UK winery tour & wine tasting at Hattingley Valley, Hampshire
Emma Rice, winemaker at Hattingley Valley Wines, Hampshire
Hattingley Valley Winery & English sparkling wines
Over the last couple of months whilst exploring the English wine scene, a name has kept jumping out at us - Hattingley Valley. It was becoming obvious to us that something special was happening at Hattingley Valley Wines in Hampshire in the Wessex wine region - it seemed to be synonymous with the production of top-quality English sparkling wines. So we booked a winery tour and wine tasting to discover for ourselves just what was so special about Hattingley Valley and why it is regarded as one of the UK’s most successful wineries.
Hattingley Valley - its winery, vineyards & award-winning winemaker
The original vineyard was planted in 2008, on a chalk-based, south-sloping 25 acre site on Hampshire farmland, by owner and Chairman Simon Robinson, as part of a farming diversification project. This ‘project’ led to a major investment in a state-of-the-art winery at the site, under the direction and guidance of winemaker Emma Rice. The first grapes were harvested from this vineyard in 2010 and the first vintage was released in 2013 - which incidentally, was awarded a gold medal at the Decanter world wine awards!
Simon and Emma’s partnership and their joint vision of the incredible potential of English sparkling wines has helped drive phenomenal success for Hattingley Valley over the years, as their wines have continued to win both awards and recognition. Demand for Hattingley wines continues to grow, not just in the UK, but in 16 countries oversees, notably in the US and Norway.
Learn more about Hattingley Valley here.
Hattingley Valley winery
Hattingley Valley - state-of-the-art UK winery
Hattingley’s eco-friendly, hi-tech winery is one of the largest British wineries, based on a 0.6 hectare site in Lower Wield, near Alresford, Hampshire. The whole winemaking process is conducted here using the best available equipment and machinery, with capacity for around 600,000 tonnes of grapes and 460,000 litres of wine. The winery houses some 100 stainless steel tanks and 230 oak barrels.
In addition to making its own wine at the winery, winemaker Emma Rice also makes wines for other vineyards here, including Cottonworth, Raimes, Alder Ridge and Roebuck, which are all gold medal winners.
Emma Rice - Hattingley’s leading, award-winning winemaker
Hattingley, under the direction of Head Winemaker and Director, Emma Rice, is recognised for its innovative and dynamic approach to winemaking. Emma makes tremendous sparkling wines under the Hattingley Valley label which have won her GB winemaker of the year - twice - in 2014 and 2016. She is the first woman to have won this prestigious award twice. Emma has a lot of experience in the wine trade, both in the UK and abroad and today manages the Hattingley winemaking team and oversees the development of the vineyards.
We were very fortunate to have Emma lead our tour at Hattingley and to hear about the amazing wines from the person who is responsible for making them! Discover more about Emma, about owner Simon and the Hattingley team here.
Hattingley Vineyards
During our tour Emma reinforced the message that you can’t make great wine if you don’t have great grapes.
Hattingley has approximately 10 hectares of its own Hampshire vineyards, planted with predominantly traditional Champagne grapes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The soil here is the same chalky soil in the famous Cotes de Blancs in Champagne, which along with the long and cool growing season, enables Hattingley to produce stunning English sparkling wines.
What makes Hattingley different from many other wine producers is that it also purchases grapes from a small group of ‘partner vineyards’ who provide them with grapes from different sites, locations and terroirs in Essex, Kent and Suffolk. According to Hattingley this gives them greater flexibility in their winemaking and enables them to spread their risk against the constant threat of the unpredictable English climate and weather.
Hattingley vineyard, Hampshire
Hattingley English sparkling wines
Hattingley has always focused on English sparkling wines, made by the traditional (Champagne) method - i.e. the wines go through a second fermentation process, in the bottle, lying on the dead/residual yeast (lees). The wines all have a beautiful acidity and freshness in the mouth and Emma’s winemaking skills shine through with selective blending and the selective use of oak barrels for fermentation.
After the first gold medal back in 2013 Hattingley wines have continued to win top awards - numbering 100 medals, 13 trophies, and 3 ‘Best in Class’ for its English sparkling wines.
The average annual production is about 300,000 bottles, many of which are exported abroad - in fact Hattingley wines are probably the most widely distributed English sparkling wine in the USA. Also, if you were lucky enough to travel first class with British Airways you would have the opportunity to enjoy a bespoke Hattingley wine which was produced especially to commemorate its centenary year - and this partnership with British Airways continues to flourish.
New still wines!
Despite never intending to produce English still wines and because of the steadily growing UK temperatures, Hattingley released small volumes of a still Pinot Noir rosé in the Summer of 2020 followed by a still Chardonnay this Summer, 2021 (see later).
Our morning wine tour to Hattingley Valley
Due to prevailing Covid restrictions we could only visit the Hattingley winery, not the vineyards. However, to have Emma herself show us round the impressive winery was a huge bonus!
We didn’t combine our wine tour with anything else as we had to get back home, but you could easily combine it with a lovely pub lunch in one of the nearby villages!
Winery tour & wine tasting
Our tour began in a fabulous barn, surrounded by oak barrels, where Emma introduced us to Hattingley Valley, its vineyards, winery and wines. What comes across immediately is Emma’s passion for what she does and her belief in the future of English sparkling wines. The English climate is now pretty much perfect for the production of amazing, sharp, refreshing and fruit-driven sparkling wines.
We were then taken on a full tour of the winery - starting with the impressive Coquard French press where the grapes are carefully pressed, through to the stainless steel fermentation tanks and oak barrels, through to the bottling and storage area and where the bottles are ‘riddled’ and ‘disgorged’ as part of the traditional sparkling method.
The winery is truly impressive and a Hattingley wine tour would be really worth it for this, even if you didn’t get to taste the wines!
But taste the wines we did!
Back in the barn, Emma introduced 4 different wines to us, including the Classic Reserve, made with the three traditional grape varieties. This was followed by the Blanc de Blancs 2014 - 100% Chardonnay, fermented in both new and old oak Burgundy barrels, giving it a wonderful fruity, but buttery flavour.
The next wine was a surprise and a real treat. Again a 100% Chardonnay wine, but this time a still wine, rather than sparkling. It had only just been released, based on the 2020 vintage. Emma has produced this still wine in a light Chablis style, with just a touch of used oak, bottled whilst young and fresh. We absolutely loved this wine. Not a fan of heavily oaked Chardonnays, this was our style of wine and is definitely one of the best English still wines we have tasted.
We then finished with Hattingley’s sparkling Rosé, which was superb.
Where to buy Hattingley wines:
You can purchase Hattingley wines via their own website and direct from the cellar door, but they are also available in selected independent wine shops and in Waitrose.
Useful information for your Hattingley Valley visit
Wine tours and wine tasting options
Hattingley Valley Wines tours cost £17.50 per person and include an in-depth tour of the winery, a tasting of the current range of wines and a visit to the vineyard where possible. As ever, you need to arrange and book in advance - visit the website here.
What to see and do in the area
There is certainly no shortage of things to see and do in Hampshire - with the coastal resorts of Portsmouth and Southampton not too far away, the beautiful city of Winchester with its cathedral just a 20 minutes drive and the South Downs and New Forest national parks within striking distance! See here for lots of ideas!
As we have visited Hampshire wineries and vineyards we have been struck by how varied and beautiful the county is - so try to make the most of your time and plan a wine tour with some other tourist activities - you won’t regret it!
Where to stay and where to eat near Hattingley
The local pub in Lower Wield comes highly recommended! Try The Yew Tree, just a couple of minutes from the winery, serving locally sourced food, local ales, excellent wines and it has a lovely garden!
See accommodation and restaurants in the area.
Transport
Hattingley Valley is situated in rural Hampshire so you really need a car! It took us an hour to get there from Maidenhead and is approximately 20 mins from Basingstoke, Alton and Winchester, travelling through some beautiful Hampshire villages! A satnav may not find the winery exactly but it’s just 200 yards from The Yew Tree pub!
Address: Hattingley Valley Wines, Wield Yard, Lower Wield, Alresford, Hampshire SO24 9AJ
Other UK vineyards to visit in the area:
Hampshire is home to some notable wineries. If you wish to combine two or more winery or vineyard tours we would highly recommend:
Hambledon Vineyard (see our blog about our wine tour to Hambledon here)
Conclusion
Hattingley Valley Wines is a special place and well worth a visit to experience the pristine winery and taste the superb wines! The team pride themselves on being ‘unapologetically British’ and why not?? They don’t try to be French unlike other wineries, they are proud of being British and very proud to be producing world-beating English wines. They are at the top of their game and that is certainly worth celebrating! There is a British quirkiness to the Hattingley personality and it suits them! This is apparent in they way they aren’t afraid to make fun of themselves and they don’t like to boast too much about what they are achieving - but they have every reason to. Their wines are truly superb and the wines they make for other vineyards are also superb.
Simon, Emma and team are certainly a winning combination and we urge you to discover their wines yourselves!
We found the tour good value for money at £17.50 per person.
Visit Hattingley’s website for information and to book your visit.
Refer to our web pages for more information about UK wines and the Wessex wine region of the UK
We hope you enjoy it as much as we did and maybe you can let us know what you think of the wines??
