MEET THE FACE :
OZ CLARKE
There are few wine commentators more enthusiastic about our New World wine region than Kent ’ s own Oz Clarke . The revised edition of his book , English Wine , is now available . Jo Smith , brand manager at Wine Garden of England , caught up with Oz to talk about their favourite subject …
What ’ s your first memory of English wine ? My mum took me to visit Staple Vineyard at Wingham , near where we lived . Bill Ash , the fiery-cheeked owner , emerged cautiously from his shed and took us out to see his straggly , skeletal vines . We stood gazing uncertainly over the flats and marshes down towards Sandwich , the drizzle turning into wet darts from the easterly gale . Back in his shed he gave us wine - Muller Thurgau ? Huxelrebe ? It was thin , sharp , unnerving . But the waterwhite liquid had a frail , wispish scent of East Kent orchards planted out in the teeth of a biting wind racing in from the Channel , of chill fruit and blossoms struggling to express themselves under the grey sunless skies .
And it was thrilling ! Because it tasted absolutely and precisely of its birthplace , of its terroir , on those sodden slopes above Sandwich , tended with loving care by the clay-caked hands of Bill Ash .
When did English wine start getting good ? In the 1980s . The wine that really made me realise how good our stuff could be was the scented , irresistible Pulham St . Mary Rivaner ( Muller Thurgau ) 1982 from Norfolk , which won what turned out to be the very first International Wine Challenge . I then discovered beauties like Biddenden Huxelrebe and Spots Farm Seyval Blanc , and progressed to a life-long love affair with Breaky Bottom . And then there was Nyetimber in 1997 . Nothing was the same after Nyetimber .
How do you think Kent is doing ? Despite having some really early pioneers - Biddenden , Barnsole , Syndale Valley , Tenterden ( now Chapel Down ) for starters - and having England ’ s first Vineyard Trail around Wingham - Kent let itself be overtaken by Sussex , and maybe even Hampshire . Not anymore . Not only has Kent found ways to make remarkable use of
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