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About Us

Based in our corner of East Yorkshire

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We are proud to be making something unique and different.

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Laurel vines is a carbon neutral, low environmental impact Vineyard with a Winery on site.

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We are based in the small hamlet of Aike in East Yorkshire. A very rural location based betwixt the market towns of Beverley and Driffield.

Soil & Climate

The area of Aike, Driffield is underlain by Cretaceous Chalk but in most places it is so deeply buried beneath glacial deposits that it has no influence on the landscape. The landscape is dominated by deposits of till, boulder clays and glacial lake clays which in most places cover the cretaceous bedrock.

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The high Eustatic sea level and warm climate of the Cretaceous period meant a large area of the continents was covered by warm shallow seas, this meant that marine limestone (a rock type that is formed under warm, shallow marine circumstances) was developed. In the North-East of England there is a band of Cretaceous rock that stretches from Hull up to Bridlington. Chalk, a soft porous white limestone, was deposited in the marine environment from the Cretaceous era. Chalk is rich in Calcium Carbonate and alkaline soils often derive from the Cretaceous bedrock. Such soils can produce excellent yields of crop growth (but not for acid loving species) and are the most productive soils in England.​

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Thus, the soils of the Wold’s are permeable and well structured. They dry rapidly and are cultivable under all differing weather situations. Despite being so well drained, chalk soils and subsoil’s are able to make a good deal of water available to plants as particles of chalk absorb moisture while keeping the soil open.

Vision

We pride ourselves in managing the whole process from grape harvest to bottling our wines. Over the years we have expanded both in the knowledge and scale of our wine producing. Our approach is to ensure that quality is placed into every bottle we produce, we have now launched over 10 vintages since 2013.

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We have also taken time to understand the production of still wines before developing our range into Sparkling. 2022 marked the first year of Sparkling wine becoming part of our vintage, this is through the use of the Champagne method. This is both labour intensive and skilled with some of our team undergoing training and extensive research regarding the methods involved.

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As an ever-developing vineyard, we have invested in whole team training in gentle pruning techniques which ensures the longevity of the vine. This together with using organic pest and fertiliser treatment reduces our reliance on argi chemicals.

This image shows our harvest volunteers stood in front of our wood barn with the Laurel Vines logo sign mounted on it.
This is one of our family members, Neil, tipping grapes that have been freshly picked into our grape de-stemmer.

As the vines have matured
so has our knowledge

Since the first idea of growing vines in 2009, discussions with other vineyard owners and knowledgeable people within the UK vineyard & wine industry were sought.

Expert advice has been taken and utilised in every step of the vineyard establishment and expansion.

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Initially following planting we suffered two years of the worst weather imaginable from winter at -18 Celsius to long periods of rain and flooding in spring into summer. In the year following 2013, the first year of production, following a late start the weather provided a much better growing season and provide us with a good but young wines.

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We are continually striving to increase our knowledge through training, education & experience.

Wine making
on the map

In 2010, Ian (owner and head wine maker) working with an agronomist to test whether the ground at Laurel Vines would be suitable for the growth of vines.

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This was always going to be challenging given the cooler Yorkshire climate, however over the years we have added measures to combat this and by carefully selecting varieties of grapes which can prosper in our environment.

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Our current total of vines for 2023 (April) is at 15,500 vines, we expanded in varieties with 12 different vine types being grown at Laurel Vines. These include the three Champagne varieties; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

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We have chosen to expand the range of varieties to suit different wine tastes. Similarly, our new winery which was built in 2016, was designed to be state of the art. This includes the addition of temperature controlled stainless steel tanks, waste water recovery and wine filtration but to name a few, since the establishment of our new winery, we have also produced red wines which have been aged in French oak barrels

This is our grape press which squeezes the juice from the grapes using the metal slits in the press.

Meet The Team

Ian our owner, he is around 60 white male with dark brown hair. With a bunch of grapes in his hand

Ian

Owner & Head Wine Maker

Ann is our other owner, aged around 50 white female, with glasses and light brown hair. She is smiling and wearing one of our black aprons.

Ann

Owner & Accounts

Rebekah is our sales manager, a white woman in her 30s with blond hair. She is smiling whilst wearing one of our black Laurel Vines tops.

Rebekah

Sales Manager

Dan is part of our vineyard team, he is a white male in his 30s. He is bad with a dark brown mid length beard. He is smiling with his arms folded in front of one of the tractors.

Dan

Vineyard Team

Jamie is part of our vineyard team, he is a white male in his 30s. He is bald with a shaped dark brown moustache. He is stood in front of one of the vineyard tractors smiling.

Jamie

Vineyard Team

Harry is part of our vineyard team, he is a white male in his late teens. He has dark brown hair that is cut short. He is outside stood in from of one of our tractors smiling.

Harry

Vineyard Team

Alastair is our catering manager. He is a white male in his 50s with dark brown hair that is cut no longer than his ears. He is posing down one of the rows of vines in his Laurel Vines uniform whilst cuddling vineyard dog Gruff (a black cocker spaniel)/

Alastair

Catering Manager

Louise is part of the sales and service team. She is a white female in her 50s with blonde hair tied up neatly. She is stood in front of the vineyard wearing her Laurel Vines uniform smiling.

Louise

Sales Team

Hollie is part of our sales and service team. She is a white female in their 20s. She has light brown hair which is tied up neatly. She is wearing her Laurel Vines uniform with a black coat and stood in the vineyard smiling.

Hollie

Sales Team

Vineyard Dogs

Charlie is one of our vineyard dogs. He is tri coloured Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Charlie

Dash is one of our vineyard dogs. He is brown and black Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Dash

Gruff is one of our vineyard dogs. He is a black working cocker spaniel.

Gruff

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