Hundred Hills is a winery in the Chiltern Hills, to the southwest of Oxford in England, producing a range of sparkling wines. Owners Fiona and Stephen Duckett began their business by conducting a rigorous search to find the site for the vineyards, hunting for chalk slopes with particular airflows, orientation and surroundings that would allow them to grow grapes capable of yielding world-class wines.
For episode 145 of The Drinking Hour, host David Kermode talks to Stephen Duckett about the process of establishing the winery and the Ducketts’ approach to winemaking. Duckett discusses the use of scientific data to find their vineyards, which included the evaluation of more than 100 different sites, the importance of chalk soils to the quality of the grapes, the influence of the late Dr Michel Salgues, his thoughts on the 2023 English vintage and the reasons why the Hundred Hills team isn’t interested in expansion or supermarket listings.
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