Flaskers brandy hole

You don’t find a huge number of English vineyards making brandy, despite the success of the drink. It’s a huge ingredient in cocktails, it’s big in cooking and many people are now drinking it in bars on its own – apparently there’s a view that it’s healthier than other alternatives. Yet, there’s only a handful of successful producers in England. But it’s ok, Clayhill Vineyard in Essex is now producing an excellent brandy, Flaskers – ‘Brandy Hole’, made from four base wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which are distilled locally before being aged in oak for a year. As a top producer of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Auxerrois, this vineyard is no stranger to developing quality and being innovative.

The brandy has a ripe orange scent, along with stewed fruit. The taste and flavours are exciting, there’s black treacle, dark syrup, caramel and a fruitiness which includes apple, apricot and cherry. It’s certainly powerful, and it has an earthy-feel. Who would’ve thought you’d get such quality from Essex?

Clayhill Vineyard is located close to the city of Chelmsford and is the product of much hard work by Dale and Vicky Symons. With this initial adventure into brandy our first taste into their offerings, we can only say that we are hoping to come across more Clayhill product very soon!