Chilford Hall Vineyard wins Wine of the Year 2010 Award

The vineyard was awarded eight prizes in total in the prestigious regional competition, held on 21^st July 2010 in Wissett in Suffolk, including: a commended certificate for the Müller-Thurgau Siegerrebe 2009, and four Bronze medals for the Schönburger Müller-Thurgau 2009, Ortega Reichensteiner 2009, Blush 2009 and the Schönburger single variety 2009.

The judging panel included: Anthony Foster MW, Robin Crameri MW, wine producers Roy Williams and Mary Mudd and James Long, managing director of Corney and Barrow (East Anglia) Ltd, all of whom blind tasted 65 wines submitted by vineyards across the East Anglian region before coming to a decision.

Chilford Hall’s 20-acre vineyard is the only commercial vineyard in Cambridgeshire and has been in operation in Linton since 1972, with the first vintage having been produced in 1974. The estate is famous for sparkling and still rosé and white wines, and produced its first Granta Valley red wine in 2008 that sold out within six weeks.

Anthony Foster, Master of Wine and Chairman of the EAWGA judging panel, says, “Chilford’s Sparkling Rosé 2004 is a spectacular example of méthode traditionelle (bottle-fermented) wine, and as a pink wine, has all the elements required to stand up on a world stage. It is as good a wine as I’ve ever tasted; it has fruit, autolysis, structure, elegance and style.”

Mark Barnes, Chilford’s Wine Maker, says, “We are absolutely thrilled to have won Wine of the Year along with a Commended and four Bronze medals. We had great compliments from the judges, who made it clear that our Sparkling Rosé could stand up in an international competition and, as winners, we look forward to hosting the competition at Chilford Hall Vineyard in 2011.”

Glen Mejias, General Manager and Director of Chilford Hall, says, “Interest in English wine and winemaking is growing and Chilford has recently introduced weekday and evening winery tours and tastings to cope with larger group enquiries.”

“Wine sales are increasing year on year; we are bringing out newer vintages into our onsite shop and online store much faster than before as popularity increases, people look to buy local and recognise the excellent quality of English wine.”

For information on group Winery and Vineyard tours and tastings please contact Leah Mejias on 01223 895603/895600.

For a list of wines on sale please visit www.chilfordhall.co.uk