Yorkshire is know for a lot of things, but vineyards and wine making is not one of them. That is why I was really surprised when I recently discovered that there is a vineyard right here within the Leeds city boundary.
Leventhorpe Vineyard, located between the villages of Swillington and Woodlesford is run by husband and wife team George and Janet Bowden. Whilst Janet deals with the financial and office type jobs, George is out in the field looking after the vines and making the wine. With the exception of harvest time, George does all of this work himself.
The vineyard has been established now for 25 years. The field was chosen after George driving along the road noticed that snow on this field had melted before the snow on any other of the surrounding fields. Closer inspection of the area showed that the field has a unique microclimate as a result of its valley location, the way it faces and the structure of the soil and its underlying sandstone rocks.
As we walked up the hill away from the gate, the temperature rose noticeably. It can sometimes reach 40c between the rows of vines on a nice summers day- perfect for growing grapes and protecting vines from late spring frosts.
I noticed that the ground was crawling with ladybirds and other little insects. George explained that he tries to use traditional farming methods, leaving a strip of weeds between every row of vines as a haven for little bugs that predated pests such as aphids. This means that he doesn’t have to use pesticides and the ground gets a layer of manure fertilizer every few years to keep the soil in top condition. Although not certified ‘Organic’ this minimal use of chemicals obviously must have an effect on the quality of the finished wine.
The grape varieties were ones I hadn’t heard of (and neglected to note down, sorry!). George explained that growing the more common grape varieties used on the continent would simply not work here as the conditions are not right, the grapes have to be carefully chosen for the climate and soil of the vineyard.
The time of harvest varies dependent on that years crop but the grapes are picked and processed usually in October. The fresh grapes are crushed over night, the juice sterilised to get rid of natural yeasts and then the juice is put into fermentation tanks with the selected yeast.
There is really not much more to it, except for the sparkling wine goes through an additional freezing process that helps to remove the impurities from the bottle.
George’s wines are really good, with a unique flavour profile. I recently tried the Madeleine Angevine at Dough’s Yorkshire Day meal. At only 11.5% abv, it’s all too easy to drink, but if you were expecting something thin and without substance, you’d be disappointed. Madeleine Angevine has a fuller body than you’d expect, and finishes sweet crisply –sweet with some of the lingering Apricot notes that abound on the nose.
The Red that we sampled that night also managed to be the opposite of what was expected – Smooth, fruity, but super-light, with only a hint of the oakiness you’d expect in such a deeply shaded Red wine. Leventhorpe are producing interesting wines of excellent quality – and not only that, but from Yorkshire, which is reason enough to check them out.
If you want to try some Leventhorpe wines for yourself, look out for them in local wine merchants such as Cairns and Hickey in Bramhope or Latitude in the City centre.
N.B Many thanks to Leigh Linley for the assistance with the tasting notes in this piece!
