one Bronze medal and a Highly Commended:

Vineyard manager Roger White commented "this is our best haul of medals so far at the national competition. It's a reward for the £50,000 investment we've made over the past four years in our new winery and a tribute to Juliet's growing winemaking skills."

English Wine Week 2005

Between May 28th - June 5th 2005, as part of the English Wine Week we were Open All Week - with special offers on all our wines and guided tours at 1pm most days.

News from 2004

The 2004 harvest was heavy. Although the summer seemed wet and sunless, the sugar levels were very good - the Madeleine came in at 76 Oechsle, quite a bit higher than usual. Acidity was normal. Pinots struggled to ripen fully, and a good quarter of the grapes were left on the vine (around 60 OE unpicked). Help from David Harris on his summer break before heading for Gloucester to study has knocked the lower vineyards into some shape. The neglected new plantings now look a lot better, with some yield in the Quarry and 2000 plantings in the New Vineyard. The Pinot Noir look to be further on than some of the earlier varieties.

The replanted area of the Old Vineyard had a difficult first season, with high winds blowing the black plastic mulch about several times, and some evidence of rabbit attack. Still around 60-70% of the cuttings look to have taken well.

Business has been brisk - with the prospect of another early sell out of wines, despite doubled sales targets. Group tours have proved hugely popular, and the cafe is building up a local following.

The winemaking month of October was tough. We made close to 25,000 bottles.

Our first appearance at the Mid Devon Show seemed worth it, thanks to David and Heather Meredith for sharing some of the burden.

The new labels have met with a mixed reaction - some further development is likely next year. Our Number 5 (Bacchus) won a _ good _ bronze award at the UKVA competition - and congratulations to Geoff at Eden for getting a highly commended with his first wine at the UKVA.