Gutter&Stars is proud to be Cambridge’s first winery. Winemaker and founder Chris Wilson has wanted to start his own winemaking business for some time, and in 2017 he began the search for the perfect site for a small-scale urban winery in Cambridge, the city he’s lived in with his family since 2013.

In 2020 a golden opportunity came up to house the winery in the basement of a Grade II-listed windmill less than a mile from the city centre, and work began turning this octagonal cave into the city’s first winemaking facility.

The winery is housed in the mill’s basement. It’s the perfect spot in some ways (a 15°C ambient temperature, a good drainage system, bags of character) and challenging in others (low ceiling height, single phrase power, narrow-ish door). It’s these challenges that Chris is looking forward to overcoming during his winemaking adventure; and he’s sure they will shape the wine he makes in many ways.

The space itself is bijou (just 33m2) but it is big enough for a rack of ex-Burgundy barrels, a handful of tanks - including a natty egg-shaped fermenter from Germany - and all the equipment and fittings needed to make quality wine.

Gutter&Stars’ winemaker Chris Wilson began his professional life as a music and newspaper journalist before discovering the unending joys of wine.

After a writing career at titles including the Daily Mirror, The Observer and Jockey Slut magazine he returned to study in 2010 to undertake a winemaking degree at Plumpton College in Sussex.

During his time at Plumpton and since graduating Chris has made wine in Napa Valley, California, Germany’s Saarland and East Sussex, and has worked in the wine trade since graduation as a trade and consumer wine journalist. In this time he has visited countless cellars around the world, getting to know winemakers, philosophies and techniques along the way. All of this helps to shape the Gutter & Stars wines he makes in Cambridge.

He continues to write - mainly about wine - for titles including Decanter, The Buyer and Harpers Wine & Spirit, and consults on communications and marketing for a handful of UK-based wine importers.

Away from the cellar Chris loves hanging out with his family, playing and watching cricket, and listening to loud music… although not at the same time.

What about the grapes? This question comes up a lot when Chris talks about the winery, and a it’s a very important one. Gutter&Stars does not own a vineyard or grow its own grapes; instead Chris works with grape growers close to Cambridge and sources the fruit he needs from them.

This approach is popular in Burgundy and Champagne, so why can’t it can work here too? Why not reach for the stars?

With a desire to source the grapes from as close to Cambridge as possible for environmental and logistical reasons, it’s fortunate that East Anglia is fast becoming the grape-growing bread basket of the UK. Essex, with its big skies and below average rainfall is England’s very own Napa Valley and the grapes grown here – especially in the famed Crouch Valley – can be exceptional.

Following a number of trips to Essex in search of fruit Chris was introduced to Missing Gate Vineyard in Bicknacre, near Chelmsford in the Crouch Valley. The Speakman family have worked the land here for three generations, recently moving into viticulture when Nick Speakman took the helm. Alongside his sons, and working with expert viticulturist Duncan McNeill, they initially planted seven hectares of vines and have since added another 25 ha.

The clay hills of the estate are planted with varieties including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Bacchus and Sauvignon Blanc. The Speakmans have ambitious plans for their business so it’s exciting for Gutter&Stars to work with a like-minded team of people who are deeply passionate about growing quality fruit and equally as excited about the UK’s burgeoning urban winery scene.

In 2021 Chris began working with grower Ed Mitcham at Yew Tree Vineyard in Oxfordshire. Ed grows stunning Ortega and Bacchus grapes, which add something new to the mix, and brings a nice Cambridge-Oxford dimension to a handful of the wines. Since the 2022 vintage, Bromely Brook Vineyard in Essex has been supplying Bacchus grapes.