Most cultures have a foundation story, something that explains where they came from and inspires future generations. Businesses often have them too. One of the most famous is Hewlett-Packard, founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in a garage in Palo Alto, California, in 1939. That modest garage would later become known as the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
There is even a small Yorkshire connection to the HP story. In the early 1990s, Alan visited the famous site during his professional career as Director of Research at ICI’s Colours Division in Manchester. At the time, he was leading a project to develop the black colour used in HP ink cartridges. Perhaps surprisingly, that colour technology had its origins at ICI’s laboratories in Blackley, Manchester.
On a rather smaller scale, Helme Edge Vineyard has its own foundation story. The origins of our Yorkshire vineyard can be traced to a slope at the bottom of the garden below the house. Originally planted with gorse, the area gradually became invaded by nettles and brambles. In 2017, with Tom still at school, we decided to clear the slope and try something altogether more ambitious: growing wine grapes in Yorkshire.
We initially planted 75 Solaris vines and 25 Phoenix vines, both PIWI fungus-resistant hybrid grape varieties selected for their suitability to the cooler, wetter conditions of the Yorkshire climate. Phoenix produced an elegant vine, but unfortunately its grapes struggled to ripen sufficiently at Helme Edge to produce the quality of wine we wanted. Those vines were eventually replaced with Solaris, a variety that has proved far more successful in our vineyard.
Our first Solaris bunches produced some excellent English wine in 2019, and that success changed everything. What had begun as a small vineyard hobby started to grow into something considerably more serious. During the 2020 lockdown, we planted a further 300 Solaris vines, putting us firmly on the path towards the family-run Yorkshire vineyard and wine business that Helme Edge Vineyard is today.
Now the original little patch of vines has an important place in the history of Helme Edge Vineyard. From the 2026 grape harvest, we plan to create a special reserve cuvée of Solaris wine, produced using grapes from this founding area of the vineyard. It will be a wine with a genuine connection to where our journey began, from an overgrown patch of a Yorkshire garden to a thriving vineyard producing locally grown Yorkshire wine.
And, as the photograph shows, producing those precious grapes requires a little protection. Netting is placed over the vines as harvest approaches to deter our local, sugar-hungry blackbirds, who seem to appreciate a ripe Solaris grape almost as much as we do.
