Page 9 - Oundle Life August 2021

Fundamentally I just really enjoy growing and seeing the business develop and evolve.
Are your ingredients locally sourced? Yes, all our Blue Aurora Wines are made purely and simply with 100% English blueberries, hand- picked at Lutton Farm.
Aren’t blueberries notoriously difficult
to grow? Yes. They are an acid loving plant, therefore the conditions in the UK are not ideal, that’s why we grow ours in substrate in pots.
Most challenging moment? In terms of the wines, it has to be getting customers to move away from the pre-conception that fruit wines are sickly sweet and establishing a new market for pure, quality fruit wines.
How long from picking to the bottle? For our Dusk & Midnight, it can be as quick as two days from picking to pressing and then a further 7 months until it is bottled. With our ice wine we freeze the berries post-harvest and then only
begin pressing when the temperatures are low enough that the fruit doesn’t defrost too quickly in the press, so this can be several months.
What makes Blue Aurora so special?
Throughout the whole process, we wanted
to maintain the integrity of the beautiful blueberries and that’s why the wine is not mixed with any grape juice or concentrates and is purely and simply made from 100% English blueberries. Sustainability is at the heart of Blue Aurora and since starting the project in 2018 we have pressed 37 tonnes of blueberries which may otherwise have gone to waste! We are now really proud to have three different wines in
the range which we really feel offers something truly unique to the drinks market.
Who inspires you? Rick Stein. I admire his ability to combine his travel adventures with superb recipe creations.
www.blueaurorawine.co.uk
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