My grandfather Peter Hall, who has died aged 82, was one of England’s best known winegrowers. The writer Andrew Jefford described him as “the father of the contemporary English wine scene” – a significant feat for anyone, let alone a man who taught himself winemaking from a paperback, and whose self-planted vineyard totalled six acres.
Breaky Bottom Vineyard, near Lewes, in East Sussex, was Peter’s passion. For five decades he worked meticulously on it: tending the vines by hand, labelling each bottle and taking the maligned Seyval Blanc variety from punchline to prizewinner.
