In this article, I recount my early experiences in viticulture, starting in 1975 as an intern at the Schönborn estate in Germany. There, I spent long days working on steep vineyards and embraced opportunities to learn at Geisenheim, Germany’s top wine school, under the guidance of Professor Helmut Becker. Upon returning to England, my family acquired a farm in Kent, which a soil scientist had endorsed as an ideal vineyard site. With Becker’s help, I selected a mix of traditional and experimental grape varieties and began laying the groundwork for Tenterden Vineyards, which we established in 1977.
Click here to read or download a PDF of the full article, which appears in Vineyard Magazine in May 2024.