Record number of gold medals at WineGB awards
Wines from 13 counties were honoured with trophies at this year’s WineGB Awards, which awarded a record number of Gold medals.
The winners were announced at a ceremony on 19 July at The Drapers’ Hall in London.
Chapel Down from Kent won Supreme Champion, Top Sparkling Wine, Best Prestige Cuvée and the South East Trophy for its Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016. It also won Best Chardonnay, Joint Top Still Wine and Best Sustainable Wine for its Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2021.
Kent-based Simpsons’ Wine Estate and Westwell Wine Estate also won trophies. Simpsons’ won Best Still Rosé for Railway Hill Rosé 2023 while Westwell achieved Best Innovative Sparkling for its Pinot Meunier MV.
Dorset’s Langham Wine Estate was another big winner, with four trophies for three 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 with Dunesforde Vineyard’s Still Pinot Gris 2022, winning Best Single Varietal White and the trophy for the Midlands & North region.
London’s Vagabond Wines picked up Best Innovative Still, Joint Top Still Wine and the Boutique Award for its Solena NV Ortega.
The Blanc de Blancs category had joint winners, with Berkshire’s Harrow & Hope Blanc de Blancs 2018 and Gloucestershire’s Woodchester Valley Blanc de Blancs 2018. Woodchester Valley also won the West Trophy.
Berkshire’s Winding Wood won Best Sparkling Rosé and the Thames & Chilterns Trophy for its Brut Rosé 2020.
In other categories, Ashling Park Estate (West Sussex) won Best Red Pinot Noir for its Selection Pinot Noir 2022, Best Vintage Classic Cuvée went to Wiltshire’s Domaine Hugo HUGO 2020 and Wraxall Vineyard (Somerset) won Best Still Bacchus for its Bacchus Reserve 2022.
Wiston Estate (West Sussex) won the new Aged Vintage Sparkling category for its Library Collection Blanc de Blancs 2010. Wiston also won Best Contract Winery.
Worcestershire’s Two Beacons Vineyard was crowned Best Newcomer for its Pinot Noir Précoce 2021 after a record number of new entrants this year.
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, remarked on the diversity of this year's winners: “The range of grape varieties and winemaking styles included on the 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,” Barrie said.
Meanwhile, Chapel Down’s head winemaker Josh Donaghay-Spire expressed delight at winning the Supreme Champion Trophy, crediting the team’s hard work and the Kent Downs terroir for their success.
Trophy Winners:
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
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
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