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By Marc Millon, wine writer
On Saturday 12th October 2024, the sun broke out and autumn warmth flooded the Lympstone Manor Estate vineyard as a group of 45 guests gathered at the together for a pre-harvest pick (the main harvest will take place next week) to celebrate the fifth Lympstone Manor Harvest Festival.
Steve Edwards, Michael’s longstanding Operations Director who has worked with him for more than 30 years and who this year also took over as Vineyard Manager, explained some of the challenges of the 2024 vintage, from cool and wet weather during flowering in late June, through a wet summer, to the cool autumn weather that slowed the phenolic ripening of the grapes.
Even so, the Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay grapes were looking good, with the necessary sugar levels required to make wines that will need no chaptalisation, and so Steve and Michael are confident of good vintage for the production of Lympstone Manor Estate Classic Cuvée sparkling, Isabeau Rosé, and possibly even another vintage of Triassic Pinot Noir (the first release was from the 2020 vintage and since then no red wine has been produced). Quantity is a little bit down on last year, but Steve still anticipates a harvest of around 20 tonnes of grapes resulting in the region of 15,000 bottles.
We set to work on two rows of Pinot Noir. The bunches, though somewhat uneven, were in good condition, with small berries that were sweet to taste with a bright and refreshing steak of acidity so necessary for the production of quality classic method sparkling wine. It is remarkable how quickly the crates were filled, but it was also a reminder that picking grapes, though enjoyable for an hour or two, is actually quite backbreaking manual labour. The trained professional pickers, a team of 10 who work the vineyard every year, will arrive on Monday and will aim to complete the full harvest is just under a week, provided the weather stays fair.
Picking grapes works up a thirst, so we soon all repaired up to the Pool House where the Lympstone Manor team were waiting for us with flûtes of Lympstone Manor Estate Classic Cuvée and delicious canapés. There is something deeply satisfying in helping in a tiny way to pick the grapes that will go into that same wine to be released in three years’ time (Classic Cuvée spends at least 36 months on its lees after secondary fermentation in the bottle).
By now the sun was shining on the vineyard and on us and it was a delight to look across the sea of vines to the Exe Estuary and beyond to the Haldon Hills on the other side. ‘A vineyard likes to see the water’ is an old winemakers’ adage, and the position of this 11-acre single estate takes full advantage of its position, the twice daily rising and falling of the tidal waters helping to regulate temperature and create a thermal flow that keeps the vineyard ventilated.
The panoramic doors were wide open in the Pool House Restaurant where we were treated to the most splendid autumn Harvest Festival lunch: butternut squash velouté with roasted chestnut and toasted pumpkin seeds paired with Lympstone Manor Estate Isabeau Rosé, a beautiful provençal style rosé, pale in colour but fuller in flavour; confit of chicken terrine with a hazelnut mayonnaise, pickled celeriac and black truffle with Lyme Bay Chardonnay 2021 (Lyme Bay Winery is the winemaking partner to Lympstone Manor Estate; the Chardonnay grapes for this wine had been sourced from the Crouch Valley of Essex); beef bourguignon with glazed onions, smoked bacon and pommes purée partnered beautifully by Lympstone Manor Estate Triassic Pinot Noir 2020 (a gold-medal winning wine at the International Wine Challenge, this wine is drinking beautifully now); and to finish, a warm apple tart served with a refreshing and delightful glass of Elderflower wine also from Lyme Bay.
Michael and Steve introduced each of the wines and Master Distiller Lee Kearle explained the production of Lympstone Manor Estate eau de vie de marc – made from Lympstone Manor Estate’s own grape pomace – which was served together with coffee and petits fours. It was a truly splendid autumnal harvest feast, served with Lympstone Manor style.
It was only in 2015 that Michael first set eyes on what was then a crumbling and dilapidated country house with an overgrown parkland that not very long ago had been a piggery. I recall cycling down to view the property with him in September of that year. Over a glass of Michael Caines Blanc des Blancs, he explained his vision to me very clearly: to renovate and expand the historic Grade II listed Georgian mansion into a luxurious and modern country house hotel for the 21st century; to create a Michelin-star restaurant; and to plant a vineyard in the parkland leading down to the river.
After two years of intense development and renovation, Lympstone Manor opened its doors in April 2017; the vineyard was subsequently planted in 2018; and other improvements have followed over the years, including the creation of the Pool House complex for recreation and informal dining and events, and the six Shepherd Huts that sit in the woodland at the bottom of the vineyard.
Lympstone Manor has already established itself as one of the UK’s most desired destination hotels, a member of Relais & Châteaux, the holder of a Michelin Star for the restaurant and 2 Michelin Keys for the hotel.
All of this has been created in less than nine years through the vision, energy and drive of Michael Caines and the talented team that he has assembled. For those of us who have followed this journey from the outset, this year’s Harvest Festival was not only a celebration of another year’s grape harvest, the fifth from the Lympstone Manor Estate vineyard. It was also a moment to reflect and simply enjoy – in the warm and glorious sunshine that was helping the grapes to further ripen – all that has been achieved in the creation of a very special and exceptional place here on our doorstep in beautiful East Devon.
