WHAT WE'RE ABOUT

In 2020 during a challenging year for many we built our custom state of the art Hampshire winery, completed (just about) 48 hours before we started harvesting our first grapes from that year, talk about cutting it fine!

Our approach to winemaking is one of experimentation and precision. All our wines are crafted using sustainable and minimal intervention practices and we’re proud to be certified in both the vineyards and the winery by the Sustainable Wines of Great Britain.

Every step of our winemaking is meticulously executed by hand, from clone selection to whole bunch pressing during harvest. After disgorging, each bottle undergoes a minimum of six months of aging on cork, allowing the wine to settle and fully develop its character.

We only make vintage wine here at Black Chalk. This approach stops us from relying on ‘recipe’ winemaking, and ensures we are making the best possible wines year on year, that are a true reflection of the story of that vintage. Sure, some years are more difficult than others, but that’s all part of the fun!

It all started in 2015, with a leap of faith from our CEO, Jacob and grapes purchased from local Hampshire vineyards. Armed with a willingness to challenge conventions and forge our own unique path into the English wine scene, our aim was to create quality sparkling wines, showcasing the very best of Hampshire fruit - bright purity, precision and freshness.

We launched our first wines in 2018 and since then Black Chalk has gone from strength to strength. In 2020, after 4 years of purchasing grapes, we found our new home, a group of unloved farm buildings and 12ha of established vineyards in Hampshire’s beautiful sprawling Test Valley, which we’ve transformed into BC HQ!

Complete with a State-of-the-art Winery, Tasting Room and outdoor event space, our new home has allowed us to focus in more detail on what growing grapes and making wine in Hampshire is all about; hard work, perseverance, an open mind and an unwavering sense of fun!

Making wine in England is as challenging as it is exciting, we want to show what that looks like in real terms; the good, the bad and everything in between. At its very heart Black Chalk has always been a winemaker led project driven by our hugely passionate team, because we’re all Black Chalk winemakers at heart.

And whilst we have come such a long way over the past few years, there is still so much scope for us to develop as we continue to learn. We haven’t fully delved into what is possible, and there is still a big chunk of the world who are yet to discover the surprising beauty of English wine…so let the Black Chalk adventure continue!

In our 30 acres of estate vineyards, we grow 34 different clone and rootstock combinations of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Précoce, and Pinot Gris. All are situated on shallow soils above solid chalk and it’s this chalk that we believe provides the purity which is key to create our quality wines.

Tended to by our Vineyard team James and Jim, our 45,000 vines can be found across four vineyard sites;

- Rivers, which is bordered by The River Test and The River Anton. You’ll visit Rivers when you book on one of our Tours and Tastings, watch out for the roaming sheep during the winter months!

- Levels, which is the largest of our vineyards and split over two levels, Upper and Lower. Upper Levels houses the vines used in our two premium sparkling wines, Inversion and Paragon.

- Hide, which is hidden away in a valley that bakes in the Summer sunshine. Protected from the elements (which means relatively safe from frost) and very instagram-able!

- The Circle, our smallest vineyard located behind the Tasting Room Courtyard. Each quarter of The Circle is home to a different variety and whilst it is a working vineyard, it's mostly used as an event space and area for guests to relax in.