Six vineyards, one bike: inside the UK’s first boozy bike trail
For the Autumn edition of Morning Wire The Magazine, Adam Bloodworth takes on the UK’s first wine bike trail
The Rother Wine Triangle unites two groups that should arguably never meet: cyclists and vinophiles. Connecting seven vineyards together with one handy new map, one bloke got so drunk at the first stop he was forced to cancel his whole expedition. “You can’t be done for having a glass of wine or two and riding a bike, but he pushed the limit,” says Aaron Barham, head of the bar at Tillingham Wine Estates. “I imagine he didn’t have a pleasant hangover the next day.”
Another guy woke up at 3am to cram all seven vineyards into a single day instead of the recommended three; venues have been pushing cheese boards to soak up the damage. The odd lubricated customer aside, Kent’s Wine Triangle is a great idea, because visiting British vineyards is often an admin nightmare. Driving is obviously not an option, and getting out of London on trains and taxis takes twice as long as the time you spend quaffing wine.
A thirty minute walk from Rye station to Rye Bay Ebikes, and I’m soon putting the power assist function to good use on some formidable hills. I pass the village of Winchelsea, with its roofless church, and turn through one of the old entrances to the city of Rye, which was used for filming The Crown. I ascend to an incredible view of the coast, the Sussex vineyards and a beautiful old pile once home to William Penn, the founder of the US state of Pennsylvania.
Chantal Palmer greets me with the family’s german shepherd. Her husband Robert Palmer is the son of Charles Palmer, who set up this vineyard. Since the route launched earlier this year, there’s been a spike in international visitors, although some of the people turning up on their doorstep don’t seem to understand what a vineyard is. “They want to ride a bike through the English countryside, drink cream tea and eat fish and chips,” says Chantal. Charles Palmer Vineyards is so far from road noise that the only thing I hear approaching are dragon flies.
Chantal incorporates her French heritage into long and relaxed tastings. “Everything in England is quick quick quick,” she says. I drink a particularly good, earthy rosé made in the blanc de noir style. “This group of lads came in and said they don’t do rosé but we categorically changed their opinion,” she says from tasting benches overlooking the vines. She’s happy with comparisons between the Rother Wine Triangle and California’s Napa Valley. “It’s making me very proud,” she says.
Visiting Charles Palmer is like turning up at your rich relatives’ place but Tillingham, a 25 minute cycle along the bike trail, feels more like a small resort. There’s a pizza place, hotel, Michelin Green star-rated restaurant and bar with a proper alfresco tasting area.
Still in my muddy clothes I sit in the fancy restaurant surrounded by people celebrating their anniversaries. The food is exactly what you need after a long day on the saddle: on the menu are seared Rye Bay scallops, local lamb and goat’s cheese mousse with peach. The wine is funky and experimental. Too funky for some, including one local resident who smirked as she told me, “Tillingham is great for beer and pizza.”
I stayed overnight and did a tasting at 11am the following morning. The Pet Nat, an organic wine free of any interference, is a sharp awakening. During a slightly awkward tasting I note the wine is “interesting” a lot. I could see myself enjoying a glass as a conversation starter but even in situ, with the vineyard views, it’s… challenging. That said, it is gorgeous here. “When it’s sunny it looks like Tuscany,” Aaron says as I wander the vines.
The winemakers disagree over blends so he makes one and she makes the other. Try the Pinot Gris 2023 and the Pinot Gris Block 1 for an insight into their winemaking and their marriage
The wind is life-giving on my cheeks after the mid-morning plonk. Another 25 minutes on the bike and I experience my first rain as I pull up at Oxney Organic Estate, a counterpoint to the touristy Tillingham. There is no need to book ahead for a tour and tasting. Tabitha, who works in the office, shuts her laptop to take me around. Shepherds’ huts with cosy beds for overnight stays sit adjacent to the vines, and a short walk away the horse box bar is set up for al fresco tastings. Oxney does some truly special fizz, the best of which is the classic cuvee and a pinot noir rosé, which I quaffed with a vineyard view and some problematically moreish local cheese.
The next cycle on the bike trail feels faintly intimidating: I prepare our bums for a 50-minute ride west to Oastbrook. This is all done using Google Maps because the Rother Wine Triangle, as one tourism worker puts it, is “more like an idea dreamed up in an office” than an intuitive guide. The only signage is outside the vineyards themselves, which isn’t much good if you’re lost en route. I get lost, with Google sending me along a bumpy riverside path. My bag falls off its holder three times. Expletives are muttered into the Kent air.
I am sweating profusely and embarrassed to be late again when I meet a Brazilian lady called America and her husband Nick who run Oastbrook. America is wearing a silver party dress at 3pm on a Wednesday. The first thing she tells me is that she never has a bad day. She drives tractors in high-heels and at one point flummoxes me by standing up and jousting with the air in the middle of the tasting room apropos of nothing.
She is also more passionate about British wine than anyone I’ve ever met. “Everybody knows England is the best place to make sparkling wine in the world,” she says, mirroring the quiet optimism of British wine producers as a whole. “But English people don’t know we make wine. Tell me, do you go to Bordeaux and ask for Chianti?” Nick, her soft British counterpart, shows me the Hobbit House they built into their land near the vineyards and tasting room. Sometimes he and America disagree over wine blends so they make both instead of picking one. The still whites stand out for me: try the Pinot Gris 2023 and the Pinot Gris Block 1 for an insight into both of their winemaking and their marriage. Give this duo a reality show.
America made me late again. The next leg was 25 minutes south during a medium-sized downpour to my final stop: Sedlescombe. I make more sweaty apologies before sitting down for another tasting of fabulous organic sparkling out on the terrace. I drank into the evening, wandering the World War II defences that have been left in these fields. I see what Aaron means: this really could be Tuscany, apart from the need for a good brolly.
Visit the Sussex bike trail yourself
Go to visit1066country.com for information about the Rother Wine Triangle. Adam spent two days and two nights on the bike trail, visiting five out of six vineyards (Carr Taylor went out of business since the publication of the map). Accommodation is available at all of the vineyards at varying prices. Adam used The Trainline to travel from London to Rye return, with prices starting from £15.70; thetrainline.co.uk