One week to go until the largest ever WineGB Trade and Press Tasting
The WineGB Trade and Press Tasting takes place next week on Wednesday 4 September at the Battersea Arts Centre in London, and we can now reveal the full list of producers taking part.
The 78 wineries exhibiting are:
Albury Vineyard | Flint Vineyard | Oxney Organic |
All Angels | Giffords Hall | Pattingham Vineyard |
Ambriel | Grange Estate | Plumpton College |
Artelium | Greyfriars | Rathfinny Wine Estate |
Atkinson Family Wines | Gusbourne | Ridgeview |
Balfour | Halfpenny Green | Roebuck Estates |
Beare Green Winery | Harrow & Hope | Rowton Vineyard |
Biddenden Vineyards | Hattingley Valley | Sandridge Barton |
Black Chalk | Hencote | Shotley Vineyard |
Blackbook | Henners | Silverhand Estate |
Bluestone Vineyards | Hidden Spring Vineyard | Simpsons’ Wine Estate |
Burn Valley Vineyard | Itasca Wines | Stopham Vineyard |
Camel Valley | Jabajak Vineyard | The Vale Vineyard |
Chalkdown Wine | JoJo’s Vineyard | The Wharie Experience |
Chapel Down | Knightor Winery | Two Beacons |
Claylands Wines | Langham Wine Estate | Vagabond Wines |
Congham Vineyard | Laurel Vines | Velfrey Vineyard |
Cotswold Hills | Leonardslee Family Vineyards | Walgate |
Denbies Wine Estate | London Cru | Walsingham Estate |
Digby Fine English | Louis Pommery England | Warehorne Vineyard |
Dillions Estates | Lyme Bay Winery | Weyborne Estate |
Domaine Hugo | Montgomery Vineyard | White Castle Vineyard |
Emma Rice Ltd | Mousehall Estate | Woodchester Valley |
English Wine Project | Nine Oaks | Woodchurch Wine Estate |
Everflyht | Nyetimber | Yorkshire Heart |
Exton Park | Oastbrook Estate | Yotes Court |
The event will begin at 9:30am with a press briefing and exclusive media access to the tasting hall until 11:00am. The tasting then opens to the wider trade, concluding at 5:30pm.
PRESS BRIEFING
During the press briefing, we will share the latest export figures for GB wines as well as providing an update on the development of the Sustainable Wines of Great Britain Scheme.
SUSTAINABILITY FOCUS
Join us in The Green Room, brought to you by Marks and Spencer, to try a selection of sustainable wines produced in the UK, many of which are available in M&S stores and online on Ocado.
At 11:30am, we’ll be hosting a panel discussion on ‘adding value through sustainability for the UK wine industry’. Joining us will be Sue Daniels, M&S Winemaker and Senior Technologist; Luke Harbor, Group Beverage Director at The Pig Hotels; Ruth Simpson, Co-Founder of Simpsons’ Wine Estate; and Patrick Schmitt MW, Editor-in-Chief of The Drinks Business. The session will be chaired by Anne Jones, Sustainability Ambassador at WineGB.
THEMED TASTING TABLES
The Trade and Press Tasting will also feature five themed tasting tables to highlight trend-setting wine categories and styles. These are:
- WineGB Awards trophy winners
- New releases
- Sustainable wines (in the Green Room)
- 12.5% ABV and below
- New classics? (wines made from grapes outside of the top five most planted)
CEO of WineGB, Nicola Bates, commented: “In our year of growth, we are looking forward to the largest WineGB Trade and Press Tasting yet. Join us as we welcome a record 78 producers to the Battersea Arts Centre and taste wines from the most exciting cool climate wine region.”
PRODUCER HIGHLIGHTS
All Angels
- All Angels is celebrating its 10-year anniversary in October with the release of a limited edition 10 Year Anniversary Classic Cuvée 2014 with nine years on lees.
Balfour
- Balfour’s Leslie’s Range of sparkling wines are now being exported to Australia, where they’ve partnered with Dan Murphy’s.
- This summer, Balfour also welcomed a record number of visitors to their winery.
- Their Leslie’s Reserve Brut NV won gold and received an impressive 95 points at the IWC 2024, while their Nannette’s Rosé 2023 took home gold at the Global Rosé Masters 2024, helping Balfour raise tens of thousands of pounds for the Kent Wildlife Trust as part of this year’s Rewilding Campaign.
- This autumn, Balfour will be releasing its first-ever Ortega.
Biddenden Vineyards
- Biddenden recently released a still Gewürztraminer from the 2022 vintage, the first of its kind in the UK.
Black Chalk
- Black Chalk will be releasing the new 2023 vintage of Rumour Has It still Chardonnay.
- Premium sparkling wines Inversion (Blanc de Noirs) 2020 and Paragon (Blanc de Blancs) 2020 will also be available to taste.
Chapel Down
- Chapel Down won a prestigious accolade at this year’s Decanter World Wine awards, with their Rosé English sparkling wine hailed as ‘Best In Show’. Since the Decanter Wine Awards began, there have only been 10 English wines awarded a ‘Best in Show’ accolade. This latest award is the third time they have won this award, making Chapel Down the English wine producer with the most Decanter ‘Best in Show’ awards, having previously won with their Kit’s Coty Chardonnay still wine and Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée sparkling wine.
Cotswold Hills
- Having canned their first wine back in 2018 and become the first UK vineyard to use Packamama’s eco-plastic flat bottle in 2022, Cotswold Hills are currently working on their latest sustainable packaging initiative which they hope to use for some of the 2024 vintage.
Everflyht
- Everflyht will be launching their new wine – Late Release edition 1.
The Grange
- The Grange’s sparkling wine range is now available in magnum.
- They will also be launching their still red 2022 in October, a 100% Pinot Noir wine made possible thanks to the warmer 2022 vintage, with more releases planned for later in the year.
Leonardslee Family Vineyards
- Leonardslee will be exhibiting for the first time, having launched in June this year.
- Their three wines have already secured UK retail listings and an international listing in Singapore.
Lyme Bay Winery
- Lyme Bay had recent success in nationally and internationally recognised wine competitions, which included seven gold medals, seven silver medals, and six bronze medals.
- They also received three accolades at the WineGB Awards: gold for their Pinot Noir 2021 and gold for their Chardonnay 2021, along with a silver for the sparkling Blanc de Blancs 2017.
Rathfinny:
- Rathfinny is celebrating their 10th harvest anniversary this year, marking a decade since they produced their first vintage Sussex sparkling wine.
Silverhand Estate:
- Silverhand Estate will be pouring their recently launched Silver Reign Organic Rosé.
Simpsons’ Wine Estate
- Simpsons’ will be showing their newly released Railway Hill Rosé 2023, back under the Vinolok stopper, that was selected as the “Best English Still Rosé” at this year’s WineGB Awards.
- They have also just launched their Rabbit Hole Pinot Noir 2023.
- The Q Class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir 2022 will be available to taste in magnums at the Trade and Press Tasting. Released in the spring, they are rarely available to sample.
- Their Chalklands Classic Cuvée NV will be returning to Club World on board British Airways flights between October and December 2024.
- Simpsons’ are also continuing to move forward with their sustainability journey, including focusing on their DE&I work, with various outreach programmes, fundraising activities and working with organisations, including Be Inclusive Hospitality.
Warehorne:
- Warehorne are launching three new wines: 2023 Pinot Gris, 2023 Red Reserve, and 2023 Divico.
Weyborne Estate:
- Weyborne will be showing their new 2019 vintage in new packaging and now called The Weyborne Oriana 2019. Lord Alferd Tennyson was a famous visitor to the estate in the 1800s and was inspired by Weyborne in his writing. The wine is called Oriana after one of his poems.
- The current Weyborne Family Reserve 2018 also won an IWC silver medal.
Yotes Court:
- Yotes Court will be showcasing their newly released and first ever Chardonnay.
Ends.
For more information, please email tradetasting@winegb.co.uk
Notes to editors:
Wines of Great Britain (WineGB) represents, leads, and supports the sustainable growth of the Great British wine sector. It is the national association for the English and Welsh wine industry. Its mission is to advance the interests of our 480+ producer members who represent the vast majority of the UK’s productive hectarage, and establish Great Britain as one of the world’s great quality and most sustainable wine regions.
To register for the tasting, please visit the event page on the WineGB website.
The online tasting catalogue, powered by Bottlebooks, will be live from Friday 31 August – the link will be available on the WineGB website.