I have been struck this year by the resilience and puppy-like optimism of English vine-growers. An essential trait, I am sure we would all agree, in vineyard managers and winemakers the world over – but especially at the margins.
Standing in England’s vineyards, I am overcome by a clarity of purpose, a tangible objectivity. A rhythm and practicality that drives us forward. Each year as we reach the final weeks around harvest; the pressure reaching its highest tone, I find the grace and fortitude of every winemaker a thing of extraordinary beauty. Grace and fortitude, with a bit of swearing. My favourite type of grace and fortitude.
It is this compulsion ‘to try’, to make it work, to create something of character, of place and purpose that I think is the whole point of wine. Of life, frankly. A near-moral obligation to strive to produce something that communicates our experience of living on this exact spot on the map; our wet-but-dry, cold-but-sometimes-very-hot unique corner of the world. Something that connects.
Sometimes, in my more hectic headspaces; the commercial, results-driven moments where we are appraising, quantifying, assessing the value and measuring the success of our activity against a budget, I feel a spectre in the room. Yes, the numbers mean something, and keep it all going, but the spectre in the boardroom is that natural, unquantifiable, sense of purpose, the endeavour and ambition so apparent in the vineyard. Sometimes, we are doing all this, just to be able to be doing all of this – for the opportunity to create something, to push the boundaries, to make our vision real. It is important to remember and celebrate that. It is not a bad thing to do with a life.
It is in this spirit that I want to set forth with my first Vineyard magazine column. I want us all to share bottles with friends and family at the coming turning of the year and to think “Well, that was something I tried and I am grateful for the opportunity to try. Let’s see what we can make of it.” Let’s leap into 2027 together.
This spirit of ‘doing it because it feels right’ is summed up perfectly, I feel, in the three wines I have selected for my first column. Each a unique final wine; each produced with a vision of flavour, an ambition to translate place and each born of an independent conviction that it might bloody well work so I need to give it a go. Let them be our inspiration.
Louma Blanc de Blancs 2020
£60.00
Available from Louma Country Estate
I am in love with this wine; a new discovery for me in 2026. A Blanc de Blancs of purity and expression, made from Chardonnay vines planted just 4km from Charmouth beach on a hillside staring directly south into the salty breeze.
Each morning and evening you feel the sea mists roll in. This is ‘proper’ coastal Dorset a contender, I would wager for one of England’s most beautiful regions – but would it in 2007, with that mist, the proximity to the sea and its attendant weather have been pegged for a dream vineyard site today? Perhaps not, but thank God they did.
The wine carries its wild, coastal surroundings into the glass. It is rich with the silky, candied citrus peel, white-fruit opulence of bottle age. A marked salinity cuts through it, the combination creating a moreish, salted-butter and fine-praline quality. If this sounds complex, it is; but for me the wine more than anything is marked by a vision of simplicity – very good quality Chardonnay fruit, giving its all to telling the story of its unique place. Bravo.
Woodchester Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2025
£28.00
www.woodchestervalleyvineyard.co.uk/products/sauvignon-blanc-2025
As you twist the screw cap and pour, you are met with that uniquely Sauvignon Blanc aromatic note; grassy greens, rolling tropicals, fresh sliced nectarine prickle around you. Like the squeeze of lemon over a freshly poured G&T, the promise of refreshment hits you before you have even touched the glass.
The nose is pure Sauvignon; ripe, confident, a fruit-salad begging to be tucked in to. What makes this wine world-class is the fine note of pine, an electric current that holds the generosity together. It allows the chalky minerals, pithy-lemon and fig-leaf-green a chance to display themselves on sniff two and three.
The palate is surgical-blade precise. Crystal clear lemon-lime citrus, blackcurrant leaf, juicy peach and ripe cantaloupe. The finish is pristine; long, dry, every element held taut by that through-line of electric acidity, itself honed into a fresh, but soft-edged shape that belies expectations for this warmer-climate grape in the UK.
I cannot get enough of this wine, all year I have eulogised its balance, its poise, its statement of intent. Proof that a grape variety that would have seemed so alien, so far from possible to grow when planted, is now reaching its apex in the Cotswold Hills. Typically, the Sauvignon Blanc harvest for Woodchester would have been at the very end of the season, October, even November in some years; but in 2025 the fruit came in perfectly ripe in mid September, with phenolic ripeness and acidity ideal for single-varietal still.
2025 was warm, of course. Multiple heat waves and loads of sunshine. That helps, but looking at the trajectory of vintages since 2018, I feel comfortable we are now in a country that will make consistently high quality, if small quantities of, Sauvignon Blanc in most vintages. All hail Woodchester’s vision and ambition – it is a joy to see it paying off with wines like this. Maybe it will even reignite interest in those bored by the ubiquitous offerings from Sauvignon stalwarts NZ & France… this fresh perspective might be just what we all wished for.
Carey Wine Estate, Cherry Orchard Pinot Noir 2023
£30.00
www.carywineestate.com/shop/pinotnoir-single-23
English red wine has come on leaps and bounds in the last five years, yet the public and even the wine trade are behind the curve. I remember when this was the case for English sparkling, and just like when someone is about to watch a movie you wish you could see for the first-time again, I’m filled with excitement at the idea the trade at large are about to have their minds opened by these wines. The reds of today are testament to the ambitious producers that set out years ago with a vision, which only now is being fully realised.
Cary’s Cherry Orchard Pinot Noir 2023 is a great example of this new top-tier of English red wines. Planted near Faversham on the north coast of Kent on the site of a 50 year old cherry orchard, the fruit from which was left neglected and fell to the ground each year, or was scrumped by locals. Could this contribute to the wine’s concentration and sense of vitality?
‘Proper’ Pinot Noir character; more than enough perfume, velvet-texture and ethereal majesty to satisfy the old-school Burgundy crowd. This wine holds opulent, ripe-red berry and brambly black fruits alongside leafy rosehip savoury edge. It is juicy and delicious, but serious and thoughtful. Its nine month stint in mostly-neutral French oak barrels is well-judged and gives it a fineness and structure that takes it into the big leagues.
