Vine types
| detail on sparkling wines |
Facilities
 |
Carr Taylor was founded in 1971 and is thus one of the
earliest of the surviving major vineyards. The vineyard soil is very rich in iron ore and clay shale and
history records that cannonballs
were smelted and forged on the site in the 15th. Century for use in repelling French ships . The wine produced now
serves the same purpose, cutting down on Britain's import bill for Champagne and white wines.
Current production is around
125,000 bottles of sparkling wine. For production details, see the Sparkling wine page.
The vines are trained on a high wire single or double curtain system, 1.75 to 2 metres high. At pruning time up to 120 buds are left on each plant. The large foliage structure produces an extensive rooting system to hunt for mositure, whilst at the same time pulling up deep bedded nutrients and minerals. The yields have always produced over 2 tonnes of grapes per acre - sometimes reaching 8 tonnes. The pruning helps to reduce the tonnage and increase the quality of the wine. The list of prizes won in shows is impressive and includes Bronze medals for Sparkling wine at the Concours National des Grands Vins de France - no mean feat when up against the major Champagne producers. In 1996, a silver, bronze and 3 Commendations were won in the International Wine Challenge |
Sussex