Lyme Bay Winery's Sarah Massey on all things wine

I very quickly realised I loved getting stuck in and getting my hands dirty, so I went to Burgundy for my first vintage and that was where I started my love affair with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. When I settled at Lyme Bay Wintery, my intention was to stay for one vintage, but the managing director James Lambert really hooked me into his vision and talked me into staying. My first vintage was 2019, then I went to Australia for the 2020 vintage, and I've been back here for two years.

What do you think is the most exciting aspect of making English wine right now?

For me it is the still wines. We know we can make sparking now, but it is the growth in the still wine category that will be really interesting. Our focus at Lyme Bay is still wine and it has been so exciting to see what we can do with it over the last few years. Our first year going all-in on these new styles was 2020 and we are really starting to see the results.

What are the quirks you have to work with at Lyme Bay Winery?

Well, we don't have our own vineyards – we exclusively work with established vineyards and new ones across England to get the best fruit we can, which gives us more options. We work with vineyards in Essex, Sussex, Kent, Hereford and really highlight these different regions and make that fruit speak for itself. In very vague terms, what we tend to see is that in the south east and Essex we get our premium Chardonnay, and more towards the south west we get more aromatic varietals. In the south and central and Sussex we get a lot of sparkling clones.

What are some of your favourites?

Our 2020 Pinot Noir is drinking so well at the moment. Another one we have done a few early tastings of is the 2020 Sauvignon Blanc, of which we've only done 400 bottles. It was like my baby: I have nurtured it and hopefully we're going to get that out in the next month or so – it is a really special wine.

When it comes to the on-trade what are conversations around English wine like?

The first thing I do when I go to a restaurant is look at its wine list and ask "where is the English wine?" About five to 10 years ago it often just didn't exist and I'd ask them if they had considered getting some English wine on the menu. Now though, eight out of 10 times I see English wine on the menu – I don't want to necessarily see Lyme Bay, I just want people to celebrate what is out there.

What are you striving for at the moment?

We're looking to show constancy. It is easy to have one great vintage with still wine, but we want to show that we can do it year-on-year, even if we have a difficult year.

Looking at the 2021s that are coming through at the moment, we think the fruit we've got still meets the same quality as the 2020s. We will always have some interesting and experimental parcels that come through, but we want to prove these things aren't just a one-off.

Seasonal food and drink pairing: Harrow & Hope Brut Rosé No 2 NV + strawberries and cream

It's that time of year where strawberries are wonderfully in season and serving them in a dessert with cream calls for a complementary wine. Go for English sparkling with this Brut Rosé from Buckinghamshire's Harrow & Hope. It has a Pinot Noir base along with Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier, and its red wine component gives it the ideal profile to match with this classic dessert.