Airing amidst English Wine Week celebrations, Episode 272 of The Drinking Hour sees host David Kermode reunited with one of his earliest guests on the podcast, Jacob Leadley of Hampshire’s Black Chalk Winery. It’s fair to say a lot has changed since the two last caught up on the airwaves: English wine continues its astronomical climb – shifting from a novelty to a category on the world stage – and Leadley shares exactly what that has meant for winemaking at one of Hampshire’s leading producers, which is now in its second decade.
The pair talk about producing in a country that Leadley describes as ‘The Wild West of Winemaking’, on the edge of what’s possible in terms of growing vines and in a region where the rules are still relatively loose enough for creativity to flourish. They discuss the perils of spring frost, the partnership he has forged with winemaker Zoë Driver and the pair of prestige-tier English sparkling wines Black Chalk has begun to make in only its best years, Inversion and Paragon: a blanc de noirs that showcases Burgundy clones on Hampshire soils and a blanc de blancs that sees Chardonnay aged in oak foudre.
Discover more episodes of The Drinking Hour with David Kermode here.
