Naked Wine crowdfunds Simpson’s first English fizz

Simpson Wine Estate and Naked Wines has launched a crowdfunding exercise to develop an English sparkling wine brand that will be named by investors – but have already vetoed the name ‘Winey McWineface’.

Ruth and Charles Simpson planted 10 hectares of vines at their Simpson Wine Estate in Kent in mid-May (Photo: Simpson Wine Estate)

It is hoping to raise £112,000 from the pre-sale of 1,200 six-bottle cases to fund equipment in the new winery and provide operating cash-base to fund what it describes as “the time-consuming and expensive ‘method traditional’ winemaking process”.

Naked’s Angel investors will also be able to vote on the name, brand and design of the new English fizz.

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The couple behind Simpson Wine Estate, Charles and Ruth Simpson planted the first 10 hectares of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir on their 30 hectare estate in Barham, near Canterbury in 2014, and are planning to release the first vintage in 2018. In May, they planted the second of the three-planned vineyards, and were awarded a Defra grant of £144,154 towards the funding of a state-of-the-art winery and tasting room. They are planning to plant the final 10 hectares next year and reach full production by 2020.

The English couple also owns 42 hectares in the Languedoc and have been making wine at their boutique winery Domaine de Sainte Rose near Servian, since 2002, releasing their first sparkling Chardonnay in November 2013 in preparation of the English venture.

Charles Simpson told db the Kent winery was “90% there” and ready for primary fermentation of its first harvest in October, but it will need to invest in riddling and disgorgement equipment early next year while the wines age.

“We are trying to do it in a bite-sized way,” he said. “The first harvest will take two years to age and we have the foresight of having done it before. In 2002 we thought we had to do it all at ones, but wine businesses are very difficult to finance, so we want to get the first vintage into bottle first and then look at the secondary fermentation.”

The 2016 harvest is likely to have benefitted by the high rainfall in May and early June, Simpson said. “It is difficult to estimate yields but we are hopeful for a healthy and perfectly formed crop,” he said. “There is a decent crop out there and the fruit will go into veraison in the next 7-10 days, but harvest is still 6-8 weeks away.”

The vineyard hopes to produce around 250k bottles a year from 2020, and is planning to make classic sparkling wines including blanc-de-noir, blanc-de-blanc, classic cuvées and a sparkling rosé, as well as still wines – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir rosé and a red Pinot Noir – as and when the harvest is good enough and the wines can ‘stand up”. However Simpson added that he was keen to make more Pinot-dominant sparkling wines, in contrast to some of the more typical English blanc-de-blancs, and said Pinot Meunier had an “important” role to play in softening “racy” sparkling wines.

Simpson Wine Estate has been working with Naked Wines on its French wines since 2012, after the English couple become “fascinated” with Naked’s business model.

“We weren’t looking for any new customers, but we wanted to be involved in the model,” Simpson explained. “It was the right moment to harness the power of the internet and democratise the wine model as it removed the barrier between the producer and the customer.”

MD of Naked Wines Eamon Fitzgerald said the wine company was excited to be working with the “seriously talented” couple on their first English sparkling wine.

“They are seriously talented winemakers who will produce a top-notch English Wine for our Angels. The rise of English wines over the past years has been astounding. For our customers to be involved in naming and designing the newest addition is a fantastic opportunity,” he said.