Jo
FOOD + DRINK
On The Grapevine
This month the vineyards have a sense of calm. The leaves have turned and started to fall and the vines are entering a period of dormancy where they build up energy for the next growing season. A walk through the sleeping rows with the sun low in the sky is a welcome retreat from normal life and one I would highly recommend.
By contrast, the winery will be a hive of activity. The tanks are full of fermenting juice from our abundant harvest and soon the next stage for each wine will be underway. The winemakers need to make lots of decisions based on the nature of the fruit and the style of wines they like to sell. Next year’ s whites and rosés will soon be ready to settle and clarify for bottling in the spring. The base wine for 2030’ s sparkling wines will be ready to blend with other vintages before their long time‘ on lees’ in the cellar. The reds may be added to the barrel for maturation and bottled in 2029. Sometimes I like to imagine the journey the wine in my glass has taken before I take a sip.( Other times I don’ t!)
Now is a good time to think about how you can share your amazing local vineyards through gifting. A simple bottle from your nearest cellar door will be very well received, but if you want something a little more‘ gifty’, I can recommend some online choices that will support Kent vineyards. Chapel Down is the largest English wine producer and their sparkling wines are available in magnums( 150ml), too. These can be personalised with gift boxes and sent directly to your loved ones. There’ s a whole section of their website for gifting, so take a look: chapeldown. com.
Gusbourne makes some of the finest wines in the country and their gift sets are impressive. Their most prestigious wine coupled with a leather carry case is one of my favourites. Magnums, limited editions, boxes full of straw- it’ s all available on their gifting page at gusbourne. com and UK mainland delivery is free.
Yotes Court’ s branding is reminiscent of the owners’ racehorses jockey silks, with bright colours and sleek lines. Their fruit is grown on one of the best sites in the UK and the wine is complex and fruit-driven. A gift box from this vineyard is chic and understated, allowing the wine itself to take centre stage- head to the website- yotescourt. co. uk- for more details.
NUMBER EIGHT’ S GUEST CHEF SERIES RETURNS THIS NOVEMBER
Number Eight restaurant’ s Guest Chef Series will continue this autumn with a collaboration between owner-chef Stuart Gillies and two Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar. The longstanding friends will cook together once again following their October collaboration at Essence at the Pantiles, creating a six-course tasting menu with three dishes contributed by each chef.
The chefs will reunite on Wednesday 18 November, when Kochhar joins Gillies at Number Eight in Sevenoaks.
Kochhar’ s cooking draws on the regional flavours and traditions of his native India, interpreted through contemporary techniques and British ingredients, while Gillies is known for modern European cooking grounded in seasonality and classical technique.
The collaboration forms part of Number Eight’ s continuing Guest Chef Series, which has previously welcomed Tom Anglesea of Dovetale, Erion Karaj of The Groucho Club, Tim Hughes and Tom Fraser of Scott’ s Richmond and Kevin Gratton of Café Royal Grill.
“ The Guest Chef Series has always been about friendship as much as food, so it felt fitting to make this a genuine exchange- first in Atul’ s kitchen and then in ours,” said Stuart Gillies.“ We cook from different starting points but share the same respect for ingredients, technique and genuine hospitality.”
All three vineyards offer tour vouchers too, so you can give experiences as well as wine. If you can’ t decide between the vineyards, winegardenofengland. co. uk offers gift vouchers at a discount that are redeemable in all nine Kent vineyards on their website. Take a look for further information.
Check your local vineyard’ s website for details of what you can do there in the winter. Many are open for cosy glasses in their cellar door so you can still get out and enjoy the Kent countryside.
See you there- cheers!
Jo
JO GINN, BRAND MANAGER WINE GARDEN OF ENGLAND
jo @ winegardenofengland. com winegardenofengland
144 • www. insidekent. co. uk