Our wine list – sustainable practices

Our food and drink partner, Restaurant Associates, has worked hard to find excellent wineries that think seriously about sustainable viniculture. Below you will find more information about our current wine list, and what each producer is doing to reduce their impact on the environment, or even enriching the biodiversity of their vineyards.

Sparkling

Brut Selection NV Pannier, Champagne, France, NV
Description: Elegant, expressive Champagne that combines a mouthful of peaches and apricots with a fine fragrance of flowers. Floral and fruity nose, yellow and white fruits when ripe.
Sustainable practices: Eco-responsible approach, focus on biodiversity. They have beehives in the vineyards, to participate in the growth of the trees, flowers and plants. The bees cohabit with the sheep that maintain their green space in an ecological and natural way, and they are now also making their own honey!

Ruggeri Argeo, Prosecco Brut, Veneto, Italy, NV Delicate, zesty
Description: Prosecco, exuding green apples and citrus. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Certified green energy and integrated pest management.

Bolney Wine Estate, North Downs Cuvee, Sussex, Great Britain, NV
Description: Our own label sparkling English wine with delicate lemon, lime aromas and rich brioche on the finish. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Solar panels, renewable energy, ‘lead by nature’ for 75 years, local supplier, low food miles.

More about Bolney Wine Estate

The principle of sustainable management is crucial to Bolney’s continued existence and growth as a company since 1972. Their ‘Guided By Nature’ ethos sets the tone for many of our behaviours. With the mild climate and sandstone soil, they have spent many years discovering the best variety of grapes to grow in our eco system. Bolney believe that the more they understand and take inspiration from the nature around them, the more they can understand and appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations.

As well as mulching their prunings back into the soil, they also have a biofilter as an effective way of safely treating and recycling water used in spraying. Bolney practise responsible waste management by recycling everything we can, including all packaging and chemical containers, used vineyard supplies (e.g. vine guards), as well as general food waste. They also source materials used in the vineyard from local suppliers wherever possible.

Bolney have installed solar panels on the roof of their new winery as well as the main building at our Foxhole site. This generates approximately 30% of the electricity used across the site and, generates up to 25KW of power which is enough to run their disgorging and labelling lines.
Waste wine and/or press juice is distilled to be made into Bolney Estate Gin and Bolney Estate Rosso Vermouth.

White

Care, Blanco Sobre Lias, Cariñena, Spain, 2022
Description: A very fruity wine with great balance – intense, crisp and refreshing. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Waste recycling plan and energy optimisation.

More about CARE

Hailing from Cariñena DO, one of the three oldest denominations in Spain, CARE’s state-of-the-art winery produces great value wines with beautiful labels designed by local artist Enrique Torrijos. The grapes are sourced solely from their own vineyards, with four separate estates dating back to 1948, all of which are situated 15km from the winery and at high altitudes. The wines have great balance of fruit and oak due to a much shorter ageing time, with the Crianza spending only eight months in barrel. CARE wines are certified vegan.

Era, Organic Grillo, Sicily, Italy, 2021
Description: This wine offers loads of freshness, intensity of flavour and sheer juiciness. It’s lemony and zesty on the nose, and quite rich. There is vivid citrus fruit on the palate balanced with lovely herbal and stone fruit notes. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Certified organic.

De Martino, Estate Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley, Chile, 2022
Description: Ripe citrus fruit and peaches, along with a smooth palate with medium body. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Carbon neutral producer.

More about De Martino

Ever since 1934, four generations of the De Martino family have specialised in producing wines that stand out because of their sense of place, purity and balance. To that end, they farm sustainably and use traditional vinification techniques in order to produce wines that represent them and faithfully reflect the vineyards they come from. Today, with a track record spanning more than 80 years, the winery brings together the experience of the third generation with the dynamism and vision of the fourth, represented by Marco Antonio and Sebastian De Martino, who along with winemaker Nicolas Perez, lead the winery’s projects. Add to the fact that they have been voted “winery of the year” on three separate occasions, they were Chile’s first Carbon Neutral Winery, their wines are highly awarded by all critics and journalists (incl. getting top spot in Robert Parkers Chile review) and they continue to push boundaries by elaborating wines with different varietals and different terroirs, they are without doubt the top estate in Chile right now.

Ken Forrester, Petit Chenin, Western Cape, South Africa, 2022
Description: Real freshness on the palate with crunchy green apple and grapefruit flavours. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Practising organic and great corporate social responsibility work.

More about Ken Forrester

Without the efforts of men like Ken Forrester, South African Chenin Blanc might be scarcely more than a footnote to the country’s recent winemaking history – a workhorse grape responsible for vast amounts of forgettably bland white wine. But this Zambia-born former restaurateur saw beyond the grape’s obvious quaffability, placing it firmly at the centre of his resurrection of the historic Scholtzenhof farm on the slopes of Stellenbosch’s Helderberg mountain in the early 1990s. Twenty years on, Ken is known as ‘Mr Chenin’ and wines such as The FMC have elevated South African Chenin to classic status – but the Scholtzenhof renaissance is about more than the ugly duckling transformation of an underrated varietal. The Helderberg vineyards, Ken discovered, also contained what were at the time the only plantings of Grenache in Stellenbosch, dating from 1953 and helping to create what was in 1996 a unique South African blend of Shiraz and Grenache – and which now finds expression in wines such as The Renegade and The Gypsy.

Yealands, Souvignon Blanc, South Island, New Zealand, 2021
Description: Flavours of lime, blackcurrant leaf, passionfruit and fresh herbs hinted with citrus fruit. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: They make and use their own compost as well as natural pest control measures, and are developing an area of wetlands.

Domaine des Vieux Pruniers Sancerre, Loire, France, 2020
Description: Clean and fresh with enticing lemon and leafy green aromas and a palate full of citrus and mineral fruits.
Sustainable practices: Working towards sustainable vineyards.

Rosé

Verum, Embrujo Rosado Garnacha Organic, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, 2020
Description: Subtle pink wine with delicate strawberry and raspberry aromas.
Sustainable practices: Certified organic.

Red

Ramon Bilbao, Rioja Crianza Journey Collection, Rioja, Spain, 2019
Description: Lush blackberry fruit intermingled with deep, chocolatey richness – rich and velvety in texture. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Certification from the Wineries for Climate Protection organisation in Spain.

More about Ramon Bilbao

Established in 1924 and based in Haro, Ramón Bilbao has 180 vineyards spread across Rioja. Today, it is the fastest growing winery in the region and has firmly established itself as one of Spain’s most exciting and innovative producers. The jewel of the star-studded range is the Crianza, which holds the spot as the most popular Rioja Crianza in the Spanish on trade. Born and bred in the region, chief winemaker Rodolfo Bastida is a man who likes to push the boundaries and believes the future lies in trial and exploration.

Zamora Company, the business group to which Ramón Bilbao belongs, is committed to creating value in line with the sustainable development goals set by the UN. As a family business in its third generation, it carries out its activity by applying regulations and levers that ensure that those who come after enjoy a much more sustainable world. “For Ramón Bilbao, sustainability is a priority, we are reinforcing our action plan in a program for the coming years in response to climate change. A step forward on our way to be a conscious company and take responsibility for the impact we cause on the planet”.

Aubert & Mathieu, Amy Organic Rouge, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 2021
Description: Juicy red fruit and subtle sweet spices – an elegant wine with great length. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Certified organic and carbon neutral.

More about Aubert & Mathieu

Aubert & Mathieu is the story of two friends, Anthony Aubert and Jean-Charles Mathieu, who met at school. A few years later, they met up for a drink: Anthony was already in the wine trade and Jean-Charles was in corporate banking. Realising they shared an ambition to make wines their own way, in 2016, they launched Aubert & Mathieu. The first vintage was released in March 2019 and very successful on Paris’ trendy restaurant scene. The Aubert et Mathieu identity is based on producing niche wines from the best terroirs of Languedoc-Roussillon while highlighting the nuances and singularities of each appellation. The DNA of their wines shows the perfect mastery of freshness, balance and the search for complexity. Inspiration, carefree and a little fantasy led them on their way! Aubert et Mathieu is also completely carbon neutral.

Carbon neutrality is the first commitment of the company. It is with this conviction that Aubert Mathieu are committed to carrying out various actions for the climate. They believe it is necessary to contribute to the decarbonization of our planet. This starts first by decarbonizing our actions. Therefore they have calculated all of their emissions using SAMI (The Sami platform has just obtained Bilan Carbone® certification by the ABC.), which calculates their carbon footprint annually. This company allows them to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions and then supports in developing an action plan aimed at reducing them.

Yealands, Land Made Pinot Noir, South Island, New Zealand, 2020
Description: Supple yet juicy with ripe fruit, fresh acidity and a soft tannin finish. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Certified carbon zero producer.

Château Sainte Marie, Red Supérieur, Bordeaux, France, 2020
Description: Beautifully concentrated blackcurrant, dark fruit and plum fill the nostrils and then cleanse the palate. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Biodynamic practicing, home to eight bee hives to improve biodiversity – 80% pollination, use of responsible products.

Care, Tinto Sobre Lias, Cariñena, Spain, 2021
Description: Fragrant and ripe red and black fruit with great balance. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: Waste recycling plan and energy optimisation. (See above for more about CARE).

El Esteco, Don David Malbec, Salta, Argentina, 2021
Description: Ripe, lush cherries with plum jam, tobacco, dark chocolate and vanilla. Vegan.
Sustainable practices: n/a