insideKENT Magazine Issue 90 - September 2019 | Page 53

FOOD+DRINK
A LITTLE TIPPLE
KENT’S GLORIOUS WINES
OUR AMAZING COUNTY OF KENT IS KNOWN AS THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND,
AND FOR GOOD REASON. HERE YOU CAN FIND A BOUNTIFUL AMOUNT OF PRODUCE
FROM OUR ENVIABLE ORCHARDS, OUR FERTILE FARMYARDS, OUR WONDERFUL
WOODLAND AND EVEN SOME OF THE VERY BEST VINEYARDS IN THE COUNTRY.
Wine from Kent is up there with the best of them,
winning awards and gaining fans seemingly every
day. English wine (that is, wine made in the UK from
grapes grown in England, as opposed to British wine
which is wine made in the UK with grapes imported
from elsewhere) is taking the vinifica tion world by
storm, and far from being the butt of the joke as it
once was, it is now revered the world over.
And if you’re wondering just where this fabulous
wine can be f ound, y ou might be sur prised a t
the number of winemakers and vineyards Kent is
home to.
Despite the R omans having taken o ver Kent by
AD250, and despite the fact tha t they drank (and
made) copious amounts of wine, by the time they
left our shores in the 5th century, there was no real
evidence left behind tha t winemaking had e ver
happened. Tools, yes. Villas, yes. Bones, yes. But
vines and wine? Not a jot. Not a sip.
And it wasn’t until 1969 that anything happened to
change our idea that wine making in England simply
wasn’t possible. With our weather? With our soil?
Wine? It had to be a joke… And yet 1969 is the year
in which the very first vineyard was planted in our
county. It was planted by the Barnes family, and it
is still pr oducing excellent quality g rapes today.
You may even have tasted the final product – that
vineyard was Biddenden, and four decades on it is
now one of many Kentish vineyards that are the
envy of the world.
In total, Kent has around 350 acres of wine producing
vineyards, and the wine it does pr oduce has w on
award after a ward. So w here are these fine wine
producing vines? You may be surprised.
TERLINGHAM VINEYARD & WINERY
Terlingham Vineyard & Winery
www.terlinghamvineyard.co.uk // 01303 892452
Terlingham Lane, Hawkinge CT18 7AE
Each different Terlingham wine has its own unique personality, and the growing
methods are different too – the owners are keen to use natural farming methods
to produce their w onderful grapes, and this is one of the things tha t makes
Terlingham stand out. T he wine is made using traditional methods , and the
winemakers themselves truly care about what they do. This is why the White
Cliffs and Sax on Shore wines tha t are made her e are award-winning. What
makes Terlingham’s wine even more special is that it is ‘natural wine’. This means
there are no added preservatives or nasties, everything is handmade, even the
wildflowers are allowed to grow as they want within the vineyard, adding to the
taste of the grapes.
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