Offbeat Wines – Daniel Ham

Cloudy Pet Nats, sparkling reds and an amphora-fermented skin-contact wine. Not exactly what you would expect when you think of wine from the West Country.

It never even crossed our minds when we started Under the Bonnet that we would be working with wines actually made in the UK, it is really cool that we are now working with an English wine producer.

Offbeat – the project of young winemaker Daniel Ham – started in 2018, we first tasted the debut vintage during a lock-in/power cut at 161 towards the end of last year.

The project has a true garage feel to it. Small-scale, simple production, letting the grapes speak for themselves. Just a 2,000-bottle production, hybrid varieties, grapes sourced from unsprayed or practically wild vineyards, macerations, amphora and pet-nats. Wild yeast and sulphur only when he really has to.

Dan isn’t just making wines a-la-mode for the 2020 harvest. He has bought a 50-year-old, two-ton square Coquard basket press, shipped from Champagne, and is investing in old oak. The plan is to make the wine in the way that best suits the raw material he has to work with at the time the grapes are picked, the idea evolving on return from the vineyard to winery.

There is a clear identity that runs through the wines and we can’t wait to see this project develop. The fruit selection on these wines was rigorous which has led to great stability in the bottle.

2019 Mind Over Matter – Siegerrebe, Solaris

Field blend of Siegerrebe (36%) and Solaris (64%). 10% of Siegerrebe hand-destemmed then foot-trodden in amphora. The rest was whole-bunch pressed, naturally settled then racked to the same amphora. Bottled via gravity after 15 days, lightly disgorged to remove the heaviest lees.

The fruit used for this wine was grown by Kathy Archer at her vineyard just outside of Ottery Saint Mary in Devon. Kathy is an organic grower (uncertified) and uses no pesticides or herbicides, relying on hard work and spending time amongst the vines to produce grapes of extraordinary quality.

2019 Wild Juice Chase – Triomphe

100% Triomphe d’Alsace, handpicked, carbonic maceration in stainless steel vat for five days. Gently pressed, left to ferment for a further eight days. Bottled via gravity, with a small amount of natural sugar remaining to finish fermentation. Hand-disgorged to remove the heaviest deposits.

Grapes come from a small plot of 35-year-old vines grown on clay over chalk in Hampshire’s Test Valley. A relaxed, lutte raisonée management approach is adopted and the vines grow with little human manipulation.

2018 Skinny Dip – Solaris

Ripe Solaris grapes from Kathy Archer’s vineyard were destemmed into an 800-litre amphora and left to naturally ferment. Three months of maceration, skins were pressed, and added back to the free run. Rested on full lees in stainless steel for a further ten months before bottling via gravity. In our eyes, a really accomplished wine considering it was Dan’s first vintage.

We have limited quantities of these wines so if you are interested please let us know ASAP so we can try to make sure we save some for you. NB: There will be no further discounts available on these wines.

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