The ethical drinker: New River Cottage wines help put sustainability 'into mainstream conversation'

I recently took the train from London to the rolling countryside of southwest England.

I was on my way to River Cottage, near Axminster in Devon, to hear more about a new wine range developed through a collaboration between Domaine Gayda in Languedoc and much-loved UK celebrity chef, broadcaster and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

If you live in the UK, you’ll likely know of Hugh; for years, he’s been challenging the way that the nation thinks about food, through TV series, documentaries and the written word.

An ethical-food advocate, he’s known for confronting inadequate food systems, exposing animal welfare issues, campaigning against single-use plastic, lobbying the government for a more urgent response to climate change, and more.

River Cottage is his certified-organic restaurant and cookery school. As well-spoken as he is, Hugh is down to earth and worldly, with an ability to connect to a wide audience.

When I heard about the new River Cottage wines, it raised an interesting question beyond whether they would be any good: can wine be part of the same ethical framework as food?

Wine is, after all, a luxury product, while food is a necessity. But wine, like a lot of our food, is also an agricultural product. And yet, it has, until very recently, avoided the same scrutiny as food in terms of soil health, climate impact, seasonality, waste and labour standards.

For Hugh, it’s clear-cut: ‘It’s an extension of the way I think about food. It’s important to see it as a product of agriculture that we consume.’

This is what makes this wine launch so interesting. It signals that sustainable farming practices, welfare and environmental impact aren’t just niche concerns.

When someone well known and so closely associated with making ethical and sustainable food accessible to a wider audience turns their attention to wine, it presents wine through that lens, too, and brings it into the mainstream conversation.

There are clearly several synergies between Domaine Gayda and River Cottage. The wine estate, which was set up from scratch from 2003-2004 by British horticulturalist Tim Ford and South African entrepreneur Anthony Record MBE, is certified organic.

It’s known for being something of a rebel and a pioneer, making wine from ‘outside’ grape varieties, such as Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, and labelling as Vin de France or IGP.

Some biodynamic preparations are used in the vineyards, and hedgerows are being restored to encourage and support biodiversity. Hugh says that this all really chimed with River Cottage. In fact, Hugh and Tim bonded over a shared love of birds; each of the four wines’ labels show a bird species that’s thriving in Domaine Gayda’s vineyards.

As someone who’s recently discovered birdwatching herself (don’t worry I won’t bore you with further details), I really loved that the QR code on the back label takes you to the sound of the bird’s call on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

Hugh helped create the wine blends with winemaker Vincent Chansault; crucially, he wanted wines with moderate alcohol levels. In a warm, increasingly sun-baked region, this isn’t an easy feat.

‘In Languedoc, it’s really difficult to have good ripeness at low alcohol levels,’ says Vincent, and Hugh says he was nervous about them being ‘great big bottles of sunshine’.

With some early-harvest Mourvèdre, though, Vincent was able to achieve a red at 13%. It seems the exercise was mutually beneficial: ‘Having these discussions and making the wine with Hugh really challenged me,’ says Vincent, ‘[since trying to keep alcohol low] made me question the grapes that we plant, or try to buy.’

The collaboration makes sense, and the wines are really drinkable and characterful.

If River Cottage helped us to think more about how our food gets onto our plate, maybe its wines will encourage more of us to think through the story of how our wine gets into the glass.

Sip to make a difference

River Cottage, The Finch, Pays d’Oc 2024

A southern French blend of Grenache Blanc, Macabeu and Chenin Blanc, sourced from organic vineyards and made by Domaine Gayda, River Cottage’s The Finch, Pays d’Oc 2024 (90pts, £16.95-£18.50 JN Wine, River Cottage) is a super-zesty white. Lemon pith and white-fleshed peach, and a tingly, mineral finish. Check out the QR code [on the bottle label] to hear the call of the serin finch!

Related articles