Kerry Vale wine from Powys border among best in the UK

Kerry Vale vineyard, based in the vale of Montgomery near Churchstoke, has been celebrating after one of its wines was recognised as one of the 100 best that the UK produces by WineGB.

The accolade is highly prized in the growing winemaking industry in the UK and according to Nadine Roach, head of marketing at the vineyard, is the latest sign that the site is growing ever more successful.

“We entered the national competition back in the summer and we won a bronze award for one of our fizzes and a silver for our Shropshire lady which as a result has been nominated as one of the top 100 in the UK,” said Ms Roach.

“Hundreds of wines are entered, there are over 900 vineyards in the UK so to be given that recognition is really exciting for us.”

The award-winning Shropshire lady is a single variety of wine that is made from their Solaris grape – one of four different types of grape varieties that we make different types of wine.

“The Shropshire lady is our signature wine and has won the most accolades and awards,” said Ms Roach.

“It’s very dry, it’s quite acidic but it’s a really lovely balance of acid and fruit. It started very, very well in our vineyard when we planted them back in 2010. We had a consultation and they said it would be great for growing grapes.”

The success of the wine has been put down to a combination of a “good variety, good soil and  fantastic weather.”

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The winner this time is their 2019 vintage but they have high hopes for their upcoming releases.

“Shropshire lady always performed well for us. 2018 and 2019 were very good but last year was incredible,” added Ms Roach. “We had loads of sun which creates more sugar, the more sugar the more potential alcohol – last year’s vintage is set o be 13 per cent, which is quite high for an English wine.”

The company are looking to use the win to expand their market a little further which is currently mostly based locally and for their very popular open days at the vineyard which are always “pretty much fully booked”.

This popularity extends to local people volunteering at the vineyard to hep with the harvest which is always oversubscribed.

“Every year we ask for 20 people to help out,” said Ms Roach “We usually have three picking days. We sent out an email on Thursday evening, I got in Friday and my inbox was completely full. It took me all day to go through all the requests, we had to turn quite a lot of people away because we didn’t have the spaces for them.

“We are very lucky, we have lovely group of support, people who want to come back and pick every year. We have lovely group of supporters and lovely local customer base.”

“I’m heavily invested, my parents initially planted the vineyard back in 2010, so I’ve been there form the very beginning, it’s my baby really.

"Although my dad sold the vineyard in 2020 and I’m no longer part of the ownership team I absolutely love it.

"I love watching the grapes grow, I love being out on the vineyard, meeting our customers – were so well supported and they’re so kind, I think it is just a really lovely environment to work in.”