A retired salesman turned winemaker turned part of his allotment into a vineyard and now makes award-winning wines and gives it away for free.
Andy Waring, 66, started his own vineyard ‘on a whim’ when he had an empty corner to fill on his allotment in Buckland Newton, Dorset.
Despite thinking ‘he was mad’, he planted some vines on the south east facing plot and to his amazement grew bunches of healthy grapes.
The 66-year-old then taught himself winemaking skills through books and YouTube videos and says his red, white and rose wines have vastly improved year on year from his first batch.
He now has 60 vines of Regent, Solaris and Orion grapes and produces about 100 litres – equivalent to 133 bottles – of wine a year.
Andy Waring, 66, started his own vineyard ‘on a whim’ despite being told ‘he was mad’
Mr Waring taught himself winemaking skills through books and YouTube videos
He now has 60 vines of Regent, Solaris and Orion grapes and produces equivalent to 133 bottles of wine a year
Andy Waring and his French wife, Viviane, now make wine from their allotment
Despite the success Mr Waring, a retired salesman, does not sell the fruits of his labour as he does not want to deal with the red tape.
As a result he and his French wife Viviane haven’t had to buy a single bottle of wine from the supermarket for years.
Mr Waring said: ‘The village decided to have allotments 15 years ago and my wife and I decided to take one. I knew if we grew just vegetables, we wouldn’t be able to cope with the land.
‘I needed some permanent planting so on a whim I just decided to have a go. I’ve always been interested in wine, my wife is French and I’ve always liked the look of vineyards.
‘I have always been blessed with not knowing my own limitations. Everybody thought I was mad and everyone I spoke to about it thought it wouldn’t work and that just spurred me on.
‘I read books on it, watched a few YouTube videos on how to prune vines and then just made a start and it improved year on year. It was trial and error, and there was plenty of error.
‘But even the people in the village who thought it wouldn’t work now enjoy the wine. I produce over 120 bottles a year and I give about half away to friends and family as gifts.’
Mr Waring harvests, crushes and presses the grapes himself before leaving the wine to ferment in the utility room of his cottage.
He estimates he has only spent about £700 in the last ten years, with £350 of that spent on buying a secondhand crusher from Italy to speed up the production process.
The allotment is 26ft by 49ft and Mr Waring has devoted half of it to creating a vineyard.
Mr Waring harvests, crushes and presses the grapes himself at his allotment in North Dorset
Self taught: He read books on it, watched a few YouTube videos on how to prune vines
He estimates he has only spent about £700 in the last ten years, with £350 of that spent on buying a secondhand crusher from Italy
He now has 60 vines of Regent, Solaris and Orion grapes and produces about 100 litres of wine a year
Unlike Tom and Barbara Good’s home-brewed peapod wine from TV sitcom, The Good Life, Mr Waring’s wine has gone down well with his family, friends and neighbours.
It has also been endorsed by an expert from a wine tasting school in France who recently tried his vintage during a visit to north Dorset.
And he took first and second place for best wine produced by an amateur grower with his varieties at the recent Dorset County Show.
Recently he met a wine expert who was raving about an English wine he had tasted which cost £34 for a battle.
‘I asked him to try mine but to lower his expectations as I give it away for free. He tried it and said it was better than the £34 bottle’, Mr Waring said.
He is making award-winning free wine from his his allotment in Buckland Newton, Dorset
‘Everything is done by hand and I do it all myself’: said the self-taught winemaker
‘I’ve been harvesting crops for about eight or nine years now’: Mr Waring
The hybrid varieties of grapes are designed to be mildew resistant and grow better in Britain’s cooler, wetter climate, which means he does not need to use any chemicals.
‘Everything is done by hand and I do it all myself. I harvest the grapes by hand, crush them, press them and bottle them.
‘I’ve been harvesting crops for about eight or nine years now. I bought a wine crusher from Italy. Over there a lot of people produce wine on a small domestic scale so it wasn’t too expensive. That revolutionised it.
‘Now it probably takes two half days to harvest one of the varieties, crush it and press it. I do the crushing and pressing outside then bring it into our utility room to ferment, it does take up quite a bit of space but thankfully my wife doesn’t mind.
‘It’s very small scale for a vineyard but quite large for an individual operation.
‘The last two years I’ve made 100 litres each year, but this year is not looking very good because of the weather. I don’t know if I will get a usable crop.
‘I just do it for fun, I don’t want the paperwork involved in selling it. I give some of it away to friends and family and we haven’t had to buy wine from the shop in years.’