Hebron Vineyard, Carmarthenshire, Wales/UK

Jemma Vickers and Paul Rolt own and manage Hebron Vineyard, a small, family run vineyard nestled beneath the beautiful Preseli Hills in West Wales.

Planted by Jemma and Paul in 2010, Hebron Vineyard is the first commercial vineyard in the UK to be Certified Regenerative by AGW. The vineyard is planted across three sites, accounting for approximately 4 acres of the 13-acre smallholding. Jemma and Paul established the vineyard after moving back to Wales following nine exciting years of converting an established vineyard in Andalucia in Spain into an award winning, non-intervention organic vineyard.

“With a young daughter and a son on the way, we felt that it was important for our children to form strong relationships with their family in the UK,” Jemma explains. “Having moved well beyond organic practices in Spain, the challenge of our new stewardship in West Wales was to establish a vineyard on the very cusp of viable viticulture, using regenerative viticulture methods. This was met head on without any proper support network. Much of the work was carried out intuitively and always using our mantra of “think like a vine”!”

Hebron Vineyard is maintained using regenerative viticulture and agroforestry practices. Jemma and Paul work in harmony with the ecosystem rather than attempting to radically alter and control it. “We hold the strong belief that naturally developed soil health is absolute key to plant health and quality of crop production,” adds Paul. “Contrary to convention and common practice when establishing new vines, we did not disturb our soils at planting by deep, double ploughing and making the usual chemical additions. Instead, we planted gently with minimal soil disturbance each vine inoculated with mycorrhizal fungi.”

Jemma and Paul manage the vineyard without using artificial insecticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertiliser, focusing instead on working in harmony with the local ecosystem while nurturing and protecting soil health.

“Although not deemed the easy option, we do not believe the use of synthetic petrochemical-based insecticides, herbicides, fungicides or indeed fertiliser help to produce a quality grape,” says Jemma. “We strongly nod to the wisdom of the past and millennia-old viticulture tradition, which predates modern conventional industrial viticulture. We want our grapes to taste of their vines natural experience here in the soils and climate of West Wales, not of any additions we have made to it or to them. We feel secure that no chemical-based poisons can degrade the soil structure or leach into the vine and thus into the grape/wine.”

In pursuit of their goal of creating a more natural vineyard, Hebron has the UK’s only commercial arbustrum, an innovation on the Roman art of arbusta, which means growing the vines through and along a living willow trellis, rather than using wire support.

“This is not only a zero carbon footprint support system,” Paul explains, “but it is believed the willow yields health benefits for the vines by giving the vine what it wants: a tree to climb, root space to share, and having contact with the willow’s bark containing salicylic acid.” All of the vines are maintained by hand, from annual pruning, to training the vines, to removing unwanted buds and later leaves, and, finally, the grape harvest.

“We feel that the superb, unadulterated taste of our wine reflects the love and passion that goes into our work, as well as the mineral rich terroir of the Preseli foothills and the cool West coast climate.” Jemma adds. “Our natural wines of Wales are the result of a natural fermentation spontaneously created by the yeasts picked up by the grapes in the vineyard. No sulphur washes, no added sugar, nor any of the 60 other additions that a modern wine can have in it and not be included on the label. Filtration and fining is by gravity and time alone.”

All the hard work is paying off, David Morris of Mountain People Wine—a key pioneer in Wales’ burgeoning natural wine movement—collaborated with Jemma and Paul during the 2021/22 vintage, using their Spanish amphorae ferment vessels, to much acclaim.

As if managing a Certified Regenerative vineyard wasn’t enough, Jemma and Paul also host regular wine tours and tasting events, showing visitors around the vineyard and how they manage the site. They have also converted an old dairy barn to a fully equipped holiday cottage, accommodating up to 8 people, for visitors to enjoy the beauty of the coastline and Preseli Hills.

Certified Regenerative by AGW wine from Hebron Vineyard is available to order online via the vineyard’s website, as well as select independent wine shops. Check the AGW directory for details. For more information about Hebron Vineyard summer tour, tasting and tapas events and self-catering accommodation, visit hebronvineyard.com.

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