Ortega, Gutter & Stars

Ortega, Gutter & Stars, 2023 Gutter & Stars launched in 2020 as Cambridge’s first winery, and runs out of the basement of Chesterton Mill, a Grade II listed windmill about 1 mile from our shop in central Cambridge. The building is octagonal and is just 33m2 but now holds a number of tanks and ex Burgundy barrels, as well as all the equipment and fittings needed to make high quality wine. Chris Wilson, founder and winemaker, started out as a music journalist, hence many of the wine names containing lyrics. He studied winemaking in 2010 and then moved around the Napa Valley, California, Germany and East Sussex honing his trade. Alongside making small batch wine in Cambridge, he has worked as a wine journalist for 15 years and has visited hundreds of wine cellars across the world. Chris doesn’t own a vineyard so sources grapes from a small list of local suppliers, largely from East Anglia and Essex, as well as a few from Kent and Oxfordshire. The grapes for the Ortega are grown at Yew Tree Vineyard in Oxfordshire. This Ortega is waxy and floral, with notes of peach tea, candied fruit and umami, for a savoury and sumptuous wine. 750ml, 2025 (560 bottles), 100% Ortega.