Latest news from Denbies

Denbies Wine Estate are deeply saddened by the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and we join the rest of the world in thanking her for her 70 years of service. Our thoughts and condolences are with the Royal Family during this difficult time. Here are a selection of photographs of Her Royal Highness,

Welcome to the Denbies vineyard blog. My name is Oliver Whitfield and I have taken over the role of Vineyard Manager here at Denbies. It is my job to produce the best fruit possible for the winemaking team. If you are ever about the vineyard, you may see me out in my pickup truck, tractor

Harvest 2021 Harvest 2021 began later this year.  The changeable weather conditions throughout the growing period is always more challenging for the vineyard team.  However, the premium varietals have proved to be of excellent quality and harvest commenced on Friday 1 October with the early ripening Solaris.  The sweetness of the grapes have meant that

Radius Artwork Installation Radiates at Denbies A new artwork Radius has been installed at Denbies estate. Commissioned by Surrey Hills Arts, this was co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and forms an undulating weave of English oak reflecting the shapes and surroundings of the Surrey Hills landscape. A seating bench follows the curves, where

Denbies Wine Estate is brimming with activity around the vineyard with bud burst in full force. Walking around the estate you will notice the first signs of growth on the vines ready to soak up the summer sun known as bud burst. Bud burst is the process where the vines first being to produce new

The latest and most recent beehives were relocated to the estate back in March, just prior to lock down.  What seems like now such a long time ago, we are pleased to bring you an update on their progress from the beekeeper. The bee hives have been building up in size from quite small beginnings

Spring is a very important time in the vineyard as it sets the scene for the autumn harvest. Each season has its own characteristics and every year we welcome thousands of visitors to enjoy this wonderful process with us. We are missing you, our valued customers, and we are looking forward to welcoming you back

With spring now fast approaching, all winter pruning in the vineyard is now complete, with vines tied down ready and waiting for bud burst. General trellis repairs will continue over the next few weeks to ensure that everything is ready for the growing season. The new trellis is being installed on the Dell slopes, due

Happy New Year from all at Denbies Wine Estate! We are looking forward to another great year and the release of some spectacular wines later on in the season. In the vineyard, the vines are now dormant for winter, with pruning beginning very shortly. After a six week period, this will be closely followed by

What a wonderful year it’s been! Whilst Denbies’ winery team works as hard as ever fermenting, bottling and taking care of our young wines, we look back over a successful and bountiful 2018 to examine what made it such a great harvest here at Denbies Wine Estate. Conditions in March were chilly with very heavy

Well done team! Denbies are delighted to have been awarded the CSWWC 2018 Best in Class for Best English Blanc de Noirs. The Champagne and Sparkling World Wine Championships celebrate the top sparkling offerings across the globe, with entries from 18 countries this year. The competition is known for being the toughest and most well-respected

We are now nearing the completion of a very busy and successful 2018 harvest here at Denbies Wine Estate. A section of our Pinot Noir grapes destined for our premium sparkling wines were hand-picked last week, with the remaining Pinot Noir berries being harvested today. In addition, we are currently machine-harvesting Seyval Blanc in the

Harvest has begun on the Estate! With our first pick of Solaris grapes taking place 7th September, our vineyard team have just completed harvesting our Ortega plots. This is followed this week by hand picking of the premium Bacchus varietal, for our best-selling Vineyard Select wines. Hand-picking of these grapes is also taking place on

  Run through England’s green and pleasant land with wine on hand at this year’s Run Bacchus, Britain’s answer to the Marathon du Médoc. The event, which is on the 9th of September, combines two of the world’s finest pleasures: running in the great outdoors and fine wine. The event  start and finish is outside

Here at Denbies Estate the vineyard is in full bloom, with the vines soaking up the glorious summer sunshine. Flowering has now finished and we have fruit set and good pollination throughout, with our newly-planted young vines growing nicely. The team are working hard to ensure that we make the most of these optimum conditions

Denbies are delighted to have scooped 24 medals during the 2018 wine awards season. Highlights include an impressive 2 Golds and 2 Silvers for The Brokes Botrytis 2016, whilst the Noble Harvest 2016 achieved 1 Gold and 2 Silvers and was also winner of the Stefanowicz Trophy for most outstanding sweet wine, a top accolade.

The recent spell of warm weather has been very well received by Denbies Wine Estate. In the past 12 months, the Dorking vineyard has undergone an extensive replanting programme. In 2017, 30,000 of the classic ‘champagne/sparkling wine’ grape varietals, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were planted on the optimum south facing slopes of the Dell to

Spring Vineyard report – March The vines are currently coming to the end of their dormant period so we are pleased to report that there are no adverse affects from the latest spell of cold weather. The real concerns of the vineyard team will start in the coming months when, as with every year, the

The extremely rare Second World War tank that was excavated in Denbies vineyard earlier this year has now been removed for renovation. The English “Covenanter” tank was dug up from beneath the vineyard by WW2 enthusiast Rick Wedlock.  Rick approached Denbies last year regarding the possibly of a tank buried on the estate .  Following

Denbies Wine Estate is delighted to have achieved a Gold level status from Green Tourism.  The gold status was confirmed following the vineyard’s most recent assessment from a Green tourism representative. Members are visited every two years to assess them against a range of criteria relevant to their business type, sustainable tourism indicators include protecting

The earliest harvest in Denbies Wine Estate 31 years commenced yesterday (Wednesday 6 September), historically, a early harvest commences during the third week of September.   On a mild sunny autumnal morning the Denbies vineyard team picked approximately 3 tons of the early ripening Solaris.  This was an unexpected outcome from a vintage that started with

Following the unexpectedly late spring frost of 26th April, the vineyard has recovered remarkably well, aided by some wonderfully hot sunny weather throughout late May, June and July. There is no hiding from the fact that the harvest will be smaller this year as a result of the frost damage, however the recovery growth has

An extremely rare Second World War tank has been dug up at Denbies by WW2 enthusiast Rick Wedlock.  Rick approached Denbies last year regarding the excavation.  Following an exploratory dig in January which revealed the top part of the tank, the full excavation took place on Tuesday 23rd May.  The English “Covenanter” tank was dug

As you may be aware from press reports, most vineyards in the south-east of England experienced frost damage last Thursday morning. Denbies have several anti-frost measures which have been deployed extensively over the past couple of weeks.  The tow and blow machine (pictured), (which resembles a large desk fan) oscillates the air therefore preventing ground

Denbies Greenfields was crowned ‘Best Sparkling Wine from the United Kingdom’ at the Challenge Euposia awards ceremony held at trade wine show Prowein in Düsseldorf on 19 March. Founded by leading Italian wine magazine Euposia in 2008, the Challenge Euposia competition is the world’s first international blind tasting challenge of traditional method sparkling wines. Now

Double Award winning week for Denbies March 2017 Firstly we would like to say how proud we all are, and rightly so, this week we have not only won one but two outstanding awards.  We always strive to deliver excellence and it is particularly rewarding when this is recognised by others. The first award was

Winter months in the winery and vineyard Even in the deepest winter days, you will see a team of vineyard workers in the heart of the vineyard.  The Vineyard team are now in full swing with the pruning, some three weeks in now and another couple of months to go. This cold weather is extremely

The 2016 harvest has delivered exceptional results for Denbies’ premium wines, particularly red and white varietals, as well as its award-winning Noble Harvest dessert wine. Following an unusually early start to the harvest, 2016 did not produce record volumes all round at the 265-acre Surrey estate. However, the outstanding quality of the grapes means that

    A dry summer and sunny September, characterised by blistering daytime temperatures and warm nights, have contributed to perfect ripening conditions. Denbies winemaking team predicts 2016 to be one of the most successful vintages ever for the estate. Denbies’ CEO Chris White comments: ‘The quality is expected to be quite exceptional this year. We

With the kind permission of Denbies Wine Estate, at the end of May we gave our bees new fields to fly in at Denbies vineyard. Over a week-end, with a hand scythe and a strimmer, docks and six-foot high nettles were cleared and slabs laid on which to place the hives. The first swarm to

Denbies Wine Estate is delighted to announce that they have been awarded a gold medal by the International Wine Challengeⁱ for Denbies Sparkling Greenfields Cuvée NV.  The gold awards were announced on 9th May, by eminent wine writer and presenter Oz Clarke in Central London. For Denbies, celebrating its 30th year, it is particularly rewarding to

Vines have undergone winter pruning and are now lying dormant for the winter. Vineyard Manager Duncan McNeill gives us an overview of our current pruning techniques on Denbies Estate: “There are two main themes to our pruning, which have been developed over the last few years: Pruning for quality as opposed to high yield Pruning

  Celebrating its 30th year, Denbies Wine Estate, England’s largest vineyard, was delighted last Thursday evening to be the recipient of two major South-East business awards.  Denbies received the coveted Gatwick Diamond Business of the Year Award 2016 and the Green Business of the Year Award 2016, presented at a gala dinner for 600 guests

Report from the Vineyard Manager Duncan McNeill A later start to the 2015 harvest meant that the vineyard could fully benefit from the early autumn sun and indeed picking is taking place well into November for the second consecutive year. The cooler and wetter than average weather of August and September has been replaced by

Following the record breaking vintage of 2014, Denbies Wine Estate, England’s largest vineyard, is now poised for yet another outstanding harvest, with predicted volumes exceeding that of 2014. Although volume predictions are high, since the middle of August, cooler and wetter conditions have been prevalent. For the third year in succession August was the wettest

As always, this is an important time of year in the development of the vineyard, here is a summary of the current status: Vine Growth & Crop – end June 2015 : Growth is moving quickly despite the recent cooler than average temperatures (apart from today 1st July). The 2015 season is now 14 days

Beekeeping report from James Boar – Denbies Beekeeper Over the last couple of months we’ve been getting hold of and assembling new hives. The bees became active early this year – towards the end of March – and are now busily making honey. We’ve just swapped two of the hives out, and moved the colonies

Producing sparkling wine is challenging and fun. It is the wine style with the most potential for interventions possible for altering the wine style during its production. After producing the base wines the wines are left to settle and rest before tasting and the final assemblage which traditionally is done at the beginning of spring.

Following the two recent incredible harvests, Vineyard Manager Duncan McNeil has prepared a report as to how these two consecutive years developed through the seasons. Compare and contrast the two years and this gives an insight into the challenges and variance’s of English wine making. 2013: A very cold period from February through until early

Here is some Chardonnay from Yew Tree Field, pruned, tied down and ready to go for 2015.  The initial start to the 2015 pruning season has been made a lot easier by the mild weather and  combined with the cold nights has allowed the pruning canes to ripen off properly.

Winery update 2014 was a wonderful year for quantity and we are now beginning to see that it was also great on quality. The 2014 wines are now nicely tucked up and resting in either full stainless steel tanks or barrels, and it is now that they begin revealing their full potential. Shortly we shall

  Denbies is very pleased to announce the imminent release of its first vintage of  Sauvignon Blanc.  The Sauvignon Blanc grapes were planted four years ago on a three acre trial plot and this is the first year they have been in production, following the excellent 2013 harvest. Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety

This week the photographs speak volumes, an abundance of flowering is currently taking place.  At the moment, the Vineyard Manager has estimated that we are two weeks ahead of normal activity.  The new plantings are also thriving exceptionally well with strong new shoots.

Denbies has just completed the second year of an extensive vine plantation. 27500 vines were planted in 2013, we have planted Solaris, an early ripening, mildew resistant variety on the steep chalky slopes. This will be used for still white wines as a single varietal, and to add flavour to larger white blends. On the

The mobile sparkling bottling line comes over annually from the Institut Oenologique de Champagne (Epernay).  It has the capacity to bottle 5,000 bottles per hour.  Denbies team work alongside the team of French experts.  This year, together with the traditional sparkling wines, Denbies will be producing a new sparkling Blanc de Blanc  made from 100%