Hugh Liddell planted this site, he had his Cottonworth wines. I wanted to to try and make something that was small batch but that highlighted what I felt Hampshire could do really well – really bright fruit, really intense freshness. Jacob Leadley: When we started in 2015 I was working out of Hattingley Valley, the idea then was to buy grapes from pretty similar soil types to what we have here. And Jacob, their leader – found wine by chance after a career in investment banking dried out his eyeballs and led him to seek solace in the wonderful wilds of Hampshire. Soulful bearded James is not born of farming stock either but exudes the kind of psychic plant knowledge that makes for cult like status. All of the team are converts – Zoë a brilliantly bright West London girl who discovered wine whilst working the vines to pay the rent during a gap year in Oz. Jacob Leadley is Plumpton trained, as are his lieutenants – able Vineyard Manager James Matyear and Winemaking Assistant Zoë Driver. There is a druidic circular vine garden out back for latent hippies, picnics and kids. The newly opened tasting room and café is buzzing with guests. Inside a variable capacity Cocquard PAI press takes pride of place. A recently constructed winery – converted from an existing cow shed, offers an impressive and pristine symbol of what’s undoubtedly to come. 30 acres of prime Hampshire chalkland is farmed and small batch production is key to this operation. Frost is a constant risk but these three are not readily cowed.īlack Chalk is named after the charcoal or black chalk artists use to sketch their outlines. Outside investment, micro-vineyard management and subsequent knowledge accumulation allows this team to place Hampshire’s potential elegantly in bottle. With 35 clone rootstock variations on 30 acres (spread across three vineyard sites) – coupled with small and varied batch pressings, the team have a palate to play with that is worthy of the artistic Black Chalk name. Today this decision is bearing fruit: all of the wine made at Black Chalk is made from owned vineyards. It might have sunk a softer team, but Jacob, James and Zoë are made of sterner stuff. Utterly convinced of its potential to create insane sparkling wine he risked everything to buy his own vineyards and build a winery – a mere week before lockdown hit. Jacob Leadley has held a messianic faith in Hampshire chalk for over seven years. Jamie Goode and Lisse Garnett went to meet them. Chance delivered both opportunity and killer blows to Black Chalk in quick succession – it was to prove the making of this tight knit team
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