La Mare Wine Estate

La Mare is the island's only commercial vineyard, planted in the 1970s around an eighteenth-century farmhouse in St Mary, and it makes wine, cider, apple brandy and preserves on the same site. It also produces black butter, the dark apple preserve that Jersey makes communally in the autumn, boiled for a whole day and night with cider and spices. Tours cover the vineyard, the distillery and the chocolate and preserve kitchens.

What you actually see

• The vineyard - the island's only commercial planting, on the slope by the farmhouse.
• The distillery - the apple brandy and spirits made on the estate.
• The black butter - the dark apple preserve boiled through a day and night.
• The eighteenth-century farm - the buildings the estate is built around.

When to go

April to October is the main season with the fullest opening. Harvest and black butter making fall in the autumn. It closes for part of the winter.

Honest expectations

Tours end in a shop and tasting and are priced accordingly. Winter opening is limited or closed entirely. The estate is small compared with mainland vineyards.

Nearby

Devil's Hole is north, and Hamptonne is southeast.