A Scottish farming couple are celebrating the production of a sparkling wine – on an old potato field in the Borders.
Lorna and Trevor Jackson decided to plant the vineyard on spare land they had on their farm.
With global warming, they felt the vines would have a chance to grow – and they did.
Using Scottish-grown grapes from their farm at Charlesfield in St Boswells, they created Borders Bubbly.
“We had an idea that it might grow and we had a piece of land that had been used previously just to grow potatoes,” said Lorna.
“Trevor, my husband, thought that maybe we could have a go at growing some vines as just a trial.
“In 2016, we planted 1,000 vines of different varieties to see what would grow best.”
Now they have produced what Lorna describes as a “drinkable drink”.
“It was just a proof of concept and now we have proved it we need to think about if we should we take another step into production commercially,” she said.
The couple took a viticulture course at Plumpton College and also used the skills acquired over years in agriculture in order to produce their wine.
“We are from a farming background so we both kind of knew about growing things,” said Lorna
“They grow a bit like a cross between a rose and a soft fruit – they don’t like the frost and they don’t like too much wet and they like a bit of sun and light in the summer.”
The couple are now going to look at the possibility of turning over buildings on the farm into a winery and investigate the prospects for commercial production.
“We would like to get more grapes for this next year so that we can make more than eight bottles next year,” Lorna said.
And are they happy with the finished product?
“It tastes really light and fruity – we were surprised that it wasn’t vinegar,” Lorna said.
She added that it was “very bubbly” and a lot of people had doubted it could be produced on open farmland in the Borders.
“They keep thinking that I’ve got a polytunnel or it’s all covered or it’s somewhere else,” she said.
“People do think I was a bit mad but here is the proof, here is Borders Bubbly – we have produced sparkling wine in Scotland.”
