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About Us

A little bit of our history How it all began

The  vineyard site is Cotswold limestone derived, with a heavy but well drained soil. Predominantly it faces north – south. The vineyard covers approximately 1 hectare. The site falls gently from the north west corner to the south east corner and falls 17 feet over the distance.

Here’s a brief timeline of the Little Oak Vineyard:

  • 2005

    The beginning

    In 2005 Steve decided to test the proposed vineyard by planting 5 different varieties of vines to see how they would grow.

    They all grew really well so in 2006 he planted 400 Siegerrebe vines.

  • Autumn 2009

    First grape harvest

    The first harvest from the 400 vines planted in 2006 produced a nice crop and yielded about 400 kg of grapes, which were not blighted by either mildew or botrytis

  • 2010

    First wine tasting

     The first wine tasted was 2010 when 370 bottles were yielded from about 400 kg of grapes. The wine had an excellent reception locally and was quickly sold (or consumed by friends) The wine is crisp and fresh, with a good nose. Very much akin to drinking a quality Pinot Grigio but with a more perfumed nose and aromas.

     A further 1300 vines were planted, 900 of these being Siegerrebe and the rest Seyval Blanc vines.

    The crop from the established vines – (the original 400) yielded just over a tonne of grapes which produced about 1,000 bottles.

  • 2011

    Disaster

    All was going well until mildew struck; within a few hours a blanket of mildew had clouded over the vineyard, destroying the crop. The rate of spread was impressive, the damage extensive.

  • 2012

    Another tough year

    March was exceptionally mild in 2012, which led to the vines growth being advanced by about 6 weeks against previous years.

    Unfortunately, the Cotswolds suffered an unexpected late severe frost which totally destroyed the early growth in the vineyard. This, followed by a wet summer meant there was again no crop from the vineyard.

  • 2013

    A good year

    A good year

    2013 was a good year with a harvest of nearly 3.5 tonnes of grapes.

    Lessons learned from previous years, the introduction of a water spray frost control system and the heavy investment in new vines all contributed to a good crop of the Siegerrebe grape, and the very first crop of the Seyval Blanc grapes for the new sparkling wine.

    The vineyard has now grown to its current size of 1700 vines.

  • 2014

    Another good year

    Another good year

     A late (but relatively mild) frost proved the success of the frost prevention system.

    The grapes harvested were a better quality than the 2013 crop, which were still good quality grapes, it’s just that the grapes harvested in 2014 are even better!

  • 2015

    Our first batch of sparkling wine

    Our first batch of sparkling wine

    A fantastic year, with the receipt of our first batch of sparkling wine!

    The Siegerrebe crop was fantastic, Excellent results for quality and quantity, with the best figures recorded for acid and sugar levels to date (with the Siegerrebe grapes) in the vineyard.

    Sadly though, the Seyval grapes never quite reached the required levels of sugar. These grapes ripen approximately four to six weeks after the Siegerrebe grapes and the Cotswolds experienced an unusual long spell of cold, damp weather during this time. It was decided (based upon the vineyard’s ethos and quest for quality) to not use the 2015 Seyval grape crop meaning there would be no production of the sparkling wine for 2015.

    The vineyard would rather produce no wine of a particular type (in a specific year) instead of wine of an inferior quality.

  • 2016

    The best year to date

    Our best year to date, fantastic quality grapes, a great yield and almost perfect sugar and acidity readings on the days the grapes were harvested.

Steve Wilson Founder & Owner

Little Oak Vineyard Ltd is owned by Steve Wilson. It was first planted in 2006 with 400 Siegerrebe vines.

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