Nottingham Wine Estate
Wolds Wine Estate
Wolds Wine Estate: The New Nottingham Vineyard with Luxury Glamping
There is always a lot happening at Wolds Wine Estate – and it’s not only focused on wine.
We are looking to expand and diversify our activities to support the local ecosystem and allow others to enjoy the beauty of nature. We are particularly passionate about helping the local bee population. We now have 4 bee hives on the estate and are hoping to add to this. We can’t wait to try some delicious Wolds Wine Estate honey!
We planted a cider orchard in 2022. We have a mixture of varieties of cider apple and perry pear trees. From these we hope to make our own single variety cider and perry along with some sweet and dry multi-varietals.
Sheep graze our fields to help us manage the grass in an eco friendly way. They are often rotated around fields but we try to have them in view of the glamping pods when we can.
We have had pigs on the estate too. The pigs were particular favourites of our glampers. Unfortunately we don’t have pigs at the moment but are planning a new home for them closer to the glamping pods and visitors (they love human attention).
Our Vineyard & Wines
We have over 3.3 acres of vineyard made up of over 4,000 vines which we manage. The vineyard is split into two areas. The Champagne field which has all the varieties to make a wonderful English Sparkling Wine (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier). And the glamping field which has the Solaris (white) and Rondo (red) varieties.
Planted in March 2020, for the first two years we focus the growth of the vine in the roots and into a single shoot. This single shoot will be the main trunk for future growth and grape growing. In the first three years we follow an intensive pruning regime to remove any wasted growth such as tendrils, lateral shoots and grapes. In year three we will take a small trial harvest from a handful of vines. In year four we will be in a position to let the grapes grow on the majority of vines and get our first small harvest for wine making! Yay!
After the harvest the grapes will make their way to a winery for the exciting bit. Depending on what types of wine we produce some bottles will take many years to mature. However, we hope to have some ready for drinking by mid-2024. Until then you can buy other wines from us. Head over to our online shop to see what we have in stock.
Cider Orchard
We have big dreams for our traditional cider orchard. Not only will it provide us with wonderful fruit for our cider and perries but it will also create a wonderful home for insects, pollinators and birds. And create a smashing picnic spot. It will be another 10 years are so before it looks how we want but until then we will admire it anyway.
Over near the Estate house we have a small orchard with a collection of old fruit trees. These trees provide part of the fruit for our 2022 vintage cider. The varieties in the old orchard are unknown but are eaters rather than cider apples.
We are very proud that is a Traditional Orchard. This means the trees will grow up to 10m high. Britain has lost 80% of it’s traditional orchards over the last 50 years which is a huge loss for nature. Our orchard will be pesticide free and all apples and pears will be picked by hand for our lovely cider.
Our Sheep
We have a lot of grass to maintain and we can’t think of a more ecological way to keep it short than by letting our friendly neighbouring farmer put his sheep in our fields from time to time.
These sheep are expert grass cutters, the only problem is they are expert escape artists too. We have to be careful to ensure they stay away from our vineyard!
We will rotate them around the estate as needed and they will also be moved onto other fields in the local area when our grass gets too short.
Bee Hives & Honey
Our Pigs
Two pigs have joined the family. The two gilts are a cross between Gloucestershire Old Spot and Berkshire. They are currently having fun playing and rolling in the mud and rooting around in the field. Pigs are well known escape artists so we hope they don’t get loose and make their way over to the vines.
The pigs are so friendly and playful that they are a joy to watch. Whilst we only have two females at the moment we are hoping to expand maybe next year and start breeding. This will be a lot of fun.
As they are such good rooters we are hoping to put them to use to help clear out an old derelict pond. They should be able to make their way through the weeds and overgrown shrubs pretty quickly so that we can have a proper look at the state of the pond and what needs doing to fix it.
