Camel Valley Vineyard
Hard work and a gentle climate has brought international success to this Cornish vineyard
Building on the success of winning international awards a Cornish vineyard is making a big success of selling wine to America and Japan.
Wines from Camel Valley Vineyard, near Bodmin, can now also be found in Spain, Italy, New Zealand and Australia.
Under the banner of the Camel Valley Vineyard, the Lindo family has already won a battle to have their produce labelled with the prestigious UK Quality Wine mark. They’ve also produced a sparkling brut that beat the French Champagne producers at their own game, and they’ve even been cited in the European Parliament as a model for how all small vineyards should operate.
Bob Lindo and his wife bought a farm near Nanstallon in 1982, with plans to settle there after he left the RAF. But a horrific mid-air collision left Bob with a broken back and doubts as to whether he’d ever be able to live his dream. Rather than give in, he came up with the idea of tending vines rather than livestock and, although Bob was often still in great pain, the couple set about clearing land, planting vines and learning as much as they could about the business of winemaking.
As they developed and refined their techniques and the size of the harvests grew, the quality of their wine became obvious and the accolades began to roll in. Then a batch of Camel Valley white went fizzy by mistake, accidentally recreating the traditional méthode champagnoise. A few cautious tastings revealed they were on to a winner, and in 2005 Camel Valley Cornwall Brut beat 250 French entries and won a Gold medal in the coveted International Wine Challenge.
‘Cornwall’ Brut now accounts for almost half the vineyard’s entire production, along with award-wining whites such as its 2009 Bacchus, described by wine writers, ‘as England’s answer to Sancerre’; a dry rosé and a popular spicy red.
Camel Valley is a favourite in Rick Stein’s restaurants, is Fortnum & Mason’s own- label sparkling wine and can also be found in Harvey Nichols, Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, the Tate Modern, Lords Cricket Ground, the Houses of Parliament and supermarket chain, Waitrose.
In 2007, Bob’s son Sam was awarded the coveted title of UK Winemaker of the Year and in 2008 the vineyard received the honour of a Royal Visit from HRH the Duchess of Cornwall.
In 2009 Camel Valley won an International Wine Challenge Trophy and Gold Medal, The English Wine Producer’s Trophy and 2 Gold Medals, Waitrose Trophy and a Decanter World Wine Awards Gold Medal.
However, the top accolade of 2009 must be 2nd place in the World Sparkling Wine Championships held in Verona – second only to Bollinger, was again topped in 2010 when Camel Valley won ‘Best International Sparkling wine’, in the same competition.
Bob Lindo of Camel Valley Vineyard says: “We wanted to avoid the herd mentality, do something different that we felt passionate about, embrace the counter culture and channel that passion into producing the best quality wine possible. We believe that this approach has given us a business advantage, made us distinctive, which combined with living and working in Cornwall, has led to our success.”
www.camelvalley.com