Little Waddon Vineyard
This is beautiful West Dorset
We’re nestled at the base of the steep due south facing downs of chalk and limestone, just inland of Chesil Beach, the West Fleet at Langton Herring, and the sea
This is Dorset’s iconic World Heritage Jurassic coast, an Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty
The vineyard lies within a gentle open valley full of sea breezes, sea views and an incredible micro-climate
The same micro-climate enjoyed by Abbotsbury subtropical Gardens just a few miles to the West, where the valley opens out to Lyme Bay beyond
Beneath the vines the soil is made up of a layer of rich loam mixed with flint, chalk and limestone sat on truly ancient deep Kimmeridge Clay, that provides excellent run off and drainage
Originally planted in 2004 the vines are made up of Seyval Blanc, Regent and Phoenix varieties
They clearly enjoy this habitat and have consistently produced award winning wines
In the summer of 2018 Simon and Karen bought the vineyard and as intensely passionate growers they immediately set about converting the vineyard to become regenerative, sustainable, and pesticide free
This is a slow gentle process that allows the land, and especially the vines to settle back to a natural state, free from harmful synthetic chemicals, insecticides and herbicides
The vineyard and it’s surrounding land, flora and fauna is viewed as a single living entity
This wonderfully unique Little vineyard is now packed full of diverse wildlife and fauna and together with the limestone and clay forms the true ‘terroir’ of our wine
Our Seyval Blanc, Phoenix and Regent grapes produce small batch, wild ferment and low intervention wine, without the need for chemical or mechanical filtering, food colourants, added tanins, or sulphur stabilising even at the bottling stage
So our ethos is simply ‘Grape-to-Glass’
We try to add and remove as Little as possible on this complex journey
