2022: The Year of The Warm Ham Sandwich

The perfect year end wrap up doesn’t exis… hold our glass.

Now, we know it’s important to reflect, but we like making wine. Not long lists of KPIs, ROIs and CSIs.

If we were you, we’d pour ourselves a glass of something cold, bubbly and English, close the LinkedIn tab for a couple days, and kick back.

But if you’re into it, we’ll give you our actual highlights. The memories. The moments. The messages. Both the good and… well… the “bark”.

First off, the Compliments Department had a vintage year:

?? “Tastes like a warm ham sandwich” was our favourite feedback. Thank you Becky from Gloucester! Your email is enshrined in our office. Though the 1am time stamp suggests you may have already had a few before hitting send…

On more overall-positive notes:

?? We became a B Lab UK ! The first winemaker in the UK to do it. Told you we’d get that First eventually mum ;) Shouldn’t have spent all that time fretting about our BA in History of Canadian Film & Television.

???? We had a 2 week rosé party in Covent Garden. Many came. We remember it. All. Very clearly. Promise.

?? We raised scotch eggs and glasses of bubbly to the more-recently-late-Queen, in a royally delicious Jubilee picnic collab with Pique. Long live coronation chicken?????

?? We found ourselves boarding Virgin Atlantic and turning left????Hello Upper Class! We haven’t been this end before, what rarified air! Not sure anyone here knows what a can is though… Stop jabbing with that corkscrew, Percy.

???? We launched in New Zealand! We make English wine for the UK. We now make kiwi wine for NZ. Same dry, fresh style, using the finest local grapes, with no global shipping. Just a splash of Uncommon sense.?

?? Peter Crouch (tall fellow, can’t miss him) poured our wine for thirsty fans at Dulwich Hamlets FC on his Amazon Prime show. Yup. That happened. Why? Not sure. But we were there for it, hitting rewind, over and over again.

?? Helen McGinn and Kat Farmer from the telly had us rofling along to their WineTime show when we made an appearance. Did someone say wine? Don’t mind if we do. How’s your glass looking?

Sorry, got distracted there.

?? We’ve just had the best harvest this country has ever seen. Seriously. 2018, beware. 2022 is coming fast. In fact, it’s behind you! (Little Christmas gag there.)

?? We welcomed wild bison back to the UK in a wild rewilding project, partnering with Kent Wildlife Trust . Only thing is, Leonardo DiCaprio just won’t stop tweeting about it. Give it a rest Leo! For goodness sake. (Unhumblebrag)

?? We’ve had some properly lovely features in the likes of The Times , The Telegraph , Metro , Red Magazine UK , Cosmopolitan . Nothing on Becky from Gloucester’s review, for sure, but that’s once-in-a-lifetime commentary. Hopefully.

?? We even partnered with the glorious Oddbox , Anthropologie , Bloom & Wild and Kip Hideaways .

?? In amongst all that, we did actually win a Winery of the Year award at London Competitions and medals at IWSC wine awards . But we’ll never forget that we’re no more than an DM away from being compared to “Tsatsiki” or “Bark”. Or, you know, “a warm ham sandwich”. So, we must stay humble.

??????? Most importantly, we grew as a team. Both emotionally and in size. Over the summer, we had a couple of amazing interns. One team member has helped grow a new baby, whilst another has another in the works. What a team! And you know what they say, ‘Team work makes the wine sell’.?

Which we also did.?

And when we did sell wine, delivery was perfect, never late. Or lost. The warehouse was stocked to optimum levels. Always. Potential new customers applauded each and every sample received with unrivalled fanfare. And we never, ever got ghosted???.?

???????What. A. Year.???????

Though maybe that last bit is just just rosé tinted glasses. We do seem to have finished our drink.???

Either way, thank you 2022, and thank you Becky from Gloucester. Here’s to 2023! Top us up and let’s get to it.

Now, for some reason we’re hankering for a toastie. Where’s the Breville?