Denbies; no mom and pop place.

Denbies is Britains biggest vineyard with 50 ha. under vine (out of the estate consisting of 253). Chapel Down is smaller but produces more wine because they buy in grapes as well as growing their own.

Founded in 1986 its progress has followed that of the English wine  in general with German hybrids including  Bacchus, Ortega, Reichensteiner and Rondo as well as classic varieties such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

An important part of their operation has always been to exploit their resources to attract the public for visits, events, weddings and now Britain's first wine hotel. 

Reception

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Denbies seems to be becoming as much a leisure destination with a vineyard as a vineyard with a leisure destination. It's not far from the Chessington World of Adventure Resort featuring 'Go Ape.'

Eating

Nosh

Denbies wine range.

Debies wine range on sale included

Sparkling Bacchus.

Greenfields Cuvee NV: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay

Whitedowns Brut NV: Seyval Blanc, Pinot Noir

Whitedowns Rose Brut NV: Seyval Blanc, Pinot Noir

Flint Valley: Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner, Mueller-Thurgau, Pinot Gris.

Surrey Gold: Mueller-Thurgau

Rose Hill NV: Pinot Noir, Rondo

Redlands NV: Dornfelder, Pinot Noir, Rondo

Waitrose and Waitrose Cellars sell many of these and some others are available  through independent on-line winemerchants.

All of these will be familiar to those who have followed English wine over the years but Denbies have kept up with the advances of recent years with their Litmus series. Litmus acts as a kind of consultancy making wine from Denbies grapes to a more modern pattern. Their website's self-description runs:

Established in 2008, Litmus Wines is owned and operated by John Worontschak, Mike Florence and Matthieu Elzinga and is based at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey. As the name suggests Litmus Wines is a catalyst for change. We convert grapes into wine, passion into business and strategic plans into sales success. 

100% Bacchus

50/50 Chardonnay and Bacchus

Litmus wines are a bit more expensive (£18 - £28) and have found their way into higher end retailers such as Harvey Nichols and Hedonism. They also produce a white Pinot and a red Pinot.

It will be interesting to see which wing of Debies flourishes more in the future.