I have a soft spot for the Channel Islands, England with a French accent, partly because a branch of my wife’s family comes from Alderney.
Having had more than enough of 40 plus degree temperatures this summer, I was seeking refuge in a cooler climate and therefore delighted to notice they had just introduced direct flights to Saint Helier, the capital of Jersey, and jumped at the opportunity.
Jersey was once very popular with English tourists, but cheap package holidays in the south of Spain changed that. The local government is hoping to turn things around by cooperating with Easy Jet to attract more visitors, including from abroad, and to provide better infrastructure.
I was to learn that the Channel Islands are neither part of Great Britain nor the United Kingdom, but “crown dependencies” with their own currency and sometimes quirky laws.
Only 22 km separate Jersey from France. People once spoke a local patois here derived from Norman French, le jersiais, but this has all but disappeared. However, many, if not most, of the place names are French.
I can’t travel anywhere without taking a look at the local wines so was necessarily intrigued to discover that there was one commercial winery in Jersey, La Mare Wine Estate, and sent them a message asking to visit. I received a kind invitation to do so from winemaker Jordi Sanvincens Moreno, a Catalan with extensive experience, including several years in… Indonesia, where he made wine from refrigerated containerloads of fresh grapes.
La Mare is located in Saint Mary parish in the northern part of the island.
I had decided not to rent a car during my one-week stay on Jersey and so went everywhere by public transport. On balance, this proved to be a good decision. Anyway, my wife and I took a bus to Devil’s Hole, a wave-carved chasm on the coast, and walked from there to La Mare where we were warmly welcomed by Jordi and Andrew Smith, a South African in charge of vineyard management.
Starting out as an 18th century apple farm that later went into a long decline, the La Mare estate was restored in 1968 by Robert and Ann Blayney, who began planting vines in 1972, later expanding to include a cider mill, a distillery, and the production of Jersey black butter (a traditional local preserve made by slowly cooking apples, cider, sugar, spices, and liquorice).
The winery opened to visitors in 1976 and grew into a major tourism attraction. In 1997, ownership passed to Trevor and Jane Owen. A modern winery and distillery were later developed, alongside visitor facilities and event spaces.
Perhaps the first thing to know about La Mare is that the vineyard is tiny: 3 hectares, or about half the size of La Tâche in Burgundy. The estate makes approximately 10,000 bottles a year of two wines: a white, Domaine de La Mare and a red, Bailliage de La Mare. A huge share is sold at the cellar door and virtually none is exported. The white is produced from little-known early-maturing grape varieties such as Orion and Seyval Blanc. The 2025 proved to be a clean, well-focused, wine with a subtle floral bouquet and a tart, tangy, refreshing flavor.
Made from Pinot Noir, Rondo, and Regent grapes, the red is chaptalized to the extent of adding 1.5% alcohol by volume. The color is bright purplish red and the nose spicy and sweet. The wine is once again tangy on the palate with good tannin and a vigorous fruity flavor followed by a shortish aftertaste. As much a I found the white a very creditable effort, I was more partisan to the red La Mare. And imagine serving it blind!
Jersey obviously has a maritime climate and the choice of grape varieties reflects that. The soil can best be described as sandy loam on granite. The average yield is 14 tonnes per hectare. It should be noted that there are no constraints whatsoever in viticulture and wine production in Jersey. This latitude is exhilarating and has led to constant experimentation. For instance, a sparkling Solaris is in the works.
However, La Mare’s unique nature also has its drawbacks. There are no colleagues with which to share equipment, which is quite expensive to import, particularly since Brexit. La Mare have won awards for their wine and cider at the International Wine and Spirit Competition and are also proud of the sprits they distill.
They are very attuned to tourism and my wife and I enjoyed a meal at the restaurant there.
In short, if you go to Jersey, I think that visiting this rather esoteric winery would be a very worthwhile choice.