by Wendy Mansfield
“The Members Take Over” was the theme for the August meeting of the WI with the rider that “anything can happen”! This year it turned out to be a visit to a local vineyard complete with wine tasting. We were invited to Cooper’s Croft at Ashfield Green where Nick Watson gave us an interesting insight into setting up and maintaining a wine making venture. We were lucky with the weather and found ourselves sitting overlooking the vineyard as Nick explained the finer points of establishing a vineyard. It took two years to find a suitable plot of land which has to be south facing and on a steep slope – not easy in this part of Suffolk. Nick and his family moved to Cooper’s Croft in 2011 and set about clearing an acre of land in order to plant about 1000 vines. Two varieties of grape were chosen, one white and one Pinot noir. This means that two wines are produced, one white and one rosé. The hard work involved putting up the trellis for the vines to grow along, each row being 50 metres long with telegraph posts at each end and many kilometres of wire going up and down to form the trellis. All this effort is a big gamble as there is no return for the first four years. However 500 bottles of wine were produced last year and the aim is eventually to produce 1000 bottles. Nick talked us through the wine growing year starting in January/ February when all the previous season’s growth has to be cut back leaving one cane or “cordon” which is trained along the wire ready for the new shoots to grow in the Spring. After the harvest the grapes are taken to the wine maker to be fermented and bottled. Nick described the amount of red tape involved in wine making, even down to what is put on the labels. He initially wanted a picture of horses in a nod to the racing community but that was deemed impossible. Instead the two “C’s” of Cooper’s Croft became two horseshoes incorporated into the label.
Nick describes wine making as a hobby but it obviously involves a lot of hard work and effort. He has been fortunate enough to win a bronze and a silver medal so far and supplies wine to several local pubs and hotels. After the talk came the tasting and members were given a chance to taste both the white and the rosé. Then it was back to the WI Hall for cheese and biscuits and members were given the chance to order some bottles of wine. All agreed it had been a very enjoyable “Members Evening”!
