In the great story of Lokkelebery’s ‘terroir’ (a French term used to describe the environmental factors that affect a soil’s type), our soil plays an essential role. It is a free-draining mix of clay, loam, sand and chalk, dotted with Hertfordshire flints.

Flints are excellent at absorbing heat to feed into the vine roots, as well as reflecting light and heat onto the vines from below. In such a cool climate as the U.K., any extra heat and light are most welcome. When it comes to summer time, the grapes reach a stage called ‘veraison’ after which point they start to fully ripen. The extra rays of sunshine and heat provided by the flints, which are in, under and on top of the soil, will provide an extra boost during this crucial time, and will hopefully help to produce riper fruit with sweeter and better developed signature flavours.

The flints also help to break up the soil, which in addition to the porous chalky bedrock, help water to drain quickly through the earth. Vines thrive in free-draining conditions as they don’t like wet feet! This makes them an excellent addition to this field which has been suffering under the increasing level of local droughts in the last decade. Unlike traditional cereal crops which we were growing there, vines tend to be fairly drought-resistant. They form part of a future-proofing plan in our cropping, and flints play a key role in this!es Here