‘Hencote’, a medieval term meaning “high on the hill”, Sitting on the edge of market town Shrewsbury, and between ‘Battlefields’, the site of one of the most famous and decisive conflicts of the English Civil war. Hencote prompts authenticity and a keen eye for detail. Which has driven the creation of this unique English experience.
Hencote is now a unique destination with national demand.
Tell me about Hencote and what you do here.
My position is ‘Winemaker’ which in Hencote’s case, encompasses the management of the entire wine production from the management of the vineyards and their care, winemaking including bottling and final labelling of our premium range of wines ready for market. I employ a compact team of skilled staff, some of which are seasonal, 3/4 just for summer practices, and a full-time vineyard operative with whom I work with in terms of machinery and mechanisation operations.
Why did you decide to expand from the hobbyist vineyard to what Hencote is today?
When Hencote was acquired by the Stevens family in 1997, they contemplated various business models. With an appreciation of the fine wines of the world and recent recognition for the potential of quality wine production in the Uk, their interest grew in establishing vineyards in Shropshire.
A small “Hobby” vineyard was planted in 2010, and it took 5 years after consultations and full feasibility studies before the ground on our south-facing slope was broken. A 6.5Ha vineyard was planted with the view to producing a range of world-class sparkling wines and still white rosé and red wines.
What made you choose the MF 3709 S?
As our vines are trellised in rows, for tractor and machinery operations the dimensions are firstly governed by the row width, so a narrow model is a pre-requisite. Other factors for consideration were the topography with steep sloping land and limited space to turn on headlands whilst we knew that our choice of the tractor would need to have adequate power to suit the job. Massey Fergusson was our first choice due to their long-established tough reputation and cost-effectiveness and we went for the S series with a squatter design and slightly wider wheel width to offer more stability and less ground impact in preference over the V (Vineyard) series.
What did you use before?
We traded in an 8-year-old New Holland T4040N.
What is the main job you use the 3709s for?
The main jobs are two very fundamental operations. We organically farm our estate, spraying disease-controlling products using a 1000lt mist blower and due to their “soft” preventative action of the sprays, they are scheduled to be carried out on a regular basis.
We wanted a reliable tractor, that had a low impact on the ground, so as wide a wheel base as possible and tyres to reduce compaction as we have to enter our vineyard quite often.
We do not use herbicides to control grass and weed competition, so under-vine cultivation is an important operation for soil condition, nutrient management and mowing in between rows to keep things tidy are necessary. Adequate horsepower packed into a relatively compact body and good hydraulic capabilities are a must to operate our equipment.
Did you have a demo of the machines before purchasing?
No, we considered the pros and cons of all available options and after a lot of research as to what brand and model best fitted our requirements, RVW Pugh sourced our tractor for us. We went to view the Tractor on arrangement but not able to demo and implement it at the time except start-up and driven.
What made you choose RVW Pugh?
We like to keep our business local, to Shropshire at least. Service is very important to us. On the purchase of our new vineyard tractor, we decided based on the recommendation of other farmers in our area who operate Massey Fergusson machines, to change from our previous supplier to RVW Pugh.
How was your experience buying from RVW Pugh?
The sales service was excellent. Colin Harding took our requirements on board and there was always a quick turn around on response, with many questions to ask, my questions were patiently answered. Our request was for a sound demo model to be located and RVW Pugh made a prompt response, all the way from Kent. This nationwide reach demonstrated the lengths which good service should extend to from a customers’ point of view. We look forward to building a long-standing working relationship with RVW Pugh.
