Every bottle of wine has a story… but this one really is something special. Here is our very own Rachel telling you the wonderful story of our sparkling reserve.
“If you’d told me three years ago that this little bottle of English Sparkling Wine would become the beginning of an entirely new chapter in my life – and a crucial new chapter for the Salehurst Halt – I’d have been a little skeptical.
It all started in October 2023.
The grapes were harvested, in the pouring rain, by friends and family from my father’s vineyard just three miles down the road from the Salehurst Halt, alongside the grapes from the old vine that grows over the pub terrace. Together they held huge sentimental value… but not quite enough fruit to produce our own sparkling wine.
Then came the first act of kindness.
Alex, the owner and winemaker at Carr Taylor, generously allowed us to buy just enough of his own grapes to reach the minimum quantity. He then pressed, fermented and bottled what became a unique blend, all with one dream in mind: creating our very first English Sparkling Wine.
The plan was simple. Leave it quietly ageing on its lees at Carr Taylor for three years before bringing it home to the pub.
But life had other ideas.
In 2024, an opportunity came along that I simply couldn’t ignore. We had the chance to invest not just in a wine, but in a vineyard. It was a huge leap of faith that meant taking on Off The Line Vineyard alongside the Salehurst Halt.
People often ask why I did it. The honest answer is… it simply felt right.
We’d already been producing our own still white and rosé wines from the pub vines for more than ten years. I’d always been fascinated by winemaking. And perhaps even more fittingly, both the pub and the vineyard sit on the routes of old railway lines.
Looking back now, it almost feels as though the tracks had quietly been leading us in the same direction all along.
As with all worthwhile journeys, not everyone saw the same destination, and sadly the two families who had run the Halt together went their separate ways. That was never easy. But sometimes believing in a vision means accepting and respecting that others may choose a different track.
Then speaking of different tracks, just as this sparkling wine’s story seemed settled, another diversion arrived.
In the summer of 2025, Alex called with difficult news. Carr Taylor sadly was entering liquidation and wouldn’t be able to complete our wine.
For a moment, it felt as though this little project might never reach the finish line would we lose our wine, how do you move 972 bottles at very short notice, where would we put them… there’s certainly not enough room at the pub.
Thankfully, by then we had Off The Line Vineyard. We were able to bring the bottles to the Vineyard, where they continued their final year resting on their lees.
There was just one more problem…
We still didn’t have the specialist equipment needed to complete a traditional method sparkling wine.
And that’s where another chapter of kindness begins.
Our winemaker Salvatore who also works at Tillingham Winery, stepped in and expertly took them away and completed the final stages: riddling, disgorging, dosage, corking, capping and labelling.
So this bottle contains far more than wine.
It contains the hard work and passion of a good team of people, right from the start and throughout.
The support of fellow wine lovers and the spirit of an English wine industry that is unlike any other.
It represents the belief that a pub and a vineyard together can create something far greater than either could alone.
And perhaps most importantly, it serves as a reminder that the biggest moments in life often begin with the smallest leap of faith.
This wasn’t simply the first sparkling wine I had the privilege of helping to create.
It was the bottle that gave me the confidence to believe I could build something much bigger.
As we now prepare for many more harvests, vintages of still and sparkling wines of our own at Off The Line, this bottle will always be the one that started it all.
Sometimes the best stories don’t begin with a business plan.
They begin with a rainy harvest.
A vision, a window of opportunity.
A little courage.
And saying yes before you know exactly where the journey will take you.”
If you would like to try any of our wines please pop in – we’d love to share.
