Spirit of the Downs Distillery wins twice at The Great Taste Awards

Several Sussex based businesses entered their food and drink products into the Great Taste Awards 2024 – all in the hope of winning one of the coveted Great Taste Stars to help showcase the very best producers from across the globe. This year, there was a wide variety of companies, from new small batch entrants to more established producers, with a total of 13,672 entries from more than 3,500 companies across 115 countries. The winners were announced on August 1.

One local company did particularly well this year, winning two awards for both its entries. Spirit of the Downs, now based in Bolney, is a spirit producer that specialises in making small batch spirits using the grapes and press from the finest local Sussex wine producers.

At the distillery all of its distillates are created through a minimum of 11 months fermentation to maximise extraction of the flavour from the grapes including the juice, skins and pulp which are the base of flavour for all of their spirits.

Spirit of the Downs works with some of the best vineyards in the UK. They include Breaky Bottom, Sugrue South Downs, Tickerage, Bolney Estate and Plumpton Estate, and capture the true essence of Sussex’s terroir. It  currently only produces vintage spirits so once a batch is finished, it moves onto a new vintage with its own individual character.

A brief history of Spirit of the Downs

2017 – Initially made ferments at Breaky Bottom using old German Fibre Glass wine tanks. It was rustic to say the least! I loved our first run and so decided to set up Spirit of the Downs. We launched at Hotel Du Vin our initial batch of grape spirit was for just 120 bottles

2019 – Shoreham Airport – created ferments in an old hanger, our first French aged brandy won a medal at IWSC. Varietals we started to work with are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Seyval Blanc

2020 – Christmas – First launch of Sussex Pinot Noir and Pinot Munier Grape Spirit 2019 (Won 3 Stars at Great Taste awards and a medal at IWSC) together with two Brandies –  English Oak aged and French Oak aged Brandy 2019 (won medal at IWSC)

2023 – After much searching moved to Bolney old winery as home in a lovely rural setting next to several vineyards and orchards

2024 – Sussex English Aged Brandy 2021 and Sussex French Aged Brandy 2021 both won Silver at World Brandy Awards..

Which spirits won this year at the Great Taste Awards 2024?

Great Taste 2 star winning Sussex Pinot Noir Vodka

The first two-star award was for its Sussex Pinot Noir based Vodka which uses Pinot Noir grapes from Dermot at Sugrue South Downs (winner of UK’s Best Boutique Vineyard) to create a ferment which is then distilled to make a fruity distillate which is then blended equally with grain spirit to be classed as a vodka. The judges gave the following comments in their review of the grape vodka;

“This has a very clean, fresh nose, reminiscent of grape spirit, with an impression of creaminess. Whilst the liquorice is not really apparent on the nose, it does come through strongly on the palate; there is a touch of fruitiness which develops on the finish. The overall impression is of a very clean, pure vodka with authentic ingredients and a well judged complexity. An edge of creamy white chocolate adds interest. The finish is balanced and lengthy.

“An appealing fresh floral grassiness. We loved the delivery on the palate and could detect blueberry and a creamy sweetness. This is a very refined vodka and we would love to experience a little more confidence and complexity, but the alcohol is well integrated and sophisticated in its balance.

“A well made vodka that delivers complexity of flavour. Soft and smooth, the viscosity of the spirit and the natural taste of vanilla are well balanced. It’s very clever to capture so much flavour in a vodka and the judges were very impressed!”

Sussex French Oak aged Brandy wins Great Taste 1 star

The second award was for its Sussex Brandy, aged in French Oak using Chardonnay grapes from Breaky Bottom vineyard near Lewes. Michael, the Founder of Spirit of the Downs, has always had a passion for brandy specially French Cognac which has led to six of his brandies winning international awards such as IWSC, World Brandy Awards and Great Taste.

He said: “For me, when I started distillation of grape ferments I was always keen to see how well an English brandy would work using English grapes. As Ugni Blanc/Trebbiano will not season in the UK, we decided to try chardonnay which has similar characteristics as Ugni Blanc but works well in the UK due to the prevalence of excellent English sparkling wine makers especially based in the South East.

“With the high quality of English grapes we wanted to try and beat Cognac at their own game. For ageing of the brandy we use unique English oak barrels made by one of the last Master Copper’s based in Yorkshire called Alastair Simms which impart more floral and nutty notes such as honeysuckle, hazelnut and almond which give a soft feel to the brandy. In addition, we also use more traditional French oaks for maturing our spirits which give more richer profiles such as Crème Brule, Sultanas, Caramel, Vanilla and oak which is how we have aged this brandy.”

Comments from Great Taste judges on the Sussex French Oak aged Brandy 2021:

“A restrained but appealing nose with piney resinous notes and a hint of brown butter. On the palate the alcohol is well integrated, resulting in a smooth mouthfeel with a buttery vanilla and honeyed character. This has the rich amber colour of authentic brandy; it has the sweet prevalent notes of toffee apples with a brush of wild herbs. There is almost a sherried note on this one, with subtle sandalwood notes underlying. It is quite floral with dusty musk notes, dried sage and cigar box aromas; it also has hints of sweet tobacco leaf.”

Sustainability at the heart of our business

As a company, Spirit of the Downs is very much focused on sustainability from using the pomace that would be discarded as a waste product and then its waste is used to fertilise the apple orchard at Trenchmore Farm to help improve the soil biome. There are no added colours for the spirits, it all comes from natural oak ageing of our brandies

The business is also looking to innovate with Plumpton College by looking at the viability of using waste pomace to create the base for cosmetics using tannins or supplements such as Revestrol. As Michael the owner also runs a Solar PV business, the company has a road map for the installation of Solar Panels and Batteries which will power 10kW electric still and also the distillery. These will enable the business to be a net contributor to the grid as well as providing free electricity for its neighbours.

Tours and tasting at the distillery based in Bolney

Spirit of the Downs can be found at the old Bolney Winery which is at Bookers Vineyard on Foxhole Lane, Bolney (separate entrance than that of Bolney Wine Estate). For those readers that would like to visit for a tour and taste any of Spirit of the Downs spirits they can book onto weekly tours on a Saturday at 1pm or 3pm through the website – https://spiritofthedowns.
co.uk/collections/tours

The shop is also open to visit from 12 till 530pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Fridays or email the team on for further details at; hello@spiritofthedowns.co.uk

Spirit of the Downs can also be purchased online and sent across the UK

Michael Yeoman, Founder of Brighton and Hove Wine Club

Michael Yeoman specialises in working with small batch wine producers in and around Sussex and the South Downs. He founded Brighton and Hove Wine Club and also creates a range of small batch  Sussex Brandies, Grape spirits and Vodka through Spirit of the Downs Distillery based at Bookers Vineyard, Bolney.