English Vineyard Tours – Hampshire

If you are looking for vineyards to visit across the UK then nowadays you will be relatively spoilt for choice. Spread out across the country, mostly populated in the southern regions, are wonderful award winning English wineries.

It is now an old and quite irrelevant joke that English wines are merely a joke, something created in the back garden from under ripe grapes giving mostly an acidic and gooseberry/nettles flavour. Fast forward to the present day I urge you where you will see English wines, especially sparkling labels, exported out to countries across the globe, acclaimed by top wine critics and owning bags full of medals and trophies along the way… English sparkling wines do rub shoulders with Champagne and have been mistaken for them and have scored higher at competitions, the French are even buying up land in England and planting their own vines to produce their own label fizz!

Southern parts of England are where you will see most of the English vineyards and many of them are open to the public for visits. This can vary between a simple walk around a couple of rows of vines and a tasting of three wines for £10 to a more in-depth tour of vineyards, the production area, cellars and a sit down dinner and wine pairing experience for those with a bigger budget.

Vineyard tours in Hampshire, UK

If you are planning a day out in Hampshire then we highly recommend a visit to Arlesford in Hampshire where you will find the English winery of Raimes who are open to visits from the public, May to September, via their easy to use online booking form here.

You will be able to enjoy their 10 acres of vineyards that grow the grapes that make their bubbly which you will also be able to taste, review and purchase. Meet with current owners and winemakers, Augusta and Robert and take a relaxing tour of Raimes English Sparkling Winery on the Grange Farm (Tichborne) Estate with 1,500 acres of arable farmland.

Raimes English Sparkling Wine

With a fine selection of awards for their wines to include trophies and gold medals, Raimes offer you four limited production labels to choose from (in stock as of June 2021):

 

2015 Classic Brut (2020 Trophy Winner Glass of Bubbly Awards – ‘Zesty & Zingy’)

2016 Blanc de Blancs

2016 Blanc de Noirs

2015 Vintage Rosé