New ‘Cave’ for Greyfriars Vineyard

Published on: 27 Jun, 2017
Updated on: 27 Jun, 2017

The entrance to Greyfriars new storage cave.

By Megan Wilman

Local vineyard Greyfriars has launched their new storage “cave” after a major construction project.

The cave was officially opened by our Guildford Mayor Nigel Manning, on Friday, June 16 (2017) and he wished the new establishment the best of luck and success.

The Mayor of Guildford, Nigel Manning, cuts the ribbon to formally open the cave. On the left and right are vineyard owners Hilary and Mike Wagstaff and in the centre, next to the mayor, is Mayoress Marsha Moseley.

Guests were served glasses of the vineyard’s own 2013 Rose and 2014 Chardonnay, as well as gourmet burgers and ice cream from local vendor Dylan’s Ice Cream.

Owner of the vineyard, set on the south facing chalk slopes of the Hogs Back, above Puttenham, just west of Guildford, owner Mike Wagstaff explained the project: “We cut out a box and laid a concrete slab half a metre thick which took three months to set.

“We then put half a metre of chalk on top and top soil. We dug out nine and a half thousand tonnes of chalk, which formed most the carpark, so we reused it.”

Inside the cave which has capacity for 100,000 bottles. Above half a metre of concrete.

Vines were originally planted at Greyfriars in 1989. Mike and his wife Hilary took over the vineyard in 2010 after Mike decided he wanted a change of lifestyle from the oil industry.

Since then they have planted approximately ten acres each year, and it now sprawls over 50 acres across three sites. Solar panels were placed on the roof of the wineries, which provides most of the power.

The new cave has been constructed to create more storage capacity, with optimum conditions, and enable them to create their selection of English sparkling and still wines.

The goal for Greyfriars is to produce 100,000 bottles per year and at the time of writing the cave alone already held over 10,000.