A visit to the Ridgeview winery
Yesterday evening in the company of Algy Belville I visited the Ridgeview wine estate in Ditchling not far from Burgess Hill, East Sussex. It was founded in 1995 by Mike Roberts and produces premium sparkling wines by method champenoise although of course – as it’s outside the region – not permitted to call it champagne.
In 2013 leadership passed to the next generation – his daughter Tamara as CEO and to the wife of son Simon who is head of marketing and sales. The vineyard has prospered with an award from Decanter magazine for the Grosvenor in 2006. Their sparkling wine was served as the Queen’s state dinner for Barrack Obama and China President Xi Jinping. The Tour was organised by our Players Club who are good at such socials. We are a lively crew and the coach was full of banter from guys who enjoy their sport and a bevy.
I said to Algy as were conducted through the plant from pressing the grapes to the fermentation process, to bottling, corking and labelling that I rather take the view that if you have seen one winery you have seen them all.
We tasted the blanc de blancs made from chardonnay, blanc de noir – made from pinot noir – and the rose.
They were just a tad acetic for my uncultivated palette but no doubt it’s premium sparklers.
Algy informed me sotto voce that the problem for all Sussex sparklers is volume.
They cannot produce in sufficient quantity to make the price competitive so they more are often more expensive than the well-known French brands who can.
They served a large platter of locally produced smoked salmon, Sussex cheese, cured meats and strawberries. Algy was impressed by this as too often, he said, it’s not that comfortable to taste on an empty stomach. Sadly the lateness of the hour and the heavy rain prevented us from enjoying the fine views over the Sussex Downs.
After the visit we repaired to the Libation Bar owned by one of our members who is a substantial pub landlord in Brighton.
We are both members of the 1901 club. I observed how inefficient the bar service is there and how efficient it was in Melbourne Cricket ground.
The chap said that Australian barmen are the best in the world.
As to Sussex CCC’s chances, much is hoped of the new coach Dizzy Gillespie but this is a worrying weekend for planning with the IPL bids.
Jefra Archer did well for the Hobart Hurricanes and it was feared he would get a £2 million bid in the auction this weekend.
