Have you ever dreamed about owning your own vineyard?
Perhaps you have imagined settling down with a picnic among the vines and drinking a bottle of your own label wine on a warm summer's day.
Chapel Down, England's leading wine producer, is giving you the opportunity to become a partner in the success story of English wines by offering you the chance to lease your own vines at our vineyard.
Vine leasing makes a great gift for anyone who loves wine. Personalised wine is also ideal for purchasing as a group, society or company. In addition to the pleasure of enjoying your own wine, our vine-lease scheme also gives you the opportunity to benefit from enjoying the company of fellow wine lovers and wine experts in a beautiful setting.
The Tenterden site has been producing excellent wines for 22 years. A thin layer of loamy clay over sand provides the soil for the beautifully aspected slopes looking towards the Isle of Oxney. Enjoying a picnic in "your" vineyard overlooking such a classic English rural scene is just one of the many joys of this unique vine leasing scheme.
Downloadable forms to purchase a lease are available at the bottom of this page.
An introduction to the Bacchus Grape
Bacchus was the Roman God of Wine and is also the name of a grape variety, of Riesling parentage, well-suited to the English soil and climate. Bacchus is one of the earlier-ripening varieties. We usually harvest in the first or second week in October to help retain its intense and distinctive flavours. After fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel vats at 12-18ºC, the wine is left on its lees for 2 months for body, and to retain the primary fruit aromas.
Bacchus produces intensely aromatic and refreshing white wine that is a perfect partner for seafood, fish, pasta and light meats. It has been lauded by many journalists and wine experts, and is sold in some of London's finest hotels, restaurants and stores.
Chapel Down win awards every year for their Bacchus wine and the Bacchus vines at Tenterden produce a particularly distinctive and delicious wine. Although there are vintage variations, Bacchus is typically Sauvignon-like in flavour and aromas. Notes of lime, apples, nettles, gooseberries, elderflower, blackcurrant leaves and even gun smoke are frequently mentioned. It can benefit from some ageing but is ready to drink young and fresh too. It is guaranteed to surprise and delight friends and family!
The Benefits of the Chapel Down Vine Lease Scheme
We have a number of different schemes available starting from just £195 for a one-year lease, with costs varying according to the length of your lease and the number of vines. Each lease bought includes the following exclusive benefits:
- You will recieve a Vine Lease Certificate confirming the number of vines leased and the leasing period.
- Your vines are numbered and you can visit them at any time of the year by prior arrangement.
- You will have the opportunity to help harvest grapes from the Bacchus vineyard. All our grapes are hand-picked and instruction will be given.
- Your wine is made for you at Chapel Down by our award winning winemaking team.
- Your wine will have a personalised label (to our template).
- You will be invited to an annual wine tasting event held at our vineyard in May/June, hosted by a Master of Wine such as Richard Bampfield MW. You will be able to taste your own wine, compare it to others over a first class meal and collect your bottles to take away.
- You will receive periodic email newsletters detailing current vineyard activity, information on what's happening at Chapel Down, competitions, exclusive offers and more.
- Throughout the duration of your lease you are entitled to 10% off the full retail price of all wines purchased in the shop or by telephone mail order.
Vine Lease Scheme
We have both one-year and three-year lease schemes available. The one-year schemes make a fantastic gift and will give you the opportunity to learn a lot about wine, meet some great people and enjoy your own wine.
The three-year schemes offer a discount on one-year prices and additionally gives you the opportunity to compare your wine over three vintages. All costs include two separate elements for both the vine lease and for the maintenance and management fees.
Please note: Vine Leases purchased from late September 2011 onwards will run until harvest 2012. The wine will be released at the annual wine tasting event in May/June 2013.
You can download our Vine Lease contract, Vine Lease payment and gift form and instructions here.
You will need to complete and return to us by post 2 copies of the Vine Lease Contract completed with the purchasers details plus the payment form (and the gift form completed with the recipients details should you be purchasing a lease for someone else). If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on tel: 01580 763033 or sales@chapeldown.com
Vine Lease Scheme options 2012 Harvest:
| One-year schemes |
|
|
|
|
| No. of bottles per year |
6 |
12 |
24 |
48 |
| No. of vines leased |
5 |
10 |
20 |
40 |
| Annual lease fee |
£97.50 |
£162.50 |
£275.00 |
£425.00 |
| Annual fee for maintenance |
£97.50 |
£162.50 |
£275.00 |
£425.00 |
| Total Annual Cost |
£195.00 |
£325.00 |
£550.00 |
£850.00 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Three-year schemes |
|
|
|
|
| No. of bottles per year |
6 |
12 |
24 |
48 |
| No. of vines leased |
5 |
10
|
20
|
40
|
| Annual lease fee |
£80.00 |
£137.50
|
£225.00 |
£350.00 |
| Annual fee for maintenance |
£80.00 |
£137.50
|
£225.00 |
£350.00
|
| Total Annual Cost |
£160.00 |
£275.00
|
£450.00
|
£700.00
|
Additional information for current vine lease holders
If you are a current vine lease holder and have any questions regarding the vines you have leased, dates for picking or the vine lease holders annual event please do not hesitate to give us a call in the sales office on tel: 01580763033. The Vine Lease Holders event for 2011 Vine Lease holders will run from the 15th to 17th June 2012.