In this Regenerative Viticulture Series session, Abby Rose is joined by Lucie Swiestowska and Jules Phillips from Ham Street Vineyard in Kent. Abby, Lucie, and Jules discuss cover cropping, composting, sap testing, herbal teas, disease pressure, and reflections 6 years on from planting. 

Lucie and Jules share a passion for regenerating the environment, food systems and the quality of well farmed products. In 2019, they set up Ham Street Vineyard and Winery, now certified biodynamic under the BDA. Their vision is to grow the fruit in collaboration with the environment, taking inspiration from other innovative winemakers in the UK, such as Limeburn Hill Vineyard and Domaine Hugo. 

On the vineyard, Lucie and Jules use a few different types of compost, including biodynamic preparations (BD500) and Johnson Su bioreactor compost. For the biodynamic preparations, they source cow manure from a local farm, mix it with straw, place it in an animal horn, and then bury it; within six months it has created a rich smelling compost. They use their DIY constructed Johnson Su bioreactor for organic waste on-site; last year they used pruning off-cuts and cover crop clippings and placed them into an IBC cage lined with landscape fabric, watering well for 400 days to produce a fungal rich compost. 

Lucie and Jules have also tried some Korean natural farming compost. The vineyard borders an ancient woodland, so they have experimented with harvesting mycelium by leaving rice and potato boxes in the woodland to be colonised by fungi. Lastly, Lucie and Jules use council compost (PAS100), which doesn’t contain much soil life, but it’s beneficial for mulching and suppressing weeds.

To Lucie and Jules, regular sap testing goes hand in hand with regenerative viticulture. They’ve learnt that one of the biggest challenges is finding a reliable lab to carry out the tests. The EU referendum has meant that UK vineyards can’t send sap samples to Europe, instead Lucie and Jules have to send samples to the US, but it is still worth it in their opinion. 

They’ve found that a lot of viticulturists pay great attention to soil health without looking at plant health. Their sap test results are often different to the results of their soil tests, with various micro and macronutrient deficiencies showing up in sap tests at different times in the growing season. To try and avoid deficiencies, Lucie and Jules do sap tests two weeks before flowering and two weeks after flowering. This is to ensure that the vines are getting what they need at key points, maximising the impact of sap testing. 

Lucie and Jules were previously warned that if they had one area in the vineyard with disease, it would spread across the vineyard, however they have had multiple moments where spots of disease have been present and they haven’t lost a full crop. With biodynamics, they aren’t able to rely on conventional sprays to help control disease outbreaks, so they’ve had to be creative in how they nurture vine resilience. This involves making sure the vines have the correct nutrients around certain weather conditions, noticing the disease early on, treating the affected area with bicarbonate of soda, and dropping the fruit when necessary. They have found this targeted approach to be more efficient than doing blanket sprays throughout the season. Lucie and Jules foster a mentality of accepting some disease losses, as long as they are building vine resilience longer term, and still maintain a good crop at harvest. 

Last year, they had a small area of chardonnay with botrytis; instead of writing off the whole crop, Lucie and Jules held their nerve and the disease didn’t spread. They trusted that their vines were resilient enough to get through. According to Jules, it is a myth that organic or biodynamic vineyards are under more disease pressure than conventional, because organically grown vineyards will have more resilience and a diverse microbiome which is less easily outcompeted by ‘bad’ bacteria and fungi; vineyard complexity is Jules and Lucie’s antidote to disease pressure. 

Thank you to Ham Street Wines for joining us in the Regenerative Viticulture Series. This session was full of joyful experimentation and discovering the personality of your land and vines. We feel honoured to be in conversation with ecologically minded new entrant viticulturists, Lucie and Jules; it served as a reminder to remain curious about your vines, land and soils, and to trust that nature is resilient when you seek to work in collaboration with it. 

If you’d like to follow them on their journey, you can find Lucie and Jules at @hamstreetwines on Instagram. 

If you’re interested in learning more about Sectormentor, please email us at info@vidacycle.com.