English Wine Made in the City

Urban Wineries are on the increase and are the perfect way for city-dwellers to experience English wines and learn more about winemaking. One of the key differences from visiting a vineyard (apart from the obvious lack of vines) is that you’ll be tasting wines made with a variety of grapes, often grown in different soil types. Urban Wineries carefully select the producers they work with and have the ability to blend grape varieties from different growing regions to create something special. These Urban Wineries are innovative whilst adopting low-intervention techniques – and if you want to know more about what that means it’s definitely time for a visit.

Londoners are now spoilt for choice with four Urban Wineries dotted around the Capital – including Vagabond in Canada Water which is the UK’s largest. It’s also a wine bar and eatery with those clever self-pour machines so you can do your own exploring of their fantastic range of English Wines (and international ones too). It’s well worth doing the hour-long tour and tasting to find out more about what goes on here. Our group ranged from wine novices to those with a reasonable amount of knowledge and the relaxed tour was pitched brilliantly to make sure everyone leant something new.

Renegade Urban Winery in Walthamstow also doubles as a wine bar and eatery and has a wide range of events – want a chilled-out baby-friendly Friday evening? or some live piano to brighten your Thursday evening? Keep an eye on their calendar. There are weekly tours and tastings too.

London Cru in SW6 has monthly tours and tastings and offers the opportunity to really immerse yourself in the World of wine with their fascinating ‘Winemaker for the day’ course.

Black Book Winery in Battersea offers their Urban Winery Experience most Saturdays. They haven’t called it a ‘tour’ as the compact space doesn’t involve much touring (most Urban Wineries are small spaces) but you’ll get to see what’s going on, there’s loads of interesting information and most importantly you’ll get to taste their wines. In the summer months they usually open as a wine bar on Friday and Saturday evenings too.

But the fun isn’t just limited to London. Cambridge has an Urban Winery based in an old windmill. Gutter & Stars have tastings with the winemaker a couple of times a month on a Thursday evening. You’ll hear the story behind each bottle and taste from the barrel.

Birmingham now also boasts its first Urban Winery, Midland Press, tucked under the railway arches in the trendy Digbeth area of the City. You can book to visit on selected dates and can expect a relaxed and informative tour where you get up close to the action, including tasting from the barrel.

On the outskirts of Derby at Darley Abbey Mills, you’ll find English Wine Project. Their award-winning wines are made from grapes grown at the historic Renishaw Hall & Gardens. This Urban Winery also makes cider, so you will get to taste that too on one of their monthly tours.

There’s an interesting story behind every bottle and with more Urban Wineries, it’s easier than ever to discover them.