Wine from the Chalk Downs of Wiltshire
Domaine Hugo is one of the most compelling and singular natural wine projects in the United Kingdom — a biodynamic vineyard on a fifth-generation family farm in the chalk downlands of Wiltshire, producing sparkling wines of extraordinary purity and character. [^106^] Founded in 2015 by Hugo Stewart — an ex-pig farmer who spent fifteen years farming biodynamically in France's Corbières Hills — and vinified since 2018 by Daniel Ham, a former marine biologist and Plumpton graduate, Domaine Hugo is a shining example of how the future of English wine should look. [^102^] [^110^] The wines are made without added sulfites, without enzymes, without filtration, and without pumps — just a fifty-year-old Coquard press, native yeasts, and the highest quality fruit from a living, breathing ecosystem. [^106^] [^97^]
From Pig Farming to the Corbières & Back
Hugo Stewart did not begin in wine. He began in pigs. The family farm, Botley's, had belonged to his grandmother and uncle before the responsibility fell to him. [^110^] A 100-acre arable farm was too small to make a living from grain, so in the 1980s Hugo converted to breeding pigs. When pork prices dived in 2000, he decided to give himself a year in the Languedoc and rented out the land to a neighbouring farmer. [^106^]
He bought a ruin near Tuchan in the Corbières Hills — "Katy Jones territory," as he puts it, after the legendary natural winemaker of Domaine Jones. [^106^] One summer, a dancer friend named Paul Old visited. Paul had just retrained as a winemaker in Wagga Wagga, Australia, and fell hard for the charms of the Corbières. He suggested Hugo join him in growing grapes. Having just gotten out of farming in the UK, Hugo baulked — but thinking it through, had the intuition to see his flexible friend would probably make a really good winemaker. [^106^]
Thus was born Les Clos Perdus, the domaine they founded together in the Corbières Hills. [^110^] Hugo was responsible for farming their plots of old vines, and the project became highly acclaimed — selling from California to Tokyo, with Nicolas Joly as a fan and friend. [^106^] They went organic quickly, then biodynamic, and Hugo spent nearly two decades honing his skills as a biodynamic viticulturalist. [^104^]
By 2014, Hugo had had enough of sitting in front of his computer — an unforeseen result of Les Clos Perdus's success. He made up his mind to return home and have a go at making English wine. [^106^] He decided that a 3-acre long-fallow field earmarked for herbs might do well with Champagne varieties. Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Gris were planted in 2016. [^106^] Originally he had wanted to make a still wine from the Pinot Gris, but he opted for a fizzy field blend instead — the Pinot Gris, he discovered, "ripens more easily and gives the blend a bit of a lift." [^106^]
In 2018, Hugo took the fruit of his first home-grown vintage to the nearby Langham Estate, where the talented young head winemaker, Daniel Ham, transformed Hugo's grapes into wine. [^104^] Daniel was blown away by the quality of the fruit and captivated by Hugo's story of biodynamic farming. "Don't expect to get fruit like this every year," Daniel told him. "They were just exceptional — these tiny little bunches, tiny little berries, no rot whatsoever." [^106^] The pair joined teams, and from that chance encounter, the second winemaking collaboration of Hugo's life was born. [^110^]
"Sure there's lots of muck and mystery with biodynamics, but at its heart it's incredibly practical, it's a type of agriculture that has its roots in traditions passed down through farming families for generations. A plant is 90% water, you can't ignore the moon!"
— Hugo Stewart
Biodynamic, Organic & No Added Sulfites
Domaine Hugo is one of the UK's only biodynamically certified wine estates. [^102^] The vineyard is part of a 100-acre organic mixed farm that has been in the Stewart family for five generations. [^112^] Just 2.5 hectares are planted to vine, with another 1.5 hectares about to be added; the rest is used for barley and sheep-grazing. [^102^] Between the vines grows a herbal ley — an amalgam of legumes, herbs, clovers, and grasses, containing twenty different species. [^102^]
Hugo's approach to farming is deeply practical and rooted in observation. Everyone told him he shouldn't have anything growing between the vines — that he should either put weedkiller down or cultivate so there was no competition. [^102^] But Hugo discovered that with biodiversity and all the different rhizomes, fungi, and mycelium underfoot, the plants were not competing — they were helping one another. [^102^] "As opposed to it being a 'competition', it helps them," he explains. [^102^]
The vineyard comprises Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Blanc, and is certified organic and biodynamic. [^98^] Hugo employs biodynamic preparations such as horn silica and cow-dung-based treatments to strengthen the plants and aid ripening, while experimenting with spur pruning to optimise sugar reserves and achieve more consistent growth — inspired by insights from biodynamic experts such as Australian winemaker Julian Castagna. [^102^] He also uses natural methods like de-budding and leaf stripping to improve air circulation and sun exposure, reducing dampness and promoting grape health. [^102^]
The site is exceptionally well-ventilated — "not too exposed, yet you do get a breeze," Hugo notes. [^106^] The only place they have ever had frost damage is right up in the top corner where there isn't air circulation. [^106^] The frost drains away into the valley below the New Forest. The chalk soils present challenges — iron chlorosis is a particular issue, as there is very little iron in the chalk — but Pinot Meunier seems more tolerant to the lack of iron, which is why Hugo researched and selected it. [^106^] There is virtually no disease pressure; even in difficult years when other UK growers struggled, Domaine Hugo had a good crop and everything that came into the winery was clean. [^106^]
One of the UK's only biodynamically certified wine estates. The vineyard is part of a 100-acre organic mixed farm in the family for five generations. [^102^] [^98^]
All wines made without added sulfites. Daniel Ham: "It seems like a poison to us now." The longer they go through their winemaking journey, the bigger a deal sulfites become. [^106^]
Twenty different species of legumes, herbs, clovers, and grasses grow between the vines. Not competition — collaboration. Sheep grazing, barley, and a living ecosystem. [^102^]
The windswept chalk downs of Wiltshire provide ideal drainage and frost protection. The only frost damage occurs in the one corner without air circulation. [^106^]
Coquard Press, Gravity Flow & Spontaneous Fermentation
Daniel and Nicola Ham run the winery at Botley's Farm — a husband-and-wife team who are both qualified marine biologists. [^106^] Dan is a Plumpton graduate who spent four and a half years as winemaker at Ridgeview (where he took over operations when the founder fell ill) and five years at Langham Wine Estate before moving to Botley's in 2020. [^106^] Nicola has a PhD in Marine Biology and manages the business side, including the complex risk calculations for contract winemaking. [^106^]
The winery is a hub of low-intervention winemaking. The centerpiece is a fifty-year-old Coquard press — the same type used in Champagne — which presses the Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris grapes. [^102^] "I just love the whole idea of it," Hugo says, "and the juice that comes out — clear as crystal." [^102^] The beauty of the Coquard is that the juice is so clear it doesn't need settling or enzymes — "you get this purity without using enzymes, without having to settle." [^106^]
Everything after pressing is done by gravity. "This is really the only point where we are pumping anything," Daniel explains. "After that pretty much every movement is by gravity because as soon as you start to put it through the pump the oxygen pick up is just so high." [^106^] Fermentation is entirely spontaneous — no commercial yeasts, no enzymes, even on the contract side. "That is one thing we are not prepared to compromise on at all," Daniel states. [^106^]
Aging happens in a mix of vessels: stainless steel tanks, fibreglass tanks, ceramic eggs, small French oak barrels, and larger Austrian foudre. [^102^] Daniel prefers fibreglass for fermentation because the temperature is more stable — "in fibreglass during September and October, fermentation kicks off straight away whereas in the stainless steel it takes ages to get going and then the temperature rockets." [^106^] The fibreglass is also slightly translucent, allowing them to monitor the ferment. For sparkling wines, at least fifth-use oak is employed to soften the wine; cold stabilisation happens naturally in barrel, unlike in tanks. [^106^]
Hugo and Daniel are constantly experimenting. They have discussed moving toward doing the second fermentation of Hugo's traditional method wines with fermenting must rather than proprietary yeast and sugar — "it seems nuts to me," Hugo says, "you are going to all these lengths and suddenly at the last minute you put this proprietary yeast and sugar in it." [^106^] They already make a Col Fondo (bottle-fermented, undisgorged sparkling) that works beautifully with natural second fermentation. [^106^] The ambition is to eventually make all Domaine Hugo sparkling wines with no additions at any stage.
Domaine Hugo Traditional Method 2019 — 94/100 (Jamie Goode), 96/100 (Lisse Garnett)
"12% alcohol. Pinots Noir, Meunier and Gris plus Chardonnay. This is complex and expressive with lovely toast and spice notes, alongside ripe pear and peach as well as some apple. This has a lovely limey flourish with nice spice and pear fruit. Long, complex and expressive with amazing depth." — Jamie Goode, 94/100 [^106^]
"Rich, toasty and complex — fecund with fruit — proffers peach and pear, lightly bruised red apple, oily almonds and a subtle hint of tarragon. The mousse is mouth-filling, fine and frothy — a touch savoury and profoundly textural — salty, layered and deliciously long — Sublime." — Lisse Garnett, 96/100 [^106^]
This is the wine that announced Domaine Hugo to the world — a traditional method sparkling wine made from a single two-hectare vineyard, pressed slowly on the Coquard, co-fermented in old barrels with indigenous yeasts, aged for 11 months in barrel, then two years on lees and over a year on the cork. No added sulfites. No enzymes. No filtration. Just chalk, patience, and the highest quality biodynamic fruit. [^103^]
The Domaine Hugo Range
Domaine Hugo produces a focused range of sparkling wines from its single biodynamic vineyard in Wiltshire. All wines are made without added sulfites, without enzymes, without filtration, and with spontaneous fermentation. [^106^] [^97^] The fruit is pressed on a fifty-year-old Coquard press, and everything after pressing is moved by gravity. [^106^] The range includes both traditional method and Col Fondo (bottle-fermented, undisgorged) styles, with reserve wine being built up to create multi-vintage blends. [^107^] Prices are approximate and in GBP/USD.