Whitewolfe Estates: An exciting new Chardonny-based project in Kent England
11th March 2025
Whitewolfe Estates is a still Chardonnay project founded in 2019 by Clare Whitehead and Luke Wolfe, and the first wines have nowbeen released.
Luke and Clare met while they were studying at Plumpton in 2009.At the time, she was working for Bibendum while he was amortgage advisor, but he was about to change careers. He beganworking in vineyards and wineries, and then took a job at ChapelDown where he stayed for 7.5 years. He then set up a vineyardmanagement consultancy called Agropro, mostly focusing on workin the southeast of England.
Clare now works for Liberty Wine, but they decided they’d like tostart their own project. Their first attempt was in 2012 when theplan was to buy grapes. But it was the worst vintage in livingmemory and there weren’t any grapes available. In 2019 theyresurrected the dream, but this time wanted to plant land.
They leased some land in Kit’s Coty in the North Downs, andplanted 10 hectares of Chardonnay in 2020. Kit’s Coty is a namemade famous by Chapel Down for their prestige still and sparklingChardonnays, and there are now 1000 acres of vineyard here. Theplace has its own microclimate.
Luke and Clare are growers first: they sell 80% of the crop forsparkling and still wine, and the remaining 20% is what they canafford to play with (this project is entirely self funded) for theWhitewolfe wines. They make the wines with Ben Smith at Itasca,and 2022 was the first vintage.
They have planted 7 different Chardonnay clones, and they also usea range of different yeasts, and play around with press fractions.The result of this matrix of opportunities is a range of threeChardonnays, which represent different stylistic takes on what theirsite can deliver. They won’t be making all three every year: forexample, in 2023 there was no KC1. KC3 will be made every year,and KC1 and KC2 will be vintage dependent.
They are in the middle of acquiring a new piece of land. The cost forleasing is typically £300-400 per acre on a 30 year lease, and thenthere is the cost of planting and management each year. They farmconventionally, but don’t use herbicides. They cultivate under vineas they go through mowing the mid-rows. They are members ofsustainable wine GB.
Canopy management is key and there is no expense spared when itcomes to manual labour, says Luke. They average 8 sprays a year.They have no frost protection. ‘It’s as frost-free as a site can be,’says Luke, although he says they are seeing bud burst ever earlier,and it’s getting near the beginning of April, which is problematic.
‘We went into this with our eyes wide open,’ he says. ‘We factored inthat two out of 10 years we might not get anything.’ They contractwork out so there is no capital outlay, and with the size of the plot acontractor can do everything in one day: it’s the optimum size formost vineyard activities.
Soils are clay loam over chalk, and there are three levels, withdeeper soils at the bottom. At the top, the chalk is 500 mm down; atthe bottom it’s more than a metre. Drainage is good. They use aroller hacker as part of the under-vine weed control and the organicmaterial here has increased from below 3% to 4.25/4.5%. The vinesare planted at 2.2 m x 1 m (4500 per hectare) and pruning is singleguyot.
These wines are specific barrel selections. The clones are pickedseparately and the wines are aged in used barrels for a year, witheach barrel graded to determine its destination. KC1 is moreelegant; KC2 is more powerful; KC3 is more expressive.
Whitewolfe KC3 Chardonnay 2022 Kent, England
Lively and quite powerful with nice citrus drive. Some pear andlemon fruit with a stony twist. Lovely brightness here with greatprecision, showing a bold acid line. There’s some richness here withsubtle hazelnut and a twist of white peach richness, finishing withbrisk acidity. 92/100
Whitewolfe KC1 Chardonnay 2022 Kent, England
Lovely aromatics of pear and apple, showing depth but alsofreshness on the palate. Layered citrus fruit with some creamy hintsand a bit of nuttiness, but then some oystershell and flintminerality. Such precision. This really comes alive on the palateshowing good detail and integrated flavours. 94/100
Whitewolfe KC2 Chardonnay 2022 Kent, England
Rich and toasty with citrus and lemon curd aromas and a nice spicydimension. Good depth on the palate without sacrificing freshness.This has energy and saltiness with fine spicy notes and a really longfinish. Quite crystalline, showing finesse and depth. 95/100
