A winemaker from Cornwall is one of only three nominated as Sparkling Winemaker of the year in the annual International Wine Challenge with the other two hailing from the Champagne.
Sam Lindo, the 37 year old winemaker at Camel Valley in Cornwall has already won plaudits including a hat-rick of ‘UK Winemaker of the Year’ awards but says this is special, “It’s like the perfect alignment of the planets, one IWC gold is great but two in one year and a trophy nomination, it’s great.”
But is going up against the big boys of Champagne the way forward?
Family owned, Camel Valley produced their first vintage in 1992 and expectations have changed. “Times change and now I look at some of the Champagne producers and see great-great granddads, 100 year old vineyards and that’s what we’re trying for now, something we can nurture”, said Lindo.
The two wines behind the nomination are the 2009 Chardonnay Brut and the 2012 Pinot Noir Rose, wines from different vintages but not worlds apart according to Lindo, “2009 and 2012 were quite similar, very cold, which worked for us as we can deal with this better than the continent.”
And Lindo says the rises in temperature we’re starting to see are making life easier here but trickier across the channel, “With the warmer climate we’re getting better yields now but in Champagne, they’re having to change their management.”
And it seems a break is overdue for UK winemakers, “On the continent producers talk about good vintages by the number of days the temperature passes 30C, we get that maybe one day every couple of years.”
