Select a region
The head wine maker at the island's only local wine producer has opened up about the ongoing challenges of the industry in a post-Brexit climate.
The central farmhouse at La Mare Estates was built all the way back in 1797 by the De Gruchy family, when the area was dedicated to farming apples.
The estate gradually fell into disrepair until 1968, when it was revised by the local Blayney family.
In 1972, Robert and Ann Blayney planted Jersey's first commercial vineyard there.
Now, Jordi Sanvicens Moreno is the head wine maker at La Mare Vineyards. His other titles include 'distiller' and the head of wine production.
"It's too many titles!" he laughed.
Jordi has been the head of wine production at the vineyard since August last year. Originally from Catalonia, he studied wineology in Spain, before setting out on his wine-making career in 2006.
He said: "I was involved in a few harvests, managed to sit in in a few places."
Pictured (from left to right): Andrew Smith, Vineyard Manager, and Jordi Sanvicens Moreno, Head Winemaker.
Before moving to Jersey, Jordi was involved in wine production in Indonesia.
"I felt like I needed a change," he explained. "I decided to move a little bit closer to where my family lives in Europe. My wife agrees!"
At La Mare, Jordi is responsible for the production of over 10,000 litres of wine a year – equivalent to around 13,000 bottles.
All of the wine produced stays on-island, and can be purchased either at the vineyard itself, at the Maison Jersey store in town, or in the duty-free shop at Jersey Airport.
According to Jordi, exporting La Mare's local wine isn't really on the cards any time soon.
Not only is it "very difficult with regulations", but the vineyard simply doesn't produce enough stock to cover both an on-island and off-island market.
"Production is pretty tight as it is," Jordi said. "We want to produce more, but we don't want to compromise on quality."
Pictured: La Mare produces around 13,000 bottles of wine a year, all of which are sold locally.
He added: "Anyway, we like to be associated with the island.
"If people want our product, they can come here."
On the topic of difficult regulations, the effects of Brexit are being sorely felt by the winemakers at La Mare.
Jordi explained that the volume of German and French tourists visiting the island has decreased, impacting the vineyard's potential market.
"It is definitely more challenging," he said. "If we want to buy something that we might need in production, they won't necessarily have it in the UK. So now we need to do a whole Customs process... It's just terrible.
"Sometimes we will order something and we don't see it for two months... That isn't even a particularly extreme case, that's the norm.
"It's really challenging having to have this two-month anticipation of what you might need, especially with wine as when you taste it, you immediately know what you need."
While Jordi said that the UK's wine industry is growing rapidly, it is still extremely small compared to European standards. For instance, France and Italy together produce 36% percent of the world's wine, and 60% of all the wine in the EU.
However, one of the things that will help the more northerly parts of the world catch up, oddly enough, is climate change.
When asked if warmer temperatures were causing problems at La Mare, Jordi said: "On the contrary, that is really not an issue for us. It's actually helping northern areas to produce better wine.
"We have to look on the bright side of things!"
Pictured: Two new varieties of grapevine were recently planted at La Mare.
He added: "It was especially dry and hot last year, and it was one of the best years we've ever had as a result."
La Mare recently planted 17 new rows of vines, including 12 rows of Solaris vines, a variety of grape used for producing white wine, with five rows of Regent, a red grape variety.
The new vineyard is over half a hectare in size and replaces the Phoenix and Seyval Blanc varieties that were over 50 years old.
"They were very old and unproductive," Jordi said of the old rows. "Of course, they were absolutely beautiful and quite special as they were some of the original vines from over 50 years ago. But we agreed that we should replace them."
However, Jordi explained that, "when you plant a new vineyard, you're not going to get production for a number of years".
He estimates it will take about three years before they start to see some kind of yield, and a full five years before they get the most out of the vines.
Pictured top: Jordi Sanvicens Moreno, Head Winemaker at La Mare Wine Estates.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.