Grape varieties: Madeleine Angevine (100%)
Quality status: English Wine PDO - Protected Designation of Origin (Certificate ref: STPDO 20353)
Grape source: Oatley Vineyard, Cannington, Somerset. Vineyard parcels: Madeleine upper block, Madeleine lower block. Planted by hand 1987 by the Awty family and tended by them ever since. Trained on 90 cm-high originally spur-pruned cordons, converted to double guyot 2015.
Bottled: 28 Mar 2018: clear, 410g 75cl Bordeaux bottles sealed with top quality traditional cork. Label FSC certified Tintoretto paper. 1496 bottles made.
Release Date: 2 Jun 2018
Awards:
Silver Medal: International Wine Challenge 2019. Citation: "Very aromatic with meadow sweet, apple, zesty, crisp and fresh fruit. Bright texture and long, lingering finish."
Viticulture
Grown on sustainable principles, no herbicides or insecticides. Some fungicides, well below permitted levels, applied as preventives early in the year, using integrated pest management to keep them to the minimum. Only our own farmyard manure, hay mulch and chipped hedge-trimmings as fertiliser, highly biodiverse environment, hand tended and picked, with minimal soil compaction.
Growing Season
Budburst was unusually early after a mild winter. There was a spring frost on 27th April but it was thankfully slight (-1C for an hour) and although we lost a few buds in the bottom corner of the Madeleine Angevine the effect on the yield was not significant. The fruit-set was early, quick and even because of the early start plus a hot spell at the end of June and start of July at flowering. It was our earliest harvest ever (though the next, 2018, harvest was one day earier still), and even so the grapes were riper than we normally pick the Madeleine. We aim to harvest slightly green to give a fresher wine.