Spirit of the Downs

Michael Yeoman, the distiller at the Spirit of the Downs was inspired by assisting with the annual harvest for his friend Peter Hall who runs Breaky Bottom vineyard at Rodmell, near Lewes in West Sussex.

Peter and his wife Christine have been making wine for over 45 years and have won many awards for their Champagne Method English sparkling wines. As they were working the press for the 2017 harvest, Michael saw that the grapes were only being pressed lightly to prevent any bitterness coming through into the eventual sparkling cuvée. When the wine press was emptied, the grapes were then wheelbarrowed to the compost heap at the back of the winery to be mulched down. It seemed such a waste to effectively dump that pomace when it had so much juice and flavour in it. He knew that many wine producing countries such as France and Italy produce their own characteristic spirits such as Eau De Vie (Water of Life) and Grappa so wondered how one made in the South of England would turn out. He asked Peter if he would let him take some pomace to create a “grappa” and so plans for the first spirit were born.

The first Spirit of the Downs
Michael and Angus (one of the Breaky Bottom winemakers), decided to create a small amount of ferment in order to create a first sample of Grape Spirit. The first Spirit surprised them in terms of freshness on the nose with sweetness from the grapes coming through on the palate. The Spirit was excellent on its own or with a piece of ice or when mixed with soda water and bitters. Because of the success of the first run they decided to create a larger run of 120 bottles for the 2018 harvest using old German fermentation tanks kindly borrowed from Breaky Bottom Vineyard.    

After successfully creating an initial Grape Spirit, as a Cognac lover, Michael was keen to create a Sussex brandy using the grapes and pomace from English Sparkling wine. So, in 2019, he focused on producing both a larger quantity of Grape Spirit and also his first Sussex grape brandy. 

The first releases won 3 stars at the Great Taste Awards and two medals at the International Wine & Spirits Competition. In their first official release in 2019 they launched two Brandies and one Grape Spirit and entered them into Great Taste Awards and International Wine and Spirits Challenge (IWSC). The clear Grape Spirit was made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes providing plum and dark fruits whilst the Brandy was made from Chardonnay, one aged in English Oak barrels which gave Honeysuckle and Caramel notes in between an Armagnac and Calvados, the other aged with Oak from old Cognac barrels, giving Crème Brulée and Sultanas with Oak and Vanilla similar to a VS Cognac. These won two Great Taste Awards and two medals at IWCS for the 2019 Vintages.