Making Sparkling Wines

The late John Restall lived in Twickenham and had been making wines since 1955. He was an active member of his local amateur winemaking circle where he shared his experiences of winemaking with other enthusiasts and he loved to visit wine-producing regions abroad to learn professional methods.

The late Donald Hebbs was also a keen wine and beer maker who won many major awards at local, regional and national wine shows. He started making sparkling wine in 1967 and it won three national awards: 1st Prize in 1968, 2nd in 1969 and 1st in 1971. His sparkling wine also won "Best in Show" at the Middlesex Wine Festival in 1970. He was a member of the Amateur Winemakers National Guild of Judges for Wine and Beer and was a well-known lecturer on both subjects.

Cyril John James Berry was one of Britain’s leading amateur winemakers, co-founder of the first Winemaker’s Circle, founder Chairman of the National Association of Winemakers and Brewers and Editor-Publisher of the monthly magazine The Amateur Winemaker which he ran for 27 years. After World War II, when sugar came off rationing, Cyril co-founded the first Winemaker’s Circle in Andover, which still flourishes today. Then Cheltenham, Bournemouth, Harrow and Hertford Circles sprang to life and gradually the bubbles of wine spread all over the UK. Clubs learnt about each others' events through a little magazine The Amateur Winemaker which Cyril and his wife Peggy produced in the upstairs bedroom of their house in Andover. This was for sale to Clubs at 6 pence a copy. Cyril had an ebullient personality and energy which not only embraced his family and social life but also gave him the courage at a mature age to give up his safe, professional life as Editor of a local Andover paper in order to concentrate on producing The Amateur Winemaker magazine on a national scale. He wrote several best-selling books on winemaking and home brewing, upon which he was an acknowledged expert for forty years, appearing frequently on television and always in demand as a lecturer and wine judge. He lived in Andover, Hampshire, England and in Malaga, Spain where he died in 2002.