Peter Hall obituary

"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."

"Peter was born at Rangeworthy Court, his family's country home in Gloucestershire, and grew up in Notting Hill, London, together with his brothers Remy and Patrick. His mother, Jeannine Mercier, was an artist, and his father, John Inglis Hall, an author. As a child Peter planned to join the Navy, but changed his mind on discovering that ships were no longer built of wood."

Peter Hall, born at Rangeworthy Court and raised in Notting Hill, taught himself winemaking and established Breaky Bottom Vineyard near Lewes, East Sussex. He and his wife Diana Robinson planted the first vines in 1974 and converted the farm from livestock to primarily wine production. He tended six acres by hand, personally labelling bottles and rehabilitating the Seyval Blanc variety into a prizewinning grape. He faced early financial risk but persevered, winning a gold at the International Wine Challenge in 1993, buying the vineyard land in 1995, and releasing his first sparkling Millennium Cuvée Maman Mercier that same year.

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