WineGB Awards 2024 winners have just been announced
22nd July 2024
Wines made in 13 different counties were awarded trophies at the WineGB Awards 2024. This year also marked the highest number of gold medals being given away.
The trophy winners in their respective style, regional, and producer categories were revealed at a ceremony on 19th July at The Drapers’ Hall in London.
Fresh off its Decanter World Wine Awards triumph, Kent-based Chapel Down secured the top spot this year, winning Supreme Champion, Top Sparkling Wine, Best Prestige Cuvée, and the South East Trophy for its Kit’s Coty Coeur de Cuvée 2016.
It didn’t stop there, as the winery also picked up Best Chardonnay, Joint Top Still Wine, and Best Sustainable Wine for its Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2021.
Chapel Down head winemaker, Josh Donaghay-Spire, said: “We’re truly delighted to win such an amazing award. When we planted Kit’s Coty vineyard, we only dreamed of the quality it could produce, and revealing this has been one of the joys of being a part of the birth of a brand new wine region.
“This accolade is a testament to the Kent Downs and the team at Chapel Down, who maximise the potential of this amazing terroir through their hard work and dedication.”
Winners from 13 counties
Fellow Kent-based producers Simpsons’ Wine Estate and Westwell Wine Estate also picked up trophies. Simpsons’ won Best Still Rosé Railway Hill Rosé 2023, while Westwell achieved Best Innovative Sparkling for its Pinot Meunier MV.
Another big winner was Dorset’s Langham Wine Estate, which was awarded four trophies for three different 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 in the form of Dunesforde Vineyard’s Still Pinot Gris 2022, winning Best Single Varietal White and the trophy for the Midlands & North region.
London-based urban winery Vagabond Wines was another high achiever, picking up Best Innovative Still, Joint Top Still Wine and the Boutique Award for its Solena NV Ortega, comprising 60% from the 2022 vintage and 40% reserve wine from a solera system.
The Blanc de Blancs category had joint victors this year, with the judges unable to choose between Berkshire’s Harrow & Hope Blanc de Blancs 2018 and Gloucestershire’s Woodchester Valley Blanc de Blancs 2018. Woodchester Valley also picked up the West Trophy.
Berkshire’s Winding Wood also picked up two trophies, winning Best Sparkling Rosé and the Thames & Chilterns Trophy for its Brut Rosé 2020.
In hotly contested categories, Ashling Park Estate (West Sussex) won Best Red Pinot Noir for its Selection Pinot Noir 2022; the Best Vintage Classic Cuvée Trophy went to Wiltshire’s Domaine Hugo HUGO 2020; and Wraxall Vineyard (Somerset) was awarded Best Still Bacchus for its Bacchus Reserve 2022.
Diverse selection of winners
This year’s new category, Aged Vintage Sparkling, was allocated to Wiston Estate (West Sussex) for its Library Collection Blanc de Blancs 2010. Wiston also picked up the trophy for Best Contract Winery.
After a record number of new entrants this year, Worcestershire’s Two Beacons Vineyard was crowned Best Newcomer for its Pinot Noir Précoce 2021.
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, said: “I can’t recall us ever having such a diverse selection of WineGB trophy winners as we have this year, and I don’t just mean the fact that they come from 13 different counties.
“The range of grape varieties and winemaking styles included on 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.
“The fact that we had a joint Blanc de Blancs trophy speaks volumes about the potential of this category, but the Classic Cuvée NV/MV, the Classic Cuvée Vintage, and the Sparkling Rosé categories were all equally hard fought over.
“When it came to the still wines, finding ourselves with five superb Gold level Chardonnays and an equal number of red Pinot Noirs to choose from was quite something, as was the fact that for the first time a wine from my home county of North Yorkshire was awarded a trophy.”
The full results of the WineGB Awards 2024 can be viewed here.
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