About

Slow Beam makes small batch English wines in Kent. It was during vintage 2021 in the early hours of each morning that Peter Brissenden (below left) and Louis Wood (right) were loading presses, cursing the rain and conjuring up the idea of one day producing English wines together. This was the beginning of Project Binjuice. They aspired to one day produce new and exciting wines that would make any mouth water. The two now work alongside growers who drive home sustainability and whose grapes are a representation of their work and vineyard location.


Louis has always been surrounded by wine having grown up in the Adelaide Hills, Australia. He worked in the cellar door of local winery The Lane Vineyard before doing his first vintage at Union Wine Co. (Willamette Valley, Oregon). This addictive harvest work was a slippery slope and had him quickly return to his motherland to do his second vintage at Shaw + Smith (Adelaide Hills, SA). True love for cool climate varieties was confirmed with a third gig at Domaine Decelle-Villa (Nuits-Saint-Georges, Burgundy). Shortly after, an opportunity arose to work in London for wine importer Indigo Wine. It was a combination of cellar hand experience and logistics management that lead Louis to join the production team at contract winemaker Defined Wine (Kent, England).


Pete's a Kent local originating from Faversham. After summer jobs of picking fruit, driving tractors and running a cider press, he found himself sweeping the floors and filling casks at a local brewery. A few months later, the head brewer departed and the owner asked Pete if he'd like to step up and brew beer. This was when craft brewing in the UK began to rocket. Pete found himself on a glorious beer journey working at some of the most exciting breweries in the UK. This included Camden Town Brewery and Meantime Brewing (both London, England). Further sales and operations roles followed in what was a rapidly growing market. Knackered of commuting to London, Pete took the plunge into wine by applying his expertise in agriculture and operations to become Production Manager at Defined Wine.


It was at Defined Wine where Louis and Pete stumbled upon one another for the first time. The two also met Poppy Seeley. Poppy has a wealth of winemaking knowledge and experience from harvests in Australia, New Zealand, California, South Africa and England, backed by a masters from Plumpton. When Defined Wine came onto her radar as an emerging contract winery, she jumped at the opportunity and now has the role of Operations Winemaker. Poppy spearheads wine quality for Slow Beam and slurps her way through countless glasses to pinpoint the best varieties, styles and vineyards England has to offer.