Full names: Simon Bladon: Father – Camilla Bladon: Daughter
Role: Simon – Owner, Figurehead – Camilla – Marketing Manager AKA fixer/hustler!
DOB: Simon: 16.5.1952– Camilla: 10.01.1987
Birthplace: Simon: Hull and Camilla: London
Twitter Handle: @jenkynplacewine
Website: www.jenkynplace.com
Fun Fact: They have just moonlighted as cover page models for Decanter Magazine (Aug 2016 Edition). Simon created some wines for his ski company in 1982– Bladon Lines’ logo was a parrot so for a bit of fun he had Parrot Claret and Parrot Fin (White) (pronounced “paraffin”).. but now he has ‘grown up’, and an English sparkler is more fitting.
So, let’s start at the beginning! You are no stranger to entrepreneurship and had a pretty impressive track record before Jenkyn Place – the ‘hobby that got slightly out of hand’. You were born in Yorkshire right? Could you tell us a little about your upbringing? Did it sow the seeds (see what I did there…?) for what you do today?
Being a Yorkshireman, I have always been interested in ‘bubbles’ from a tender age, originally in the form of the barley bubbles of the floral Timothy Taylor’s Landlord or the more rustic Sam Smiths. But running a ski company made me appreciate bubbles from noble grapes as well.
Building from above, please tell us about what grapes you guys grow and produce! What style of wine do you specialise in and what would you like to be known for? You’ve basically maxed out on production at this point – 15,000 vines?
So we grow the classic Champagne grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, and we specialise in dry sparklers, be they Cuvée, Rosé, Blanc be Blanc or Blanc de Noirs. We would like to be known and recognised for the quality of our wines, the efficiency of our organisation, and our humour.
You’ve got Dermot Sugrue at Wiston Estate (and formerly of Nyetimber) in Sussex working on your wine, right? How did you get involved with him and how does that work, exactly? Do you get much in the way of creative direction in how the wine turns out? (insofar as you can have that with the uncertainty of the weather etc…)
In 2003, Stuart Moss, the then owner of Nyetimber was selling up and returning to Chicago. He had a wonderful collection of antique English oak furniture, and my wife and I were asked by Sotheby’s to the viewing, where we were given a glass of Nyetimber to help encourage our bidding for the antiques. I had never drunk English sparkling wine before, and was staggered by the quality.
We never bought any furniture, but went home and planted a vineyard instead. I learnt two things that night. The grapes had to be Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, and my wines had to be made by that Nyetimber winemaker – enter Dermot Sugrue – now moved to Wiston. Do I get much involved with the creative direction? Yes, I interfere from time to time, but Dermot is a brilliant winemaker, and I have never been one for having a dog and barking myself!
As far as I am aware you have managed to involve much of the family in the business. How do you find it working with people so close to you, and do you foresee Jenkyn Place turning into something…dynastic? How many people, asides from your relatives, do you employ?
My daughter and my dogs Bertie and Oscar are all fully involved, the former being brilliant at keeping up standards and the latter at keeping the rabbits under control. My wife, Rebecca, gives much needed advice! We employ two others in the vineyard, Stuart and Steve, whose dedication and loyalty are unsurpassed, as well as, from time to time, a very efficient gang of Romanians.
Where do you see English wine/wine worldwide going in the next few years? Anything we should look out for?
Export has to be the way forward, and the Brexit inspired fall in sterling can only make that easier. We have already conquered Thailand, but when Jenkyn Place is readily available in the cafés of the Champs-Elysees, then we will have made it.
What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the winemaking business?
I run my own property business from my office at Jenkyn Place, and flit from property to wine and back again during the day, as demand requires. It is Camilla, though who keeps the wine wheels turning, but I am usually there at the vineyard to conduct a tour, a tasting, or show an interested journalist, MW or customer around the vineyard, and to sample a bottle with them.
What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?
When my wife, Rebecca, told me that I had made a particularly fundamental viticultural mistake. When I asked her how she could be so sure, she replied that Nigel Pargetter in the Archers had just planted a vineyard, and had done it a different way. Sadly Rebecca and Nigel were right.
Where do you get your ideas?
In a cold bath, with a glass of wine to hand. I believe in having baths at least monthly, so that’s a pretty consistent flow of great ideas.
What’s your philosophy, summed up in a sentence?
One word will do! ‘Quality’…
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had, how did you overcome it, and what did you learn from it?
Combatting spray drift from the neighbouring farmer. Overcome with diplomacy. Lesson learnt – ‘Diplomacy Rules OK’
Who’s the person who’s most inspired you in your work – food industry or otherwise? Is there anyone that you draw inspiration or strength from? Do you have any specific culinary influences?
Winston Spencer Churchill – he worked very hard at his cigars and his Champagne, and like him, I like oysters.
What do you enjoy most and least about what you do?
I most enjoy seeing Camilla open up a new sales lead, and I loathe doing the accounts (which is why Camilla does them)
What advice would you give to aspiring drinks entrepreneurs who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?
If they were thinking of planting a sparkling wine vineyard, I’d say – Don’t do it – very bad for the cash flow, and I don’t need any more competition.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing instead?
Drinking that dreadful Parrot Claret
If you could get anyone to try your wine (fictional or real, living or dead) who would you pick and which of the wines would you like them to try? Assume that they go on to be your brand ambassador…
Churchill allegedly drank 30,000 bottles of Champagne in his life, so we would like to see him drink Jenkyn Place Blanc de Noir as his 30,001st bottle. Or Popeye as Jenkyn Place tastes better than spinach – and the bottle is green.
What’s your ultimate aim and goal for Jenkyn Place? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon
Goal – for JP to be the most instantly recognisable quality ESW brand, and for it to be available in all the top hotels worldwide
Where next for you and the business?
Lots of holidays for me, and lots of hard graft in the business for my daughter.
And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…
If you could swap lives for the day with any fictional character (and you’d be guaranteed to return to your life after 24 hours), who would you choose, and why?
Simon would be the Mad Hatter so that he could have an excuse to wear lots of different hats, with Camilla as Alice in Wonderland adding Jenkyn Place to the potion.
If you had to become some kind of vegetable related superhero, which would you become, and what would you superpower be?
Camilla would be a Running bean running the Olympics and Simon a super turnip, turning back time.
If Jenkyn Place was forced to change from a purveyor of delicious English wine into a martial arts dojo, what style would you guys teach and what music would you play in your gym to get people fired up?
Tai Chi or rather ‘Lie Chi’ so that everyone can just lie down with the music being a combo of a tribal drum, Pop Goes the Weasel and what about Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture to emulate the popping of bottle corks…
Image credits: Thomas Alexander / Jenkyn Place