Sweet dreams with the Sugrues at their Sussex winery launch
Winemaking power duo Dermot and Ana Sugrue finally have a permanent home for their Sussex wine project, Sugrue South Downs, with a newly opened winery now sitting at the top of Wivelsfield’s Bee Tree vineyard.
Hugh Johnson – Sugrue’s most recent investor – was one of the more recognisable faces among a host of journalists, colleagues and friends who gathered in a picturesque corner of East Sussex last week to pop the cork on Dermot and Ana Sugrue’s new winery.
The facility has been in the pipeline for almost 20 years. Dermot Sugrue began working on the now cult label The Trouble With Dreams all the way back in 2006 – and trouble was indeed a key feature of that early time.
“I’m a Chardonnay freak, and was inspired to start my own project when I was at Nyetimber and was obsessively travelling to the Côte des Blancs where they almost exclusively grow Chardonnay largely on chalk,” Sugrue explained.
“Then in 2008, the night before picking, birds devastated my entire crop. You work so hard to protect the vines from the pathogens of this world, then suddenly, you get hit by birds. Someone said to me at the time ‘that’s the trouble with dreams’. The name stuck.”
Sugrue’s persistence eventually paid off, however. With a trail of awards in his wake and support continuing to roll in from The Pig Hotel Group and Johnson, it seems this particular dream has finally come to fruition.
“It’s a significant day for us, as you can imagine,” he added. “We’ve managed to establish our own winery after I’ve been making wine in England for 21 years and Ana has made wine on nearly every continent.
“This whole year has been a new adventure. Fifty-three weeks ago, this former tractor barn was very much a tractor barn. Since then, we’ve had our biggest year ever for Sugrue South Downs (a remarkable 156 tonnes of grapes in 2023) while building the winery, including replacing the roof and filling it with equipment. All of it is second hand, including our ex-Mâcon blanc Burgundy barrels and former Champagne barrels. We’ve turned it into the boutique winery we always wanted.”
The journey to this moment began in 2006 – the same year Dermot Sugrue left Nyetimber to begin the project at Wiston Estate. Also in 2006, he planted a 1ha vineyard at West Sussex’s Storrington Priory on the understanding that he would also keep the cellars of the monastic priests who owned the land well stocked with their own wine.
The past couple of years have been remarkable too. After leading the estate to the WineGB Winery of the Year Trophy in five out of six years, Dermot left Wiston in 2022. Ana then officially joined the project as Sugrue South Downs' ‘first employee’ in 2021, the same year that Bee Tree was purchased along with its vines.
“It used to be Dermot’s weekend project. I said let me join and we can see what we’ve got here,” Ana said.
Bee Tree turned out to offer a point of difference as “it’s the only vineyard we have that has clay and sandy soils. All the others are on chalk with flint or another combination”, Ana added.
Bee Tree is the only vineyard wholly owned by the couple, bringing the total to 11ha. The other rented vineyards are Storrington, Mount Harry vineyard in East Sussex (planted in 2006 by Alice Renton), and Coldharbour Vineyard (7.35ha planted in 2005).
The Bee Tree wines will now act as a volume-driven companion to the more premium Sugrue South Downs labels, such as Zodo, meaning ‘zero dosage’. Zodo was shown alongside three Trouble With Dreams releases last week: the most recent release (2019), alongside the earlier 2017 and 2010 in magnum.
“The Trouble With Dreams concept today is almost the same as when I planted the initial vines at Storrington in 2006. I was inspired to make Chardonnay on the chalk of the South Downs in a way that was very linear, driven by purity and lovely focus from Chardonnay supported by richness of Pinot Noir,” Dermot shared.
Today, what Dermot believes distinguishes Sugrue South Downs from others on the English wine scene is the extensive use of barrels. A large percentage of the wine is fermented and aged in barrels, usually with no malo.
“I love the freshness and line of acidity that’s unique about English sparkling wine. We celebrate this acidity,” he said.
In terms of the future, the most recent investment will enable the team to up production of the Sugrue South Downs wines, which have long lees-aging.
Dermot told Harpers: “We’ve got to be making those wines now if we want to reach 50,000 bottles in five years’ time. We’ll still be a boutique winery. I’ve worked for massive producers in the past, and Ana has worked for massive producers in the past. Boutique is where we want to be.”
In this moment however, he is happy with the official opening of the winery, which was also attended by beloved dog Noodles and his and Ana’s young son, as the family continue to grow as one of the plot points on the local wine map.
With a dose of the flair now expected from the Irish winemaker, Dermot lived up to a pet name given by Ana. “She calls me, the Don Corleone of English wine”, he said, before reeling off a host of names.
“Five minutes down the road there’s Artelium, founded 2014. Bolney is also close. I’ve known the family there for 21 years. Wiston is close too, which was my home for 16 years, and Albourne Estate. These are all dots on the English wine route and ecotourism is only just starting. It’s very exciting to be involved and be part of that.
“Myself and Ana created this out of our own talent and ruthless sense of ambition, without inheritance or cashing in on any other type of business. This is what we do,” he concluded.
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56-58 Church Walk, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, RH15 9AN
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