Candover Brook is not just our name, it’s the chalk stream that flows through our valley – a defining piece of our farm and terroir. Sophie Thorpe talks to Dr Ben Rushbrook (Principal Ecologist at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust) and our MD Mark Sainsbury about why finding balance in its waters is so important.
Pick up a bottle of Candover Brook and you may notice a small illustration on its neck. At first glance, you might think it’s a langoustine or lobster, but look a little closer and you’ll realise it’s a crayfish – the white-clawed crayfish in fact, Britain’s only native species of the crustacean. It is a discerning beast – demanding only the most pristine waters for its habitat. What though, you might ask, does this creature have to do with wine?
The white-clawed crayfish is under threat – and has been since the mid-20th century. Dredging, pollution, the engineering of waterways and rapidly decreasing water quality all contributed to its decline, but it was the introduction of the North American Signal crayfish in the 1970s that put the writing on the wall for our white-clawed friend. A government-funded scheme encouraged fisheries to farm Signal crayfish, identifying an opportunity to supply the Scandinavian market (whose own native crayfish were disappearing – besieged by the Signal crayfish, it was later realised).
The imported North American Signal crayfish was – and is – bigger, greedier, more aggressive, faster-growing and faster-multiplying, but it also brought with it crayfish plague. While Signal crayfish are immune, the white-clawed crayfish is not – and the disease spread as Signal crayfish started to dominate waterways, wiping out native crayfish populations. The balance was disturbed. It’s estimated that somewhere between 50 and 80% of the white-clawed crayfish disappeared – but the Candover Brook was one of the last places the crustacean could be found. No one really knows why, but here there was “a plucky sort of resistance”, in Mark Sainsbury’s words.
With their dwindling numbers, white-clawed crayfish are now legally protected – and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT) has, since 2008, been working to conserve the native crustacean. As Dr Ben Rushbrook, Principal Ecologist at HIWWT, told me, their focus is not just on monitoring and research, but strengthening the white-clawed crayfish population – gradually breeding and re-introducing the crustacean to safe habitats, giving it the chance to evolve and rival its invasive oppressor.
Chalk streams are one of the few places where the white-clawed crayfish can thrive – offering sufficiently crisp, clean waters for the creature (and why they are so famous for their trout). While chalk streams might seem two-a-penny in the south of England, they’re one of the rarest freshwater habitats in the world – with our nation home to an estimated 85% of them. Fed by aquifers, the chalk acts as a water filter – producing a clear, cold and stable flow, loaded with minerals – especially calcium, key to helping the crayfish develop its exoskeleton – their equivalent of a daily glass of milk. And it’s not just crayfish that thrive, chalk streams are, as Rushbrook says, “the lifeblood for the wider habitats that they flow through”. But a recent report stated that only 12% of England’s chalk streams were in “good ecological status” – a damning verdict.
“It’s one of the great disasters of our age,” says Sainsbury, when I ask him about the state of our nation’s waterways – water privatisation, the loss of biodiversity and the “ticking time bomb” of nitrates in our watercourses… the problems are manifold. But Sainsbury remains optimistic – in part inspired by that plucky English crustacean, stubbornly holding out against all odds.
Over the last decade, the Sainsbury family has fallen fully for regenerative farming – and among its many benefits is that it reduces agricultural run-off, one of the major culprits behind the decline in water quality. The chemicals sprayed by conventional farmers, especially those in fertilisers, leach into our waterways, the nitrates and phosphorus oozing their way into our ecosystem. On top of that, intensive farming compacts soils, slowly strips them of organic matter, contributes to erosion and increases flooding, further polluting rivers and streams – not to mention the reduction in biodiversity. At Candover Brook, however, they’re doing everything possible to avoid such issues – with their low-input approach.
Nature, Sainsbury says, has the ability to do all the hard work – but then there is “man’s appalling habit of getting in the way”. He and his siblings started rolling out regenerative practices across the family farmland a decade ago now, and across to the vineyard too. It is, in his mind, “a no-brainer” – not only beneficial for the environment, ethically right, but financially profitable. And working with the HIWWT (officially as of 2023) was second nature – another way to care for the land and support the delicate ecosystem at work. For every bottle sold in Hampshire, Candover Brook gives 50p to HIWWT, helping fund their work. To date, the HIWWT has raised thousands of white-clawed crayfish in captivity and released them back into the wild, as well as working with local farmers to manage run-off and encourage more sustainable practices.
The Candover Brook vines overlook its namesake – the brook running through the heart of the valley that is home to both the vineyard and the family’s farm at Preston Candover. And just as the chalk stream sustains white-clawed crayfish, the chalk subsoil is key to the success of the vineyard. The vines’ roots burrow deeply through the shallow topsoil (a mere 20cm) and into the porous chalk, allowing rainfall to drain freely, yet also acting as a sponge, holding stores for the vines to draw on in dry periods. The aquifer that feeds the stream feeds the vines – it’s just one part of the remarkable ecosystem in place, one that can only thrive when everything is in balance.
To accompany Sophie’s article, filmmaker Jess Bassett has produced a four-minute documentary that offers us an opportunity to meet the people and explore the locations featured in this piece.
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About Sophie Thorpe
Sophie Thorpe is a London-based freelance wine writer. She spent over a decade writing in-house for fine wine merchants, while also working as a journalist with features published in the likes of Decanter, Club Oenologique, The Spectator and jancisrobinson.com. Over the coming year, she’ll be exploring Candover Brook’s regenerative approach season by season, diving into how our farming influences the vine, fruit, soil, surrounding environment and community.