Services
Stays, tastings, harvest weeks, walking and cycling itineraries, courses and private events.
Rooms and small apartments at seven working estates, from a single room above a cellar to a whole barn conversion sleeping eight. Rates include breakfast, a tasting on arrival, use of bicycles and binoculars, and access to the paths and hides. Two nights is the usual minimum, and stays of a week attract a lower nightly rate. Three of the properties have ground-floor rooms with level access, and all of them will hold dinner for guests arriving late.
Standard tastings of six wines with the maker, extended sessions comparing parcels and vintages, vertical tastings from the family library and blind sessions for those who want to test themselves. Visits include the vineyard as well as the cellar, walking the rows to see the soil and the buffer strips before tasting what came from them. Groups stay under ten, the fee is refunded against purchases, and non-drinking companions are given juice from the same fruit rather than being ignored.
Working weeks in September and October when guests join the pick for part of each morning, sort at the belt, watch the press and eat with the harvest team, and in February when the pruning teaches more about a vine than any tasting. Accommodation is offered at a reduced rate, the work is genuine but voluntary, and nobody is expected to keep up with the professionals. These weeks book out first and are limited to six guests per estate.
Self-guided routes linking the estates along flat farm tracks and embankments, from twelve to sixty kilometres in total, with luggage moved between properties, tastings booked at sensible intervals and a route card marking the birdwatching stops, the swimming spot and the two cafés on the way. Bicycles, including electric models and child seats, are provided. Guided walks with a naturalist or with one of the winemakers can be added to any itinerary.
Two-day introductions to tasting and wine faults, cooking sessions built around the lagoon catch and the kitchen garden, bread baking in the wood oven, botanical drawing among the vines, and dawn birdwatching led by the naturalist who carries out the estates' annual counts. Courses run for six to eight people, include all materials and meals, and are scheduled outside the busiest weeks so that the families can take part properly.
Estates can be taken privately for family celebrations, small weddings and company gatherings of up to forty, with the courtyard, the cellar and the long table available and catering arranged from the same kitchens. For the trade we organise technical visits, tank samples, allocation discussions and tastings with several producers in a single day, plus transport and accommodation. Importers, sommeliers and journalists are welcome year-round, including during harvest.