Cornwall & Devon

Cornwall is not where most people expect to find serious wine. The county's reputation rests on clotted cream, pasties, and the kind of rain that sweeps in off the Atlantic with biblical conviction. And yet the Gulf Stream performs a meteorological conjuring trick on England's western peninsula, creating a maritime climate mild enough to ripen grapes with a regularity that would surprise visitors from the wine establishment of the South East.

Camel Valley Vineyard is the proof of concept. Bob and Annie Lindo planted their south-facing slopes above the Camel River near Bodmin in 1989, at a moment when the English wine industry was still struggling to be taken seriously in its own country. Within fifteen years, their Cornwall Brut — made from Pinot Noir and Seyval Blanc — had won the UK's most prestigious sparkling wine trophy, not once but multiple times. It is now served at Buckingham Palace garden parties, a fact that has given the estate enormous satisfaction and the English wine industry a useful marketing line.

Son Sam Lindo has taken over the winemaking and maintains the family's quality standards with the assurance of someone who grew up among the vines. The Darnibole Bacchus — named after the valley field where the grapes are grown — is a benchmark for the variety in England: aromatic, precise, with a pithy herbaceous edge that speaks directly of the Cornish countryside. The Pinot Noir Rosé Still is one of England's better pink wines, a serious proposition that merits a place on any serious restaurant list.

Devon adds its own chapter to the story. Sharpham Wine and Cheese, set on a spectacular meander of the River Dart south of Totnes, produces still wines from a site that is one of England's most beautiful vineyard settings. The estate's biodynamic philosophy and the quality of its Pinot Noir represent Devon's best contribution to English wine's diversity. Trevibban Mill in North Cornwall is the region's most ambitious new project, with organic viticulture and a growing range of wines that suggest the South West has not yet exhausted its potential.

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