Look to home turf (or should that be terroir?) for your next bottle of wine: British wine is grabbing the headlines.
It's English Wine Week (15th to 23rd June 2024) and the UK continues to be one of the world’s fastest growing wine regions. Here are some of the UK’s top vineyards to visit and sample…
You can shop the Langham Estate’s award-winning wines online, or pop down to their Dorset vineyard for a two-hour tour of the vines, coupled with lunch in the milking parlour (well you are in Hardy-country after all). Specialising in the classic Champagne varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier - you can even take part in the vendage and help the team pick and press the grapes come autumn. The estate specialised in a ‘low-intervention’ approach – using both old and new techniques while minimising additions and manipulations to create ‘honest, characterful’ wines with the lowest environmental impact.
The family run Giffords Hall in Suffolk produce a cellar’s worth of sparkling wine, rosé and red in their twenty-five-year-old vineyard; planted in an ancient glacial riverbed with perfect clay soil to produce a tasty tipple. Wander the vines from the comfort of your sofa with their virtual online tour and choose from their award-winning wines, including hampers and a range of English liqueurs – all available for home delivery.
Having won English Wine Producer of the Year a record eight times at the International Wine & Spirits Competition, Nyetimber in West Sussex should certainly be on any sybarite’s list to sample. World-renowned for their sparkling wines – while the estate is noted in the Domesday book, the vineyard was established a little later in 1988 and reached its full potential under the ownership and vision of current custodian, Eric Heerema – who recruited the best in the business back in 2006 when he took ownership to fulfil his vision for creating England’s finest wines. The website is a beautiful, creative multi-media experience, with video, animation and detailed notes about each vintage. You can of course shop the wines too, or why not book a visit to the estate and enjoy a paired dining experience to sample the wines in their natural habitat.
Unassuming Rodington Vineyard, in the heart of Shropshire has been quietly harvesting some robust reds and chalking up the awards since the family bought 10-acres of farmland in 2009 with the dream of planting a vineyard. Only open to the public since 2015, the Rodington vintages have caught the eye of many a sommelier and are stocked at nationwide retailers including Marks and Spencer. Order your own case online, or if you’re in the area make the most of the free entry to the shop and vineyard and try a glass or two for yourself.
Award-winning producers of both wine and cheese and one of the UK’s forerunners in ‘modern winemaking’ – South Devon’s Sharpham is a foodie lover’s dream. The vineyard uses both New World and traditional techniques; set overlooking a bend in the River Dart for the past 37 years, you can book a ‘vineyard walk’ and amble through the vines with one of their knowledgeable team to learn more about the unique terroir, then sit down to a restorative locally and seasonally sourced lunch in the picturesque grounds. Both wine and cheese can be ordered online, with fantastic hampers showcasing the best of all Sharpham has to offer.
One of England’s oldest vineyards and nestled in 75 acres of rolling hills in rural Gloucestershire, Three Choirs’ have got 45 years’ and 250,000 bottles worth of wine-making experience to their name. With a state-of-the-art on-site winery and visitor centre there is even a brasserie and rooms on-site, in case you wish to stay and imbibe. Choose one of the three oak lodges and stay the night amongst the vines for a truly immersive experience.
Pebblebed started as a community project when in 1999 11 local families came together to plant the first half acre of vines in an idyllic setting just to the South of Exeter in Devon. Fast forward 20 years and Pebblebed has grown to more than 20 acres of vineyards and now has a modern winery producing up to 50,000 bottles a year. The vineyards are managed with ‘limited impact’ and minimum additives are used. Visitors are encouraged to join the community in the grape harvest and celebrate the ‘treading of the grapes’. Browse the website and choose from a range of reds and rosés, as well as the national award-winning sparkling whites.
In true Cornish style, the relaxed welcome at the Camel Valley winery has garnered them a name for themselves and tours regularly sell-out. Close to the Kernow foodie mecca of Padstow, the vineyard’s wines have won them a royal warrant, as well as international awards including Gold for their 2016 Camel Valley Pinot Noir Rosé Brut at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships. The terrace is an ideal spot to soak up some Cornish sunshine and sample a glass, or get a splash of the South West delivered to your door with their mixed cases, vintages and gift sets.
Perhaps one of Britain’s best-known wine producers and said to be ‘pushing the boundaries with both sparkling and still wines’, Chapel Down in Kent uses traditional methods, coupled with modern viticulture techniques to create a range of world-leading sparkling and still wines (Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver are said to be fans), as well as spirits, beers and ciders, too. If you’re looking to brush up on your wine knowledge there are tutored tastings, or why not ‘lease a vine’ and enjoy the spoils of the vendage with your own personalised wine?
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