Albury Organic Vineyard, The Surrey Hills

Nick Wenman has truly turned his dream into a reality in setting up Albury Organic Vineyard. What was intended to be a retirement hobby is now a beautiful boutique organic vineyard in the Surrey Hills, producing 20-25,000 bottles a year from around 15 acres. He and his daughter Lucy, who currently manages the marketing and much more besides for the vineyard, work with a small, dynamic team to deliver delicious results that continue to go from strength-to-strength.

The vineyard was planted from scratch in 2009 on southern slopes of the North Downs in the Surrey Hills. This is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (an area designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value) and you can certainly see why on visiting the vineyard. Nick had always dreamed of owning a vineyard and knew he wanted somewhere local to where he lived. To find the site he worked with Stephen Skelton, a Master of Wine and viticulture consultant, who knew how incredibly important it is to find the right site and the right vines to work with. The land was leased from the Albury estate where it had previously been used for agricultural purposes but with the southern-facing land, gradual slope to aid drainage and key soils of clay over chalk this was an ideal site for grape growing. 

It takes 3 years, yes 3 years(!), from planting vines to be able to make wine and peak production is considered to be between 10-30 years…setting up a vineyard is certainly a multi-generational business. Originally just planned to be a retirement hobby, Nick definitely isn’t retired today being incredibly hands on at the vineyard every day. They currently manage 12 acres onsite at Albury as well as working with two nearby vineyards Lansdowne (10 acres) and Longwells (2 acres). They are planting more at the Albury site this year as they continue to see strong demand, selling out every year!

Nick and team have always believed in organic and wanted the vineyard to reflect this life philosophy. Organic farms put soil at the forefront of their practice, encouraging strong root structures and healthy, biologically active soil. But they have gone even further than that and are one of the only vineyards in the UK to follow biodynamic principles. Biodynamics excludes the use of artificial chemicals and encourages soil fertility and plant health by using compost teas and biodynamic preparations. On visiting you really can see the benefits of this – it’s an ecosystem in itself with beautiful wild flowers growing between the vines, bees buzzing, birds, frogs, you name it. And while being organic can present challenges it’s a long-held belief that naturally derived quality comes through in the produce.

When it comes to actually making the wines Albury work with Matthieu Elzinger at Litmus Wines who is based over at Denbies Vineyard (post coming soon!). Once the grapes are harvested, they are sent down the road to Denbies where Matthieu works his magic. However, it’s an incredibly collaborative process between the winemaker and the Albury team which is so important in representing the area, the grapes from each harvest and the passionate people who have grown them. No harvest is the same and year-on-year each vintage will reflect the highs and lows of the natural elements creating a distinct Albury style.

So most importantly, what do they produce! The vines are the traditional Champagne varietals of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, as well as some Seyval and Pinot Gris.

Details of all of the wines can be found here.

Albury’s vision for the future isn’t to expand aggressively they want to maintain their boutique, family-run ethos, but they do want to focus on wine tourism. Their vision is not just to make great wine but to create great experiences for people too. The partnership of the Surrey Hills vineyards is important for building their brand particularly as each vineyard gets back on its feet post the Covid pandemic. They have some fantastic ideas for events including Friday Fizz tastings, Biryani and Bubbles (yes that is curry with your champs!) as well as vineyard tours and tastings. Details of all events can be found on their website here.

And finally, I wanted to know – what was the biggest lesson learnt to date? 

For Nick it was to be more realistic  on the timescales for return on investment! It’s a multi-generational game simply because of the weather – in bumper years they have harvested up to 34 tonnes, but in bad years only 11 and it’s just so unpredictable. 

For Lucy, it’s how important it is to provide an experience for customers, not just to rely on ‘selling wine’ from a shop. The wine has to be good of course, but it’s the overall experience for customers that is important for the Albury brand.