Meet the Winemakers

Producer: Ambriel
Winemaker: Charles Outhwaite
Region: West Sussex
Country: England

A banker and a barrister walked into a Bar…. Charles a lifelong enthusiast of all things fermented, left his banking job and took the plunge into wine over a decade ago. In the winery he is Ambriel’s head winemaker, and a general factotum in the vineyard. Also over decade ago now Wendy swapped one sort of Bar for another and focusses on Quality Control and marketing.

Ambriel is a family-run vineyard sitting on sunny south-facing slopes overlooking the South Downs National Park in West Sussex. This green and pleasant land provides virgin pasture perfect for viticulture. Our goldilocks climate – not too hot, not too cold – allows for a long ripening season to create the best flavours in the grapes, and exquisite English Sparkling wines.

Ambriel vines are the classic Sparkling varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier but Charles has chosen lower-yielding Burgundian clones for their superior fruit flavours. 

The vineyard is sustainability focused with the aim of protecting what is already here; To mitigate against the impact of a monoculture; to improve biodiversity; to prevent soil erosion; to promote carbon storage; to do no harm to the environment and to minimise waste. This is reflected in every aspect of the teams viticulture, viniculture and sales.