Chapel Down

Yeah, there's been quite a few examples of that.

I think, you know, they're obviously even listed companies like Chapel Down

and

Gelsborn, um, who, uh, have sort of grown through that way.

I think Chapel Down did a crowdfunding round.

May well have done.

And others have done too.

We uncover the delightful origin of words like bottle, butler and punt.

We encounter new notions such as how can a bottle be compared to a smartphone in terms of technological innovation? Finally, we get a definitive answer to the question, did the Brits really invent champagne?

Mmm, helping us tell this story is the author of the book, Stephen Skelton, M.W. Stephen has been professionally involved in wine since 1974.

He studied in Germany before planting his first vineyard in 1977 in Tenterden, Kent, now home to one of England's largest wine producers, Chapel Down.

And the less said about those, the better too.

But this was also a time of change, religious, cultural and technological.

Coal and strong bottles are the 17th century equivalents of smartphones set to revolutionise the world.

And revolutionise it they did.

[laughs]

... bottles of rosé flowing and, I don't know, you know, Chapel Down's just done, uh, their Magnum Festival.

So on, on my doorstep here, there's loads going on that you can, you can go, and it's, it's now as well, it's not sort of like you're knocking on someone's door and they come out.

It's now, you know, it's like it's set up there, you know.

But in terms of stills or, or anything else, I, I don't really think...

You know, Laura wasn't really one to, to get, um, Chapel Down in, but although interestingly enough, I ended up going on a, on a som visit to Chapel Down in 2010 or something like that, so.

But yeah, she was, she was, she was sort of looking for those, like, little niche gems.

Um, and, and she certainly found them.

And it was to try to bring something to the forefront that wasn't really being done at that time.

Still wines were still an anomaly.

I think Chapel Down in Gadsburn were pretty much the only ones, and you know, you have Camel Valley in, in the west and, and a few others that were doing stills, but that clearly wasn't their main focus.

Sparkling is kind of a...