EPICURE Early Spring 2020

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NOTES
from the pass
Michael Caines MBE, chef/patron of Lympstone
Manor, is one of Britain’s most decorated and wellknown
chefs. Sally Thomson caught up with him to
discuss his ventures in wine, his passion for teaching
and his need for speed...
When we last met you were at Kentisbury Grange, and I
note that you received some awards for that?
Yes, the Small Hotel of the Year and Restaurant of the Year.
It’s great! Kentisbury Grange is owned by my old school
friend Mark Cushway. Mark asked me to get involved and
help him with his project, which I did, and it’s great to see
that over the years we’ve managed to acquire many awards
which is a tribute to the team. The chef there at the moment
is James Checkley and he is doing a great job, and we just
continue to advance and improve. There are challenges being in
North Devon that are different to being located in South Devon,
unfortunately places in North Devon can get overlooked on the
culinary map, so it’s nice to be able to contribute to the North
Devon economy by creating a lovely venue, and to see it do well.
When we last spoke you mentioned that your pride and joy was
Lympstone Manor. You are now into its third year…
It’s incredible to think that when we last met, it was just in its
infancy. We won a Michelin Star within six months, and we are
very pleased to announce that we have been given five rosettes this
year, so it is great progress and we just look to the Michelin gods
that we might advance to two! But the main thing is that since we
spoke we planted a vineyard and the whole property has settled
and matured. It really is the best of me and everything that I have
achieved in my career combined into this wonderful place.
Do you draw back the curtains and pinch yourself to remember
that it’s yours?
Every day! When I walk into that property and I look at that
view…I do pinch myself! But I also recognise that it has been a
huge amount of hard work and it still continues to take a lot of
commitment.
“LYMPSTONE MANOR REALLY
IS THE BEST OF ME, AND
EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE
ACHIEVED IN MY CAREER
COMBINED INTO THIS
WONDERFUL PLACE.”
So about your vineyard! The harvest in 2018 was good wasn’t it?
The harvest in the UK in 2018 was brilliant, it was the best harvest in
the history of English wine making, it’s been incredible. We planted
our vineyard in 2018, and in its second year it will produce grapes
that we can harvest (next year), those grapes will then be vinified
and we will be releasing our first wine in 2024. So it takes three years
for the vineyard to establish. We are now beginning our third year.
We planted, in eleven acres, 17,500 vines, of which 50% are Pinot
Noir, 20% Meunier and 30% are Chardonnay. They are the classic
champagne varietals, so we are looking forward to producing some
wonderful English sparkling wine. Hopefully they will have their
own story to tell, alongside the story of Lympstone Manor.
I watched Jason Atherton in The Chef ’s Brigade, and what I
hadn’t really realised is the interaction between each person in
the kitchen and how it can affect the cuisine. I work in an office,
and each person does their own thing, whereas in a kitchen, the
relationship between each person is quite a complex one!
In all honesty it’s not that different! Similar to what you described
with your office, everyone has different disciplines. The editor
brings into the magazine all those different skills that contribute
into a great publication. In a kitchen it is similar, it’s like an
orchestra, and we conduct that orchestra, but we edit it and so
we are the curators but it requires an individual team working
alongside each other and communicating. Our deadlines
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