'The Favourite' Divico 2022

The hot summer of 2022 concentrated the juice to create a wine filled with savoury aromas of pastrami and cinnamon alongside dark plum and violets. The palate is full bodied with lots of black fruit, fresh acidity and polished tannins.

Dr Julien Le Court and Paul Tuteirihia, both formerly involved with East Malling Research Centre in Kent, worked tirelessly to establish a reputation for Divico as being the breakthrough red wine variety that can hold its own as a quality varietal English red wine. Yotes Court secured a small cache of 275 vines in spring 2019 and promptly planted them in a particularly rocky part of the vineyard at the bottom of Blocks 17 and 18.

The vines grew well and rather vigorously principally due to being grafted on S04 rootstock which allowed for the laying of a single producing cane in the third season. Well-established young vines tend to over crop, so after a post flowering leaf pluck, the fruit was thinned down to one bunch per strong shoot which removed half the crop. The vines were netted in early September to protect the ripening grapes from bird damage.

These vines received only a bare minimum of crop protection sprays which is one of the most impressive qualities of this varietal and marries well with the drive for increasingly sustainable viticultural practices. They are, however, nutrient hungry and are quick to show deficiency symptoms which can be severe if not addressed.

Divico flowers late giving it protection from frost and has thin yet vigorous shoot growth. The canes lignify early promoting a relatively early ripening season which enhances the flavours and balances the acids. The berries are small which increases the skin to pulp ratio and they are full of anthocyanins which are easily extracted during fermentation to give the lovely dark colour and soft tannins.