Born out of a desire not to waste perfectly good fruit which didn’t quite make it to the supermarket shelves, award-winning Blue Aurora is England’s only blueberry wine, grown by Lutton Farm’s Long brothers, fruit growers in Northamptonshire.
Misshapen, wrongly sized, or slightly soft blueberries are rejected by the supermarkets, despite being perfectly good, so Stephen and James Long decided to turn their hands to becoming wine producers. Lutton Farms is thrilled to now have three wonderful English blueberry wines in its range: Dusk, Midnight and Ice wine.
The Blue Aurora story started at the family-run farm in the village of Lutton, where the Longs have been farming since 1960. Formerly a livestock and arable farm, it is now a thriving commercial soft-fruit farm, with over 45ha dedicated to growing blueberries and more than 500 tonnes picked each year.
Stephen Long explained: “With every harvest, up to 20% of the crop is wasted – fruit which is either too small or too soft for supermarkets, although it is still great quality, great-tasting fruit. This is where the idea to diversify and take the bold leap into wine production came from – as a means of making the most of every single berry grown on the farm. We are very proud of our achievements and being the only producer of blueberry wine in England, feel that Blue Aurora represents something truly unique and exciting for wine drinkers looking to try something new.”
Stephen added: “Throughout the whole process, from field to bottle, we wanted to maintain the integrity of the beautiful blueberries we grow here at Lutton Farm and that’s why the wine is not mixed with any grape juice. It is, purely and simply, 100% English blueberries.” All three wines in the range are gluten-free and vegan friendly.
Blue Aurora is available at selected stockists UK-wide, online at www.blueaurorawine.co.uk and from the Lutton farm shop itself.
