Carr Taylor Wines Ltd

About Winery and Wines

We started planting the 21 acre farm site with vines in 1971, converted part of the farm buildings into a house and the rest eventually became the winery, shop and bonded warehouse. As time went on and demand for the wines grew, we planted an adjacent 16 acre site in the early 1990s, bringing the total area of vineyards to its current 37 acres. Linda and David’s son, Alex, became the winemaker from 1992 after getting first class honours in Agriculture at Reading University. In 2001 he and his wife, Jacqie, worked a vineyard in New Zealand and then in Oregon, in the States. On their return, Alex studied for a Diploma at the Wine & Spirits Education Trust in London, and was awarded the Vintners’ Scholarship, traditionally awarded by the Vintners Company to the year’s top scholar. Alex’s overseas experience brought new outlooks and inspired new ideas in his wine making. If climate change delivers a consistently warmer climate, Alex would love to be able to branch into the production of red wines, but realistically it is likely that the climate will remain best suited to the deliciously fruity, crisp, fresh whites, and particularly sparkling wines, that we can make so well here. Ours is very much a family business, and Alex’s wife, Jacqie, joined the business in 2008 to help promote and evolve the business. There are plans afoot to modernise different aspects of the shop, winery and office. In a period when new vineyards are being planted across the South East of England, we find ourselves in the fairly unique position of using our experience to replant old vineyards, which we all find extremely exciting. For more details, see the vineyard section.