by team member Philip
The Amps team have visited our great friends at Henners numerous times, but this was the first time we have taken customers to visit the Vineyards and Winery. This was very much a path finding trip for us to repeat and also let customers know how to make the journey.
We departed Oundle at 6pm on Friday evening and drove 3 hours 15 minutes to the Premier Inn at Polegate. It’s a bit of a haul but worth it when you get there. You could of course travel earlier and eat at one of numerous good places locally. After the hearty Premier Inn breakfast, we picked up two more guests from Polegate Train station and then drove the 20 minutes to the village of Herstmonceux where Henners is based.
We parked up in the car park and it was obvious the winery was in the middle of harvest, with lots of very busy people moving around on 
forklifts and pulling pipes to tanks etc. We were greeted by Tom Whitely the Commercial Director, who took us straight off to the vineyards to show us the Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay vines and told us the history of the estate. Tom explained to get the quantity and quality of fruit they are looking for today they also buy additional grapes from Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and Worcestershire. The beauty of buying grapes from so many places is that it spreads the risk of hail and frost damage, whilst also providing Collette the winemaker with a large selection of fruit to work with.
We then saw the grapes arriving and being put into the press and the rigorous selection process to ensure only the very best fruit ends up in the Henners wines. After pressing, the wine passes into stainless steel tanks for the first fermentation. In the Spring Collette tastes all the different tanks and parcels of wine to assess what is going to go into what.
After Collette has decided on the blend the wine goes into the bottle, with the addition of yeasts and a little sugar and a crown cap on the bottle. The second fermentation takes place and as the CO2 cannot escape, it infuses into the wine creating the bubbles and the dead yeasts drop to the bottom of the bottle and the wine then rests on the lees for a minimum of three years for the NV and 5 years or more for the Vintages. Very shortly with the building of a new storage facility all the Henners ageing will be done on site, currently it is aged off site. To remove the dead yeasts the disgorgement takes place and the wine is topped up with more wine and the wines dosage. Six months later with a label on the bottle the wine is ready to drink.
Tom now took us through to the tasting room with spectacular views out over the countryside to taste the wines. On warm sunny days the tastings can also take place outside. With the tasting we opted for a Charcuterie and a Sussex cheese board, although they also have
different food vans each weekend providing a great selection of different foods. The day we were there it was a Nepalese food van. We tasted the full range, Henners Brut NV, Henners Brut NV Rose, Henners Vintage 2018 and finally the Henners Blanc de Blanc 2018. The six of us all had a different favorite wine.
If you want to have a great weekend away then combine a visit to Henners as part of your trip. Also many other English Vineyards are not many miles away so you could put together a lovely weekend.
If you are interested in a visit to Henners then please speak to us and we will put you in touch with the fabulous Beth who many of you will have met at our tastings and who will arrange your visit to Henners.
