The Vineyard Hoppers

The first in our Meet the Makers just had to be one of the groups favourites, Wayfarer Wines from Kent. We’ve visited twice and we always come back with a boot full!

How did you become a winemaker? 

Jeff Ashford first planted vines in 2016 at the back of the family home, Wayfarer house in Maidstone. It was his retirement project that sparked the interest of his son, Matt, his daughter Emma, and daughter in law, Karen to join in his passion for winemaking and viticulture. Matt, Emma and Karen have since grown the business with an additional 15 acre site in Woodchurch which was planted in 2020.

What’s unique about your wines? 

We are still wine specialists, our vine clones have been specifically selected for still winemaking meaning that they are low yield, have an intense concentration of flavour and naturally better at ripening to higher sugar levels.

Our aim is to create the best still wines from Kent!

What efforts do you make to be environmentally friendly? 

We are sustainable so we look very carefully at reducing plastic use, using recyclable materials for all our packaging and reducing waste, re-using where possible. In the vineyard, we look at reducing our carbon footprint, and encouraging natural pest management by supporting beneficial species of birds and insects in the vineyard.

We are also home to 4 beehives, as bees are great pollinators for local food crops and flowers and a really important part of the ecosystem.

How do you feel the internet has changed the way the winemaking industry operates, if it has at all? 

During lockdown, we saw a surge in online sales of wines as pubs and bars were closed, so we really saw the importance of having an online presence.

Social media is also huge; it’s a fantastic way we can engage with our customers and share our passion for all things wine and viticulture.

How do you choose which styles of wine to make? 

We make the styles of wines we enjoy- really fresh, clean and fruit focused flavours. We like to let the quality of the fruit shine through rather than intervening too much with winemaking techniques such as oak, malolactic fermentation or lees ageing.

However, it’s really important to us to listen to customer feedback and create wines that everyone can enjoy.

We love our dry Pilgrims Way Rosé; it’s my favourite tipple for a hot summers day!

Over summer 2019, some customers fed back to us that they like something with a little more sweetness. We made plans and the following year we introduced an additional off dry Hedgerow Rosé which has been a
huge success. Although, the dry one remains very popular also so we continue to produce both in tandem.

I think the key message here is that we love being small and independent and being able to react to customer feedback with creativity and passion for making wines people love.

What are the biggest problems you run into in producing wine?

The weather conditions always pose challenges- too wet, too hot, too cold… however that’s the nature of farming any crop and just adds to the excitement and determination to produce the best wines we can in any given year. These variations also add character to each vintage which we love.

What has been your favourite wine you’ve created to date? 

My personal favourite is our Pilgrims Way Pinot Noir Rosé 2020, the dry rosé. It’s refreshing, light and fruity with notes of pink grapefruit and raspberry; it was a great vintage.

We have just released the next vintage 2021 of this wine, which I’m really excited for. So far, the 2021 vintage is more aromatic with notes of red cherry. It’s still got the grapefruit zing which I love and I’m excited to see how the wine matures as it’s still very young.

If there were a wine style that you could make with no regards to cost, had access to any machinery needed, and could grow any grapes you wanted; what would it be and why? 

We still have another 6 acres or so of vineyard to plant to new grape varieties are often hotly debated in the Ashford household.

I think the great thing about the English winemaking scene is that it’s so innovative and a young industry to there is lots of room for experimentation. I don’t feel restricted however it would be great to add a red wine to our range, but for that, we’re totally dependent on the weather rather than cost or grape varieties as we do have fantastic clones of
Pinot Noir which would be perfect for a red in the right year.

If you could collaborate with any other wine maker/vineyards with money/distance being no issue, who would it be and why? 

We are really lucky to work with an amazing winemaker, Nick Lane, at Defined Wine – our contract winery. Nick has a wealth of experience, drawing from his time in his home country, New Zealand, working at Cloudy Bay, but he has also spent time working in wineries across the world
including the champagne religion at Dom Pérignon. We’re so lucky to be able to draw from his vast knowledge and experience to create amazing wines from Kent and are really happy with the partnership; we share a vision for creating some truly amazing still wines from Wayfarer Vineyards!

One tip you would give to those wanting to start with their own vineyard.

Be patient – it’s a long and thirsty wait until you get your first wines but don’t rush it and it will be amazing.