The Glugger - Flipbook - Page 4
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SAME QUALITY
SHARPHAM WINES
FINDS A NEW RESIDENCE
AT THE SANDRIDGE BARTON WINERY
NESTLED IN A PICTURESQUE
VALLEY IN THE SOUTH HAMS,
SANDRIDGE BARTON WINERY
IS FAST BECOMING THE NEW FACE
OF THE UK WINE SCENE
We caught up with
Sandridge Barton Winery’s
very own winemaker,
Paddy Gauntto
find what’s changed.
How did you become involved
in the wine industry yourself?
I qualified as a surveyor and at the
start of my career, when my father
retired in 1980 and said he wanted
to plant a vineyard and needed me
to survey some land he’d bought.
‘Where’ I asked, ‘in France, Italy,
Spain?’ ‘No’, he said ‘in Cornwall!’
After initially thinking he’d lost the
plot, I did what he asked, mapped
out his fields, helped him plant
three acres of land on the bank of
the river Fowey, undertook pruning
and eventually helped Dad harvest
and produce some wine. I fell in
love and gave up the day job!
Paddy, there has certainly been
a big change for Sharpham
since 2020. Why the move and
how did you go about selecting
a new location?
Our larger vineyard was planted
at Sandridge Barton in 2008 so
for 12 years we were driving the
vintage on a tractor and trailer
through Totnes to Sharpham to
process the fruit! We found out that
our lease at Sharpham might not
have been renewed due to some
amazing re-wilding projects taking
place and this coincided with our
previous owner Mark retiring, so
we approached the land owner
of Sandridge Barton, who we’d
be buying fruit off and asked how
he felt about buying the business
and moving us closer to the main
vineyard – which fortunately he did!
Tell us about the new location,
how far is it from the old one?
Sandridge Barton is a beautiful
450 acres estate, most of which is
still working farmland that is both
arable and pasture. We’re part
of the Higher-Level Countryside
Stewardship Scheme which means
we’re working hard to implement
lots of things to boost the ecosystems and preserve what is
already here.
As the crow flies, it is about 2.5km,
so really close! From Totnes it’s
equal distance between Sharpham
and Sandridge Barton, around
10/15 mins.
With the new site what methods
are new and what if anything
has been retained?
With new investment and more
space, we’ve purchased lots of
new bespoke made tanks, more
oak barrels, a sorting table and also
a new bottling and disgorging line.
This now means we do every single
process in house, meaning we can
do exactly what’s best for the wine
and make small adjustments to
further increase quality.
We still follow the same processes
and practices as we always have
at Sharpham, but with newer and
better equipment that is showing
in the resulting new wines coming
out of the winery.
