Kent’s pioneering vineyard Biddenden has always been driven by the passion and knowledge of the Barnes family, now in its third generation. With over 55 years of winemaking experience and knowledge honed and perfected over three generations, Biddenden continue to push the limits of still wine making in the UK and has now released a unique wine from the 2022 harvest, Biddenden Gewürztraminer 2022, the first of its kind in the UK.

Gewürztraminer is an aromatic grape variety which grows well in cooler climates. Pink skinned when ripe, this variety is a white wine grape with high natural sugars. Very particular about soil and climate, the vine is vigorous, even described at times as unruly, but hates chalky soils. Biddenden boasts sandy loam over clay soils and this grape variety was originally planted here by Julian Barnes in 2013 to see what sort of ripeness was achievable. Gewürztraminer buds early, so is very susceptible to frost, needs dry and warm summers, and ripens erratically and late.

Following the exceptionally long hot summer of 2022, Tom Barnes saw the perfect opportunity to create this first Gewürztraminer vintage. Thanks to Julian’s foresight in planting this variety in 2013, and after years of vine care and careful management, Biddenden is delighted to see this hard work come to fruition with the release of this very special still wine.

Tom Barnes, General Manager and third generation of Biddenden Vineyards, said: “As a family we’ve been producing wines for over five decades, now with a focus on still wines and Ortega being our flagship variety. Biddenden’s site lends itself to still wine making and through our passion and skill as growers, and knowledge passed down from my grandparents to Dad and myself we are able to continue to push the boundaries, shown, amongst other things, through our successes in our special edition wines, including our Ortega Late Harvest and limited release Gamay Noir, with Biddenden being one of the only vineyards to grown this variety in the UK.”

Julian Barnes, second generation owner of Biddenden Vineyards, said: “As one of the oldest commercial vineyards in the UK, we are extremely proud to continue to be at the forefront of the industry. Our wines are made in the vineyard, rather than in the winery. Living on site we are able to constantly monitor the grapes and be totally reactive to the needs of the vineyard and this is one of the reasons that Biddenden wines are so exceptional.”

Biddenden Gewürztraminer 2022 is an off-dry white wine with a flamboyant bouquet, with aromas of roses and passionfruit. Made from hand-picked, estate grown grapes, grown on the shallow sheltered slops along Gribble Bridge Lane.

With less than 100 bottles of this first vintage available, this wine has been released exclusively to Biddenden Vineyards’ newsletter subscribers, who will be the lucky ones to taste a piece of history. But with a 2023 vintage on the horizon, and many other exciting projects in the pipeline, there is much more to come from Biddenden.