Wines made in 13 different counties were awarded trophies at this year’s WineGB Awards after the highest number of Gold medals ever given.

The trophy winners in their respective style, regional, and producer categories were revealed at a ceremony on 19 July at The Drapers’ Hall in London.

Fresh off its Decanter World Wine Awards triumph, Kent-based Chapel Down secured the top spot this year, winning Supreme Champion, Top Sparkling Wine, Best Prestige Cuvée, and the South East Trophy for its Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016. It didn’t stop there: it also picked up Best Chardonnay, Joint Top Still Wine and Best Sustainable Wine for its Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2021.

Fellow Kent-based producers Simpsons’ Wine Estate and Westwell Wine Estate also picked up trophies. Simpsons’ won Best Still Rosé Railway Hill Rosé 2023, while Westwell achieved Best Innovative Sparkling for its Pinot Meunier MV.

Another big winner was Dorset’s Langham Wine Estate, which was awarded four trophies for three different wines. Its Corallian Classic Cuvée NV was named Best NV/MV Classic Cuvée, its Pinot Noir 2019 won Best Blanc de Noirs and the Wessex Trophy, while its Blanc de Blancs NV contributed to it being awarded Best Estate Winery.

North Yorkshire got its first trophy in the form of Dunesforde Vineyard’s Still Pinot Gris 2022, winning Best Single Varietal White and the trophy for the Midlands & North region.

London-based urban winery Vagabond Wines was another high achiever, picking up Best Innovative Still, Joint Top Still Wine and the Boutique Award for its Solena NV Ortega, comprising 60% from the 2022 vintage and 40% reserve wine from a solera system.

The Blanc de Blancs category had joint victors this year with the judges unable to choose between Berkshire’s Harrow & Hope Blanc de Blancs 2018 and Gloucestershire’s Woodchester Valley Blanc de Blancs 2018. Woodchester Valley also picked up the West Trophy.

Berkshire’s Winding Wood also picked up two trophies, winning Best Sparkling Rosé and the Thames & Chilterns Trophy for its Brut Rosé 2020.

In hotly contested categories, Ashling Park Estate (West Sussex) won Best Red Pinot Noir for its Selection Pinot Noir 2022; the Best Vintage Classic Cuvée Trophy went to Wiltshire’s Domaine Hugo HUGO 2020; and Wraxall Vineyard (Somerset) was awarded Best Still Bacchus for its Bacchus Reserve 2022.

This year’s new category – Aged Vintage Sparkling – was won by Wiston Estate (West Sussex) for its Library Collection Blanc de Blancs 2010. Wiston also picked up the trophy for Best Contract Winery.

After a record number of new entrants this year, Herefordshire’s Two Beacons Vineyard was crowned Best Newcomer for its Pinot Noir Précoce 2021.

Other regional winners were Suffolk’s Hawkswood Vineyard Pinot Rosé 2023 (East Trophy) and Denbighshire’s Vale Vineyard – Gwinllan y Dyffryn Debut Sparkling White Wine 2021 (Wales Trophy).

Susie Barrie MW, co-chair of the judging panel, said: “I can’t recall us ever having such a diverse selection of WineGB trophy winners as we have this year, and I don’t just mean the fact that they come from 13 different counties. The range of grape varieties and winemaking styles included on trophy list is testament to just how curious, ambitious and increasingly accomplished the UK’s winemakers are. With everything from skin contact wines, to those produced from a solera system, to some of the UK’s finest, long-aged traditional method sparklers, these wines really do run the gamut and give a terrific snapshot of what the UK has to offer at the very top level.

“The fact that we had a joint Blanc de Blancs trophy speaks volumes about the potential of this category, but the Classic Cuvée NV/MV, the Classic Cuvée Vintage, and the Sparkling Rosé categories were all equally hard fought over. When it came to the still wines, finding ourselves with five superb Gold level Chardonnays and an equal number of red Pinot Noirs to choose from was quite something, as was the fact that for the first time a wine from my home county of North Yorkshire was awarded a trophy.”

On receiving the Supreme Champion trophy at the WineGB Awards Ceremony earlier today, Chapel Down Head Winemaker, Josh Donaghay-Spire, said: “We’re truly delighted to win such an amazing award. When we planted Kit’s Coty vineyard, we only dreamed of the quality it could produce and revealing this has been one of the joys of being a part of the birth of a brand new wine region. This accolade is a testament to the Kent Downs and the team at Chapel Down who maximise the potential of this amazing terroir through their hard work and dedication.”

The Trophies:

Supreme Champion Top Sparkling Wine Best Prestige Cuvée	Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016, Kent
Joint Top Still Wine	Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2021, Kent Vagabond Wines Solena NV, London
Best Red Pinot Noir	Ashling Park Estate Selection Pinot Noir 2022, West Sussex
Best Chardonnay Best Sustainable Wine	Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2021
Best Still Bacchus	Wraxall Vineyard Bacchus Reserve 2022, Somerset
Best Single Varietal White	Dunesforde Vineyard Still Pinot Gris 2022, North Yorkshire
Best NV/MV Classic Cuvée	Langham Wine Estate Corallian Classic Cuvée NV, Dorset
Best Vintage Classic Cuvée	Domaine Hugo, Hugo 2020, Wiltshire
Best Single Varietal White	Dunesforde Vineyard Still Pinot Gris 2022
Joint Best Blanc de Blancs	Harrow & Hope Blanc de Blancs 2018, Buckinghamshire Woodchester Valley Blanc de Blancs 2018, Gloucestershire
Best Blanc de Noirs	Langham Wine Estate Pinot Noir 2019, Dorset
Best Aged Vintage Sparkling	Wiston Estate Library Collection Blanc de Blancs 2010, West Sussex
Best Still Rosé	Simpsons’ Wine Estate Railway Hill Rosé 2023, Kent
Best Sparkling Rosé	Winding Wood Brut Rosé 2020, Berkshire
Best Innovative Still	Vagabond Wines Solena NV, London
Best Innovative Sparkling	Westwell Wine Estate Pinot Meunier MV, Kent
Best Estate Winery	Langham Wine Estate
Best Boutique Producer	Vagabond Wines
Best Contract Producer	Wiston Estate
Best Newcomer	Two Beacons Vineyard

Regional Trophies

East	Hawkswood Vineyard Pinot Rosé 2023, Suffolk
Midlands and North	Dunesforde Vineyard Still Pinot Gris 2022, North Yorkshire
South East	Chapel Down Coeur de Cuvée 2016, Kent
Thames & Chilterns	Winding Wood Brut Rosé 2020, Berkshire
Wales	Vale Vineyard – Gwinllan y Dyffryn Debut Sparkling White Wine 2021, Denbighshire
Wessex	Langham Wine Estate Pinot Noir 2019, Dorset
West	Woodchester Valley Blanc de Blancs 2018, Gloucestershire

Competition Sponsor: Rankin

Trophy Sponsors:

Now in its eighth year, WineGB Awards is the national competition for the English and Welsh wine industry. Organised and run by WineGB, the aim and purpose of the WineGB Awards is to send out a powerful message of the quality, consistency, and variety of our wines.

The full results of the WineGB Awards 2024 can be viewed here.