The Vineyard at Yearlstone

Yearlstone Vineyard - the Story so far!

Yearlstone vineyard is located on a steep southerly slope on a hillside above the lower valley of the river Exe at the picturesque village of Bickleigh in mid Devon. It is 200 feet above sea level and has natural protection from the west, north and east. The soil is a silty clay loam over fragmented Devon red sandstone with excellent drainage and is perfect for vines - red soils are the most sought after for vineyards all around the world. In all, Yearlstone's position is perfect for growing vines and ripening grapes.

The vineyard was started in 1976 by pioneering English viticulturist Gillian Pearkes. She planted many different wine varieties collected on her worldwide travels, experimented with wine growing techniques for the English climate, and wrote a very well regarded book based on her experiences. The vineyard had an international reputation thanks to Gillian's pioneering efforts.

After Gillian's sad demise in 1991, Roger and Juliet White bought the vineyard, which at the time had no buildings at all on it, and in the 17 years since 1991 have built:

• A private house to live in, using traditional materials.
• A vineyard shop and office.
• A complete winery to make the wine onsite.
• Most recently, a café with a lovely outdoor terrace looking out over the beautiful river Exe valley.

Roger and Juliet have also expanded the vineyard area from the original 1.5 acres of mature vines to over 7.5 acres, in three sections:

The OLD VINEYARD

Here we have the original vines planted by the vineyard's founder Gillian Pearkes in 1976.

These vines are now between 24 and 28 years old. They are grafted vines imported from France and Germany. Mostly they are Madeleine Angevine vines, with small numbers of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.

Part of the OLD VINEYARD was ploughed up, and replanted in 2004 with Reichensteiner.

The NEW VINEYARD below the OLD VINEYARD

The NEW VINEYARD was planted in 1995 with further plantings in 1999. These are a mix of grafted vines and cuttings from our own vines. The varieties planted are: Madeleine Angevine, Bacchus, Reichensteiner, Siegerrebe and further large plantings of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.

The QUARRY VINEYARD

This is in a separate field, right below the cyder orchard (from which excellent Devon cyder is made). It was planted in 1999/2000 with Dornfelder (red) and Seyval Blanc.

The total acreage planted is around 7.5 acres, and the number of vines around 6000.