Homeland News
by James Bailey
Published: April 17, 2023
Emma Rice, one of the UK's most celebrated winemakers, has set up her own wine industry consultancy to help develop the UK's thriving wine industry. Rice will provide expertise in winery design, equipment sourcing, sensory evaluation and wine style strategy as part of its consulting offerings.
Rice graduated with a BSc in Viticulture and Enology from Plumpton College in 2006, and has been at the forefront of the English wine industry with Wines of Great Britain as immediate past chair of the Wine Industry Working Group for many years. She has also been involved in WineGB's recent reviews of PDO/PGI regulation for English sparkling wine.
Furthermore, Rice was director and head winemaker at Hattingley Valley for 14 years while also running her own wine analysis laboratory, Custom Crush UK. Overseeing Hattingley's growth into one of the UK's largest wineries, Rice made wines not only for the brand but also for many other vineyards from Hampshire and the surrounding counties. She won multiple awards for her wines as well as those of her clients, and was responsible for producing 30-40 different wines each year from between 200 and 700 tons of fruit per crop.
Rice's first client is one of the original English wine pioneers, Breaky Bottom Vineyard, which was established in 1974, and which has continued with what she describes as a “united resolve” by Peter Hall ever since. Rice Hall will help take Breaky Bottom into the future while staying true to its original spirit of letting the vines and terroir of that valley on the South Downs speak through the wines produced.
Hall was one of Rice Laboratory's original clients in 2008, and has been instrumental in ensuring the quality of its wines ever since.
