First vines 2009 · 4.1 hectares on the Ladderback wall
Grown in the cracks of a slate wall.
Poured slowly.
The ground
Fractured slate over a limestone shelf, facing south-south-west, thirty centimetres of soil at the top. Nothing irrigated. Nothing bought in.
The practice
Five grapes, six wines, twenty-two hectolitres a hectare and not a drop more. Sulphured once, at bottling. Released when ready, not when due.
The day
Scroll slowly. The light crosses the wall as you go, the way it does on the slope from seven until the room closes.
The current release
Six wines off one wall. Pick one to taste.
- No. 01
Wallgrow Riesling
Bruised quince · wet slate · lime pith · elderflower stalk
- No. 02
The Ladder Chenin Blanc
Bramley apple skin · beeswax · chamomile · wet wool
- No. 03
Pale Ledge Rosé
Redcurrant · pink grapefruit pith · crushed stem · salt
- No. 04
Quarry Road Gamay
Morello cherry · black pepper · violet · slate dust
- No. 05
Coldfoot Pinot Noir
Sour cherry · iron · dried rose · woodsmoke
- No. 06
Beaten Acre Cabernet Franc
Blackcurrant leaf · graphite · bay · cold ash
In the glass this month
Coldfoot Pinot Noir
2022 · 750ml · £48 · 1,480 bottles
The wine we held back fourteen months past plan. The frost hollow's one generous year, and the slowest wine we have ever made.
- Tasting notes
- Sour cherry, iron, dried rose, woodsmoke.
- Method
- Sixteen months in five 228-litre barrels — one new, the rest third-fill or older.
- Ritual
- Decant an hour. Sixteen degrees, a wide glass.
- Drink
- 2027 – 2038
The tasting room
Three ways into the barn.
Thursday to Sunday
The Short Walk
£16 / person
45 minutes · Four wines, chosen that morning
- Four wines poured at the bar
- Whoever is behind it, answering questions
- Fee comes off two bottles or more
Most booked
The Whole Wall
£28 / person
90 minutes · All six, plus one from the library
- The full range, first glass poured blind
- One older vintage from the library shelf
- Hard cheese, bread and pickled walnuts
- Fee comes off a case of six
Saturdays only
Quarry & Cellar
£55 / person
2½ hours · Barrel, tank and bottle
- Walk the blocks with Tomás, boots on
- Taste from barrel and concrete egg
- The Whole Wall flight to finish
- Six people maximum, a week's notice
How a bottle is made
Four seasons, no shortcuts.
- 01
Pruning Jan – Mar
One person, 22,500 vines, secateurs. The crop is decided here — every bud left on is a bunch the slate has to ripen.
- 02
Growing Apr – Aug
No irrigation, no herbicide, one frost watch a night through April. In August we cut off every bunch over the fourth.
- 03
Harvest Sep – Oct
Nine borrowed pickers, crates of eight kilos, Wallgrow picked in three passes. Beaten Acre always comes in last.
- 04
Cellar Nov – Dec
Wild ferments, old wood, concrete, and sulphur once, at bottling. Then the hardest part: leaving it alone.
- Held
- 11.4 ha
- Planted
- 4.1 ha
- Yield ceiling
- 22 hl/ha
- This release
- 11,090 bottles
The rest of the land is wall, woodland and an old quarry floor, and we intend to keep it that way. Walk the estate
From the journal
Written between rows.
Growing ·
The wall is the vineyard
We spent our first two years rebuilding 640 metres of drystone wall before we planted a single vine. It is still the best decision on the estate.
2 min read
Cellar ·
We held the Coldfoot back fourteen months
The 2022 Pinot was ready to sell and not ready to drink. Here is what it cost to wait, and why we would do it again.
2 min read
Pruning ·
Pruning is the only decision that matters
Every January Tomás walks 22,500 vines with a pair of secateurs and decides the vintage. Everything after that is damage limitation.
2 min read