Hi all, will be in London in January/February and looking for wine bars where I can try English wines (both sparkling and still). I’ll also visit Cambridge, Oxford, Cardiff, Birmingham, York, and Durham in this trip - in case there are any places there you’d recommend.
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I’ve not been, nor tasted their wines, but Chilford Hall winery is near Cambridge and has been going for at least 2 decades.
Perhaps the best option for visiting wineries is to use a day trip from London to head down south into Surrey or Sussex, where there a decent concentration of wineries.
For Birmingham, York and Durham, I’d probably focus on finding wine bars / shops with interesting ranges (with English wines a bonus if they have any), but research well, as too many wine bars have cheap wines (marked up high) and as such are disappointing experiences to wine enthusiasts.
Not quite what you’re asking for, but thought I’d just mention it:
I know the owners of Trevibban Mills Winery in Cornwall and although mostly focused on sparklers of course, I was really impressed by some of their reds. The Cicero which is a Dornfelder/PN blend was delicious and I’ve also heard good things about their single variety PN.
English wine has come along way since I lived there.
Danbury Ridge outside of the village of Danbury in Essex is producing some excellent Pinots and Chards which are their main wines and sparklers are secondary. We visited the vineyard and tasted through the current offerings. The first English Pinots that I have had that are in the same league as our Santa Rita Hills Pinots. The winemaker, Liam, interned with us about 15 years ago.
Hugh Johnson in the current issue of Decanter was also impressed with Danbury Ridge.
Slightly off your piste but Sharpham in Devon is one I would recommend, and if you can get down to Sussex to visit Nyetimber and others in the area.
English Sparkiling Wine (ESW) is now competitive with champagne, but it is shame they cost about the same. There are some really good ones out there.
In the last week or two I have tried some superb 2014 Nyetimbers - the BdB and the Tillington. The latter ran DP13 very close at a lunch last week.
England is also starting to produce some decent Chardonnays. The Danbury Ridge has already been mentioned and another one is Whitewolf KC1 and KC2.