Who needs the Napa Valley? We have the Surrey Hills
Five vineyards within a few miles of each other, plus cheese-makers and no shortage of pubs, make this glorious part of the countryside a winning spot for a foodie short-break.
Why go?
If you love wine the chances are you've probably heard of Denbies, one of the most prolific growers and wineries in England. But you may not know that within just a few miles of it four other vineyards have been quietly making their own sparkling and still wines too.
With the North Downs Way essentially linking the five vineyards, this could well be England’s most picturesque wine region, not to mention its most compact.
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Set amid an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), where rolling green hills are broken up by historic English villages that are home to country pubs and artisan producers, it's poised to become a culinary touring route of note.
You can visit an organic family-run vineyard, do a tasting in the grounds of a stately home, practice yoga amid the vines or help out with picking or harvesting.
Whether you want to spend an afternoon in one vineyard, tour a few in a day, or make a weekend of it and take in other foodie places too, here's our guide to this wine region, just a short hop from London.
What's so special about English wine?
The south of England may not have the warm climate of California, but it does share a similar type of soil with another world-class wine producing region: Champagne in France. It means sparkling wine is big in these parts.
Like Champagne, the soil in the Surrey Hills is typically clay on chalk, so the grapes that dominate here are the same as those across the Channel: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier.
Despite the fact it takes an average of seven years from first planting to glass in hand, most producers in Surrey focus on sparkling wine. The main reason is that sparkling wines uses grapes that are less ripe (lower in sugar) than still wines and therefore our less-than-perfect weather is better suited to it.
According to data from the Wines of Great Britain, in 2018 the UK produced around 15.6m bottles of wine, but when you consider we consume two billion bottles of wine here a year, it’s still small fry compared with other winemaking countries.
The challenge of these five Surrey vineyards (and other English vineyards) is to encourage buyers to drink more homegrown wine, reducing our carbon footprint and helping grow this new market.
Denbies
Just a short walk from Dorking train station, Denbies, England’s largest single estate vineyard, is a good first foray into Surrey’s wine country.
To learn all about winemaking, take a tour of the winery and taste some of Denbies' award-winning wines in the cellar bar afterwards. You can choose between classic (£11.50) or sparkling (£14.95) tasting experiences, or go one step further and try one of the wine and food tours (£16.95).
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However, to really get a scale of the operation here, you can’t beat the 50-minute outdoor Vineyard Train Tour (£7.70 or £12 with a glass of bubbly), which will bring you up to the top of the vineyard for panoramic views of the North Downs, including Box Hill, and the full Denbies Estate, without having to get your feet muddy.
In summer, there’s also a chance to tour the vineyard before having a picnic on the lawn (how perfectly English) while there are also opportunities to help out at harvest time.
Beyond the Bottle: If you fancy a boozy afternoon, pop into the Surrey Hills Brewery, also on the Denbies Estate, where you can have a pint of beer straight from the cask. Alternatively, Denbies offers mini tours with nearby The Gin Kitchen, where you can make your own botanicals.
Where to stay: Denbies currently offers cosy B&B accommodation in a converted farmhouse (doubles from £110), plus its brand-new Vineyard Hotel is due to open shortly. Word is it will be carbon neutral, have 17 bedrooms and cabanas in the garden where you can sit and try local cheese and charcuterie alongside your wine of choice from the Enomatic wine dispensing machine.
High Clandon
The next vineyard west of Denbies is this small set up, run by husband and wife team Sibylla and Bruce Tindale, which produces just one wine per year – a vintage cuvée no less.
The vineyard is open by appointment only, although there are some open days throughout the year as well as sculpture and art exhibitions, and its has twice been named Cellar Door of the Year.
Tours, talks and tastings (£15) take place in its new glass barn, and there is also a vibrant wildflower meadow and a truffle orchard to wander.
Beyond the Bottle: Clandon Wood is a nature reserve with a difference – it’s a designated burial ground, though looking at the acres of meadows and wetlands you would hardly know it. Peaceful and serene, it’s a naturally beautiful place to clear out your wine head.
Where to stay: The Drummond at Albury is a pleasant riverside pub that offers simple rooms at affordable prices (doubles from £85).
Albury Organic Vineyard
Right next door to the spooky Silent Pool lake, Albury Organic Vineyard is the only organic vineyard in Surrey and one of just a handful in the whole of England that is certified biodynamic.
Owner Nick and his daughter Lucy seem to have set themselves a hard task, as their certifications mean they can’t use herbicides or pesticides on their vines. Nevertheless, they are convinced organic wine tastes better.
One way they meet the requirements of being biodynamic is by burying cow horns filled with cow manure each winter, which they dig up in spring, add to water and spray on the vineyard. This, they say, is a natural way of improving the vitality of the soil.
Like many of the vineyards, Albury focuses on sparkling wines, however, it does also produce a still rosé, released in May each year from the previous year’s harvest. There is no winery on site (this is all done at Denbies), however, guests can pop in on Saturdays for tastings (£5), buy a glass of wine and tuck into one of the cheeseboards, or take either a self-guided (free) or guided tour (£20) of the vineyard. The vineyard is also open on Sundays from May to September and there are some really unusual ad hoc events too – we love the sound of Opera in the Vineyard (£35, 18 August 2019) in particular.
Beyond the Bottle: The eerily still Silent Pool is just a short stroll away along a shaded woodland path. Its namesake distillery is also within walking distance so you could combine a trip to the two.
The 4.5-hour Artisan Tasting Day, which starts at the vineyard, before crossing to the nearby Norbury Park Cheese Company, followed by lunch and a tasting at the Silent Pool gin distillery, is pretty good value at £80.
Where to Stay: Shere Nookery is a gorgeous self-catering hideaway for two – all old oak and bare-brick in the close-by village of Shere – the supposed inspiration for the village in the film The Holiday (£350 for two nights). As well as an inside bathroom (of course), there’s an outdoor shower for those who really want to embrace the outdoors, plus a cedar wood hot tub.
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Chilworth Manor Vineyard
Just west of Albury (an eight-minute drive or you could walk it in an hour) and set within the grounds of a historic stately home on land once gifted by William the conqueror to his half-brother, Chilworth Manor Vineyard is quite possibly one of the most splendid locations you could picture for a spot of wine tasting.
Courtesy of Chilworth Manor
This small family venture, run by Mia and Graham, only produces a single still rosé. The vineyard itself is on a south-facing slope fronting the manor house and tours are by request. Look out for occasional open days as well as charity events – the whole outlook here is very altruistic, with profits from the wine going to charity Mary’s Meals, which helps provide food for school children in Malawi. Drinking wine never felt so good.
Beyond the Bottle: Climb nearby St Martha’s Hill for panoramic views of the Surrey Hills. Visit the 19th-century church, built to replace the 12th century one that formed part of the Pilgrims’ Way.
Stay at: The Percy Arms (doubles from £100) is a rather quirky pub with South African photos and artefacts mixed with tartan throws and leathers to give the feel of a colonial hunting lodge. Beds are huge and slipper baths add a touch of luxury.
Percy Arms/Booking.com
Greyfriars Vineyard
This bijou family business offers a grape to glass experience, meaning all its wine is both grown and made on site. As with Albury, it grows pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier grapes. Unlike Albury it also regularly grows sauvignon blanc and pinot gris grapes, to produce still whites alongside its rosé and sparkling varieties.
The vineyard tours and tastings (£20) last 90 minutes and are held on set dates so should be booked in advance. The vineyard also hosts special one-off events such as yoga amid the vines, so it’s worth keeping an eye out.
The cellar door is open Tues-Sat from 10am-5pm.
Beyond the Bottle: The impressive Watts Gallery – Artists' Village is an Edwardian homage to ‘England's Michelangelo’ G F Watts and his wife, designer and artist Mary Watts. It's just a 30-minute walk from the vineyard.
Where to stay: The Squirrel, less than a 10-minute drive away is a charming country pub offering a handful of simple rooms in three 16th-century cottages next door (doubles £75). The pub itself sells real ale and hearty pub meals.
Getting there and getting around
There are direct trains from London Victoria to Dorking (55 minutes), the nearest train station to Denbies, while Guildford (33 mins from London Waterloo) is the closest station to Chilworth Manor. If you want to explore all the vineyards, a car is useful. Cycling is possible too, but like driving, you’ll need to watch what you drink.
If you’d rather be ferried about then Grape & Grain Tours will take you to a few of the vineyards. They will pick you up from the station and can arrange a visits to distilleries too.
Main image: Courtesy of Chilworth Manor
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