Ben Walgate's Tillingham Wines is a dynamic and exciting operation working with traditional methods and natural wine making principles. His creative and artistic side is definitely represented in both his eye candy packaging and charming rustic winery, but even more importantly the wine he produces.

 

 

Textural, aromatic and natural, his wines offer a side to English wine that you won't often encounter.  The adventurous techniques used to make these wines certainly standout from the day to day commercial methods.

Biodynamic and low intervention practices in the vineyards and the winery allow Ben to be experimental.  Fermenting wine in vessels such as Qvevri, some of which are buried underground; allowing skin contact to introduce texture; or playing with fermentation/maceration times (from time to time) seemingly all lean towards the reason these fashionable wines have been so well received... left of the norm, and fantastic with it!

 

  

Tillingham Wines is part of a mixed 70 acre farm in East Sussex, where they’ve been raising livestock and growing vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees as well! They just planted their very own grape vines in the spring of 2018 – the same year they released their first vintage using bought-in grapes – so they’re very new to the scene. This has worked to their benefit, as they’ve been able to observe the marriage of old and new methods in the world of viticulture and the rise in visibility for natural wines.

Having been introduced to Tillingham by a wine they named 100% Pet Nat (see instagram post a few weeks ago), we have been very keen to get hold of these innovative, creative, tasty and down right sexy wines!  

These are well balanced wines, not too alternative or purposefully left-field.  We fully recommend you have a pop if you are even slightly interested... if anything the good old fresh English acidity won't leave you disappointed.