Vintage Wine Tomato

Why I grow it

Another one I happily make room for year after year. Vintage Wine is a beautiful tomato — large dusky-pink fruit streaked with gold, with equally gorgeous flesh when you cut it open. But I wouldn't keep growing it just because it's pretty: it has the rich, full flavour to justify the space it takes up as well.

At a glance

Type: Beefsteak / slicer
Heritage: Yes
Growth: Indeterminate
Fruit: Large, pink with golden striping
Position: Full sun
Support: Sturdy support required

In the kitchen

This is another tomato I'd be reluctant to hide in a sauce. Slice it across the middle and the colour and marbling do most of the work for you — beautiful in salads, sandwiches and platters. The large, fleshy fruit is also excellent simply sliced thickly and eaten fresh.

In the garden

Vintage Wine is an indeterminate tomato, so it continues growing and setting fruit through the season rather than producing one concentrated crop. The plants need decent support as they develop, particularly once those large beefsteak fruits begin putting some serious weight on the vines.

Care

Grow in full sun in fertile, well-drained soil. Water consistently as the fruit develops and feed during flowering and fruiting. Tie new growth to sturdy support as it grows and protect from frost.

What you'll receive

One healthy, established  tomato seedling grown here at A Garden Between. Plants naturally vary in size and shape and may be supplied in reused nursery pots or growing bags — perfectly useful plastic doesn't need replacing simply because it doesn't match.