TNWG Wine Times: Ep 58: Wines of Yorkshire

aplofthouse
19 hours ago
3 min read

FOCUS: Wines of Yorkshire

Believe it or not, but not only is it God's country, BUT we also make wine too!

Contrary to popular belief, it is not just a flash in the pan too - Yorkshire wine is very much here to stay and I'm here to rave about it too. There are actually around 16 commercial vineyards and combined, producing nearly 100,000 bottles of wine each year!

There is even a Yorkshire Wine Trail for those who are looking to visit regions in Yorkshire and look to do more than just sup the local produce, potentially as a family trip.

None of this actually though should be a surprise. I have been for months and years writing about and interviewing winemakers from around the world and the majority of it comes from ancient times and in Northern England it really is no different. In fact there is evidence that in Roman times, winemaking took place here and don't forget too the Cistercian monks of Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds.

With the climate as we know it, it probably isn't a great surprise that Yorkshire focuses the majority of it's production on sparkling and white wines - with high acidity always going to be prevalent with the climatic conditions, grape varietals like Solaris, Phoenix and Ortega seen in numerous places planted too as a result. That being said, there is also reds made too. In fact, they are getting such a good reputation that one of the producers actually won the WineGB Awards Trophy for Best Single Varietal White Wine with their Pinot Gris.

As with most wine regions around the world today, there is also huge innovation, sharing of ideas and concepts between winemakers and developments of varietals that take up in the Northern lands, plus the likes of orange wines too.

The list of vineyards throughout Yorkshire is steadily increasing all the time, with more requests for vines and more farming lending itself to the wine industry, but the main vineyards of note as of now are:

Bay Vineyard (Robin Hood's Bay)
Carlton Towers Estate (Goole)
Dunesforde (NW of York)
Farthings Vineyard (E of York)
Goose Beck Vineyard (W of York)
Helme Edge Vineyard (Meltham)
High Cayton (nr Harrogate)
Holmfirth Vineyard (Holmfirth)
Laurel Vines (Driffield)
Leventhorpe Vineyard (Woodlesford)
Little Wold (nr Brough)
Knotfield Vines (Rawdon)
Malton Vineyard (Malton)
Ryedale Vineyards (nr York)
Towthorpe Vineyards (nr York)
Westow Vineyard (Kilham)
Yorkshire Heart (Nun Monkton)

And this list will continue to grow as we see ever changing climatic conditions globally as well as a better understanding of viticulture in the North of England. The Vinehouse UK established in 1993 reports the ever increasing demand for vines to be bought and planted in the region, so the future is certainly bright for Yorkshire!

To celebrate the increasing regional interest, it was back in April that The Times took to suggesting that 'Yorkshire could be the next Bordeaux' in the future (if you didn't see it, check out the Drinks Business article here: https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/04/could-yorkshire-be-the-next-bordeaux-for-winemaking/). Now albeit, this is a little tongue in cheek, ultimately the message is not untrue...the world is changing, innovation and wine learning on a global scale is ever increasing and the wine styles and standards are improving all the time too.

So on that note, I want to advertise something that I will visiting next summer and I also want to thank Peter Kirk for his continued efforts in the region (also owner of Yorkshirevineyards.co.uk) :