Brazilian born America Brewer and her husband Nick have been making wine together since 2014. Nick's lifelong passion for wine developed one summer spent in Burgundy as a student when he was first presented with a 30 year old Pinot Noir served from a dusty bottle and
he felt transported to the vineyard in which it had been grown. America's passion for viticulture began as a child in the branches of an old vine that climbed up her house in Bahia and then later visiting and working in vineyards in the Jura. Having lived overseas for several years they came back to England and America started volunteering to work in vineyards which led to her and then Nick studying at Plumpton College and with a few harvests under their belts they brought their production to Oastbrook in 2020. They both exude the frontier spirit of English wine and they both do most of the vineyard work and all of the winemaking together. All the bottling, analysis and finishing is done on site by the couple. They are very competitive with each other in the winemaking with America keeping Nick under check when he wants to experiment. They practice minimal intervention in both the vineyard and the winery specialising in single varietal vintage still wines.
Oastbrook
Oastbrook sits on the north bank of the Rother river and takes its name from one of the brooks that meander through the property which used to be a Guinness hop farm. It sits on top of sandstone ridge that runs behind Bodiam Castle with a mix of sandy, silt and clay soils which produce rich, vibrant, aromatic wines with depth and minerality. The vineyard is planted only with Noble grapes, Burgundian clones for the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Alsatian clones for the Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc and Champagne clones for the sparkling wines. The valley has its own micro-climate holding heat in the Summer but with light breezes.