Howl & Grappa, Cornwall, England.
It all started with a silly name…
After a decade of selling wines through BinTwo, Mike decided to have a go at producing the stuff himself. The first step was to make Cornwall’s first Pétillant Naturel (affectionately known as ‘Pét Nat’ - French for ‘Naturally Sparkling’) using a little Italian yeast known to be great for making sparkling wine.
A super-yeast capable of such wizardry deserves a grand title. Sadly, its name is Bum Bum. Life isn’t always fair. To compensate for this injustice Mike’s first wine was named ‘Fizzy Bum Bum’.
And maybe the story should have ended there. But Fizzy Bum Bum took off proving to be a sell out success story during the early stages of the COVID 19 pandemic. People asked when the next edition was coming so really they’re to blame for fanning the flames.
After three years of making wine hosted by good friends at Trevibban Mill Winery in Padstow, Mike put his big boy pants on and established his own small vineyard and winery - the smallest commercial winery in the country.
Howl & Grappa (Cornish for Sun and Grape) is named for the Solaris vines Mike planted and the fruit that he’s used to make his first ‘stand alone’ wines. It speaks to the Cornish environment and throws a nod to Mike’s favourite winemaker quote picked up on a tour of South Australia and Tasmania:
‘Wine is just sunshine filtered through a grape’.
And that quote underpins the Howl & Grappa approach where low intervention wines are made with a spirit of adventure and a respectful nod to ancient techniques.
