Our Story.
We are a small, family-owned vineyard in East Sussex, crafting exceptional sparkling wines since 2007. With a hands-on, sustainable approach, we capture the spirit of our land in every bottle.
Individual. Honest. Handcrafted.
Nestled on 5 acres of north-facing slopes at the edge of the Sussex Weald, we embrace a unique approach to winemaking. In May 2007, we planted our first vines, marking the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. While we knew this would lead to many years of hard work, we were ready to embark on this journey with passion and dedication.
From City Life to Vineyard Dreams
Before moving to Sussex, we’d lived busy lives in London. Zena worked on TV shows such as The Big Breakfast, while Anthony ran a digital graphics studio.
With the arrival of our second daughter we felt we needed a change of pace from London life so upped sticks and moved to the south coast. Zena retrained as a primary school teacher and Anthony, having always loved wine, took the chance to follow his dream and began studies at Plumpton College to study viticulture.
As we settled into our new lives, attention turned to finding the perfect site for the next big step.
Planting Our Vineyard: A New Beginning
After a year long search, we found our 10 acre site, moved in and started preparing the ground ready for planting the following Spring.
On the morning of 1st May 2007 we began planting 8,000 vines primarily comprising of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir grapes, perfect for quality sparkling wine production. Using a dedicated team of planters, the work was finished in a day and we looked forward to the coming seasons.
With the help of friends and family, we harvested the grapes from these vines on 10th October 2009 and they went into our first wine, the award-winning 2009 Tickerage Blush.
Building Our Purpose-Built Winery
In 2018 we were awarded a grant to help build our own purpose-built winery and pressing centre. This enables us to combine contemporary innovation with respected artisanal winemaking skills, which allows us to produce limited runs of top-quality wine.
Our winery contains all the equipment we need to process our grapes straight from picking, through pressing, fermentation, bottling, disgorging and labelling.
Our bespoke approach from pruning to harvest means we know and lovingly care for every single vine and grape.
The time from picking to pressing is just a couple of hours, ensuring maximum grape quality is preserved from our precious bounty.
Cultivating Our Vineyard Journey
We have no grand plan or exit strategy; we’re here for the long haul and the love of winemaking. Our 5 acres of vines demand daily attention, producing grapes that reflect each year’s unique weather. As a family, we cherish our life in East Sussex, committed to sustainable practices that minimise our environmental impact. Our reward is crafting wines for the future that others can enjoy and share.
We make the most of the terroir and micro-climate to grow our grapes with minimal intervention and waste.
We only use our own grapes.
Our grapes are harvested by hand at the optimal time for both acidity and ripeness every Autumn.
Each year we create wines that best suit the grapes grown that year.
These wines spend at least 5 years ageing to create the most complex flavours.
We only release Tickerage in small batch runs to ensure that every bottle is an exquisite experience.
Meet The Team Behind Tickerage
We feel very grateful and proud to have such fabulous support from our daughters and their respective partners, as well as all those who help with the harvest, pop in for cups of tea and share the Tickerage story far and wide. Close bonds are what makes Tickerage such a special place to live and work, and we certainly couldn’t have done it without the amazing moral and physical support from every member of our extended family!
Zena.
On leaving London both Anthony and Zena decided to retrain and embrace their new life on the South Coast. Zena decided to become a teacher and fortunately did not pay too much attention to Anthony’s chosen vocation. Zena loved being able to teach her own children as they progressed through school and revels in the peace and calm the vineyard offers at weekends and throughout the summer.
Anthony.
A two year HND course at Plumpton College was all it took for Anthony to realise his bliss lay in viticulture. After establishing the vineyard in 2007 he hasn’t looked back, often found outside in all weathers (although now with the onsite winery he reserves the worst days for indoor projects!) tending the vines from pruning through to harvest. There’s nothing better than sitting on the decking watching the sunset over the vines with a glass of the fruits of his labour.
Martial.
Originally from France, Martial began his wine journey in sunny California. There, he delved into winery life, contributing to marketing strategies and gaining hands-on experience as a cellar hand during harvest season. With a commitment to excellence and a degree in Viticulture and Enology from the University of Angers, Martial joined Tickerage in March 2024 to help craft distinctive wines, by growing the finest fruit in the vineyard and following low-intervention winemaking practices in the cellar.
Kizzie and Charlie.
Kizzie had also left home, getting a start at university before March 2020 altered her course as well. Kizzie loves the vineyard work, a force to be reckoned with when a labour intensive job such as leaf removal comes along. Her partner has turned out to be a vineyard natural, providing the physical presence for the tougher vineyard jobs. Also a keen photographer he has provided a lot of the imagery for our social accounts, including video editing and drone footage.
Gordon.
Gordon found us as a volunteer during harvest 2020, and what a find he turned out to be for us! He enjoyed the commute (a 10 minute walk across the local allotments) so much he put himself forward to help with winter pruning and a fantastic addition to the team he has been. Diligent, reliable and with a keen eye for the correct pruning cuts he powered through the pruning and we finished a month before I normally would on my own.
Simon.
2020 provided many new opportunities and Simon was one of the best to come our way. A long standing friend with whom we have spent many happy hours supping Tickerage, he suddenly found himself with spare time and an urge to develop skills. It was a bit of a surprise when he completely reworked our website and came forward with a new plan for Tickerage. This is his second iteration of our website and we love it!
Marc.
The call from Marc came out of the blue - would we be prepared for him to visit and discuss our brand? Something felt different about this ‘cold call’ and we agreed to hear him out. One sunny day, socially distanced and a little bemused by the new normal, we started a conversation that went on for many more hours than originally intended, and continued through many more hours of Zoom calls. A volunteer through harvest, he was one of the most involved and hardworking on the day. The result of all his field research - the new labels. We think they are simply stunning and encapsulate all things Tickerage. We wouldn’t be at this point without him and his wife Kate, who we feel will be friends for many years to come.
Everyone Else!
There are so many more people who have joined the Tickerage family over the years, too many to mention, but in the style of the best award shows, special mentions go to all our friends, including Daryl (business development), Nicole (marketing), Brian (vineyard hand), Bryce (winery hand), Neil (consumer), Adam (tree and groundwork), Callum (the OG vineyard hand), Alistair, Rob and Joe (Plumtonites).
To these and all the others that have passed through our fields over the last 16 years,
thank you!! xx
Blackboys Winery project
part funded by
European Agriculture Fund for Rural Development
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