WineGB Awards 2023 Trophy Winners Announced
Top wins from across the country
The Trophy winners of the WineGB Awards are announced today at the Awards Luncheon and Ceremony, by Awards co-chairs Susie Barrie MW and Oz Clarke OBE, at Drapers Hall in London.
West Sussex’s Digby Fine English secured their place in the Hall of Fame this year, scooping the Trophies for Best Classic Cuvée Vintage and Top Sparkling for their 2013 Vintage Reserve Brut, and were also crowned Supreme Champion at the Awards.
It was another successful year for Sugrue South Downs who took the Trophies for Best Classic Cuvée NV/MV for Cuvée Dr Brendan O’Regan MV, Blanc de Blancs for their Cuvée Boz Coldharbour Single Vineyard 2015, as well as being named Best Boutique Producer.
Ridgeview’s Blanc de Noirs 2015 was named Best Blanc de Noirs, and Bluebell Vineyard Estates’ Hindleap Rosé 2016 was awarded the Trophy for Best Sparkling Rosé.
Key wins were also gained by Essex’s Tuffon Hall Vineyard who won Best Still Rosé for their Pinot Noir Rosé, Beatrice 2022 and Sandridge Barton of Devon who picked up the Trophy for Best Still Pinot Noir for their Pinot Noir 2020, which was also the joint winner of Top Still Wine.
There were triumphs for Kent as Gusbourne was awarded the Trophy for Best Chardonnay and named as the Joint Top Still Wine for their Chardonnay Guinevere 2021. Gusbourne was also awarded the trophy for Estate Winery of the Year. Fellow Kent producer Chapel Down scooped the Trophy for Best Still Bacchus for their Kit’s Coty Bacchus 2020 and Best Prestige Cuvée for their Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016.
Sussex’s Wiston Estate won the Contract Winery Trophy and Hampshire’s Candover Brook was named Best Newcomer.
Two new trophies were introduced this year: the Pioneers’ Trophy, whose first recipient was Ridgeview Sparkling Red Reserve NV and the Sustainable Wine Trophy, awarded to the highest-scoring Sustainable Wines of Great Britain certified wine in this competition – this year’s winner is Gusbourne Chardonnay Guinevere 2021, adding to the wine’s list of accolades.
Each region in the UK was also acknowledged through its own Regional Trophy, awarded to the highest scoring wine in each, illustrating the scope of styles and size of producers achieving notable wins.
Susie Barrie MW commented: “What’s perhaps most satisfying about chairing this competition each year, beyond the sheer joy of being able to taste and compare so many of the UK’s finest wines, is seeing new names appear on the list of medals. For a competition like this to have value, it needs to attract the best of the best, whether new or established, large, medium or small. We want to taste the wines of producers who push the boundaries and are uncompromising in their quest for quality, and we have yet to be disappointed. A huge thank you to everyone who enters the WineGB Awards, I feel so lucky and privileged to judge this competition.”
Oz Clarke OBE said: “We judges get such a thrill when we realise we’ve given medals to wineries we didn’t know, and it’s really rewarding to think we’re setting them on the path to greater things. We have a wine nation that has barely begun to exploit its potential. Every year we have more growers and winemakers brimming over with imagination and ambition. Every year new areas of Britain stand up proud and say – we can do it too. We have the chance in the next generation to become one of the world’s greatest cool climate wine nations. And this year’s Awards competition shows that we’re going about it in the right way.”
Ned Awty, interim CEO for WineGB added: “The 2023 Awards has given us a record number of entries and has embraced the wide scope and range of styles we now proudly produce in Britain. There are great results from small and large producers alike and from different regions across the country. We’re really proud of what this competition is setting out to achieve – to highlight and promote the excellence of our producers and wines. Congratulations to all the many winners!”
The Trophies:
| Best Classic Cuvée Vintage Top Sparkling Supreme Champion | Digby Fine English 2013 Vintage Reserve Brut |
| Best Chardonnay Sustainable Wine Joint Top Still | Gusbourne Chardonnay Guinevere 2021 |
| Best Red Pinot Noir Joint Top Still | Sandridge Barton Pinot Noir 2020 |
| Classic Cuvée NV/MV | Sugrue South Downs Cuvée Dr Brendan O’Regan MV |
| Best Blanc de Noirs | Ridgeview Blanc de Noirs 2015 |
| Best Blanc de Blancs | Sugrue South Downs Cuvée Boz Coldharbour Single Vineyard 2015 |
| Best Sparkling Rosé | Bluebell Vineyard Estates Hindleap Rosé 2016 |
| Best Prestige Cuvée | Chapel Down Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016 |
| Best Still Rosé | Tuffon Hall Vineyard Pinot Noir Rosé, Beatrice 2022 |
| Best Still Bacchus | Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Bacchus 2020 |
| Pioneers’ Trophy – Best Sparkling Red | Ridgeview Sparkling Red Reserve NV |
| Boutique Producer | Sugrue South Downs |
| Newcomer | Candover Brook |
| Estate Winery of the Year | Gusbourne |
| Contract Winery of the Year | Wiston Estate |
The Regional Trophies:
| West | Sandridge Barton Pinot Noir 2020 |
| Wessex | Candover Brook Brut NV |
| East | Tuffon Hall Vineyard Pinot Noir Rosé, Beatrice 2022 |
| Wales | White Castle Vineyard Pinot Noir Reserve 2021 |
| Thames & Chilterns | All Angels Classic Cuvée 2015 |
| South East | Digby Fine English 2013 Vintage Reserve Brut |
| Midlands & North | Halfpenny Green Wine Estate Chardonnay 2020 |
The WineGB Awards have been generously supported by the following sponsors:
And our Trophy sponsors:
A copy of the illustrative booklet of the Awards is available here.
View the full results of the WineGB Awards 2023 here.
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