Davenport, Limney Organic Sparkling

The winery is at Limney Farm, an old dairy farm with buildings that made easy conversion for their new winemaking purpose. Since 1993 they have extended the buildings for a dedicated bottling area and temperature controlled store and since 2010 the winery is now solar powered, and solar panels generate enough electricity to run the whole winery.

All the sites are managed using only organic methods. Organic grapes are grown without chemical fertilisers, weedkillers, insecticides and using only a very limited range of fungicides. The aim is to get as close as possible to a natural environment and cause less pollution into the water, soil and air around the vineyard (and then into the wider environment).

The winery controls disease by spraying sulphur and copper as well using a range of home-made foliar feeds (comfrey, nettle, garlic, etc.). Canopy management is vital, although they try to get a balance of soil fertility so that the vines remain healthy but are not overly vigorous. Compost is used as well as organic poultry manure where needed. Sheep are grazed on the vineyard over winter months to clean the vineyard floor and add their own fertiliser.

The grapes are manually harvested and most of the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks, with only 10% fermented in oak foudres. The second fermentation takes place in bottle and the wine is then aged or 4-5 years before disgorging. The wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered and with a small amount of sulphur.