What started as a hobby may provide rich pickings for family...
It's all a bit surreal trundling up and down the rows on the tractor and gazing out over the sea of vines at Upperton Vineyards to the stunning views of the South Downs beyond.
And Andy Rogers can't quite believe it has actually happened.
But what began as a hobby on the slopes of Tillington looks like becoming a livelihood.
Firmly rooted in the soil in front of him are 25,000 vines which he is eventually hoping will look after him and his wife Judith in their old age and provide a living for his children.
But Mr Rogers, who has been known to be on the tractor spraying at 1am, or tending vines in the small hours of the morning, is the first to admit the project has not been for the workshy.
The vines have had to take second place to his Garden Control landscaping business which he founded 34 years ago.
It's been a case of evenings and weekends in the vineyard when all the other work is done.
But as the vines grew, so did his dreams of turning them into a major enterprise and now one of his sons, James, has joined forces with him, while sons Tim and Tom continue working in the landscape gardening business.
And now he is daring to think about planting another 25,000 vines over the next few years, selling his own bottles of wine and developing a tasting and hospitality area where visitors can try the wine in the magical surroundings where the grapes grew.
He is even thinking of producing his own wine.
"It's funny really because it all grew by coincidence," said 50-year-old Mr Rogers.
Hooked on the vines
The family bought Upperton Farm five years ago and moved across the A272 from the home they had owned for 20 years.
Upperton had 40 acres, and although it was more than Andy had been looking for, he thought it would be ideal for his landscape gardening business.
Then they saw a man from Fernhurst on television talking about his vines and it turned out that his father-in-law was their neighbour at Tillington.
Mr Rogers set about finding out more about growing vines in the area and was soon hooked.
He began visiting English vineyards, tasting wine and trying to decide what would best grow on the slopes at Tillington.
In April, 2005 the family planted their first 800 vines.
"It was perfect really, because we learned as we went along and made our mistakes before we planted more vines."
And it was not long before they had signed up with Ridgeview, which buys grapes and produces and bottles wine in Ditchling.
Sparkling idea
It quickly became obvious that sparkling wines were the way to go with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier being the best vines for the soil and the climate.
In 2006 they planted another 10,000 vines, the following year they added 2,000 more and this year another 12,500.
It has been an expensive and risky business and one that has seen Mr Rogers' prized Lotus being turned into vines along with other sacrifices.
But this year it all started to seem worthwhile.
"It's been four years of pain," said the ever-optimistic Mr Rogers, "and this year we have finally seen a little bit of gain."
It's a family business
For last month it was all hands on deck for their first-ever grape picking.
The entire family were enlisted including wife Judith, daughter Heidi, who normally works in the office, all three sons, and daughter Sarah, who Mr Rogers hopes will bring her marketing skills to help launch Upperton Vineyards.
Even grandchildren Bradley (five) and Joel (two) joined in, 'although they ate most of the grapes they picked'.
Friends and villagers trooped over from Tillington to join in and the following day the first grapes went to Ridgeview.
They will produce 4,000 bottles of wine, but it will be 2010 before it is ready for the Rogers to sample.
"The trick is to sell your own wine," said Mr Rogers. "You can make a living out of selling grapes to Ridgeview, but the money comes with marketing your wine and selling it yourself."
That's still some way down the line and the Rogers have not even got their labels sorted out yet.
"You have to learn to walk before you can run," he said, "and the first thing is to get the vineyard established. We are talking about labels and trying to come up with something a little different and our marketing department isn't here yet.
"We also want to do a certain amount of our own wine-making, but that's a bit later in the plan as well."
But it's not all about making money.
"It's became a bit of a passion of mine. It's about making it work so that we can carry on living and working here," said Mr Rogers.
"If we can make enough to stay here and carry on waking up in the morning and looking out over all this, that's all I want."
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Weather for Chichester
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
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Temperature: 13 C to 19 C
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