Defined Wine: The UK’s First Contract-Only Winery
Defined Wine in Kent is the UK’s first contract-only winery. We meet founder Henry Sugden and Defined winemaker Nick Lane to discuss the advantages of contract-only wineries and the unique perspective they have across the UK wine scene.
You might be wondering what little, old, drizzly, pot-holed England can offer a Kiwi winemaker such as Nick Lane, after 13 years at Cloudy Bay and 5 years in Champagne, where he made wines at Dom Perignon, Moet and Chandon and Veuve Clicquot. We can’t offer the vistas of New Zealand or the prestige of Grande Marques Champagne Houses, but apparently we can offer one of the most exciting places in the world to make wine right now.
Nick Lane
Yes, that’s right – Nick Lane has come to England to “be part of something new” and what could be newer on the wine scene than the UK’s first contract-only winery?
Defined Wine was set up in 2018 by Henry Sugden to make wine for other people. Defined owns no vineyards or brands – they purely act as the vessel to bring their clients’ visions to life, with as little or as much involvement as the client desires. The client defines the experience when it comes to making their wine.
Defined currently have 28 clients, ranging from regular people making wine for their own consumption to huge brands. They offer a solution to the issue of space for many clients who are either producing too much volume for their own winery to handle or who don’t own their own winery at all. It opens up the world of winemaking to people or brands who haven’t got their own estate or vineyards – in many ways it helps to democratise the wine industry.
Henry emphasises that everything they do at Defined is driven by quality and consistency. The entire journey of the winemaking experience is traceable and the client can be in complete control of the process if they so wish. One thing that Defined can’t control is the quality of the grapes – as Henry says: “You need good grapes to make good wine.”
To ensure that the outcome is the best it can be, Defined run viticulture sessions for growers and insist that it’s important for them to always have an end goal in terms of what they want to produce. Defined will never refuse grapes, but they are always honest and constructive to their clients about realistic expectations.
Currently, 80% of their volume is sparkling (mainly because their two biggest clients are sparkling producers) but Defined make a whole range of wines. They’re making 60 to 70 different still wines from a wide range of varieties, as well as orange wines and Pét Nats.
For Nick, this new role is satisfying on a personal level, since he is getting to make a huge variety of wines from a wide-ranging region, as well as having a unique vantage point to see what’s happening across the entire UK wine scene. England is building a reputation for its sparkling wine, which is often favourably compared to Champagne, but Nick is seeing new styles of wines emerge as English winemakers, growers and brands gain more confidence.
“England has to forge its own identity. Looking abroad for inspiration is not a bad starting point. Let’s start at Champagne and over time it can naturally evolve and find its personality. There’s always room for experimentation.”
Are English wines defining their own hallmarks of style? According to Nick, the signature of English and Welsh wines is acidity, as well as a “sweet, candied fruit component aromatically”.
Both Henry and Nick judge the 2020 crop to be exceptional quality, with riper fruit than in 2019, and we were fortunate enough to taste six unreleased wines fresh from the winery.
Tasting Notes
Bewl Water Vineyard – 2020 Sparkling base
Made from 100% Pinot Noir grown in Bewl Water’s East Sussex vineyard, Nick tells us it is “very representative of Pinot Noir from this region”. With notes of red apple, lemon and fresh strawberry, according to Nick it is “exactly the profile of Champagne” with slightly higher acidity. Sounds like a promising English sparkling wine in the works!
Yotes Court Vineyard – 2020 Bacchus
Nick says that Bacchus is “something we can hang our hat on in England which can’t really be grown anywhere else in the world.” This Bacchus wine from Yotes Court Vineyard in Kent is made from ripe grapes which express the best of Bacchus wonderfully with aromatic notes of elderflower, hedgerow and orchard fruit.
Ashling Park Estate – 2020 Ashling Park Rosé
Ashling Park in West Sussex has made the most of Pinot Meunier’s short growing season and have produced a 100% Meunier rosé. In its current unfiltered state, the colour is a hazy candyfloss pink and it has expressive aromas of ripe strawberry, white peach, red cherry and cupcake. My favourite of the line-up, I’m very much looking forward to its release.
Heppington Vineyard Ltd – 2020 Pinot Gris
This Kent-grown Pinot Gris has lovely floral aromas with fresh notes of pear and green apple. Nick comments: “It doesn’t have to have high levels of ripeness … it has a very natural flavour and texture.”
Wayfarer Wines – 2020 Chardonnay
This Chardonnay grown in Wayfarer’s Kent vineyard has been partially fermented in barrel and partially in tank, creating a “French style of Chardonnay – refined and polished,” says Nick. It has notes of peach, apricot and yellow apple.
Artelium – 2020 Pinot Noir Red
At 13%, Nick admirably describes this as an “ambitious wine”. This Sussex-grown fruit is brooding and concentrated, with lots of new oak (French and American) providing a structured, savoury element. Already it is showing signs of complexity.
If you’d like to find out more about Defined Wine, visit their website here.