A banker and a barrister walked into a bar…

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A lifelong enthusiast of all things fermented, Charles left a sensible job and took the plunge into the watering-hole of wine over a decade ago. In the winery he is Ambriel’s head winemaker, and a general factotum in the vineyard. As a side-line, he makes a lovely Sourdough using yeast from the vineyard’s Chardonnay grape skins (clone 96 to be precise!).

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Wendy has swapped one sort of Bar for another, but retains her love of tucking into a case. Often found loitering hopefully in the winery, glass in hand, ready to do the hard work: sniff, sip, slurp, swoosh … but never spit.

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Our family-run vineyards sit on sunny south-facing slopes overlooking the South Downs National Park in West Sussex. Our 9.5Ha (23 acres) of  vineyards in West Sussex are planted on rare Greensand – which we believe to be the terroir of choice in England. This sedimentary bedrock was formed about 113 to 126 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period when the area was covered by shallow seas. Our vines are the classic Sparkling varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier but we have chosen lower-yielding  clones for their superior fruit flavours.