Greyfriars Vineyard

The Hog's Back ridge in Surrey runs east to west above Guildford, a chalk escarpment that provides the county with something it is not always given credit for: excellent south-facing slopes with the same Cretaceous geology that makes Sussex and Kent so suited to sparkling wine. Greyfriars Vineyard sits on this ridge at Puttenham, nearly 50 acres spread across three sites, and produces wines that would command considerably more attention if they were made a county further east. The fact that they're in Surrey, a region associated in the wine world principally with Denbies' tourist-friendly scale, has kept them underappreciated by everyone outside the county.

The vineyard was originally planted in 1989 and expanded significantly from 2010 onwards under current owners Michael and Hilary Wagstaff. In 2017 they excavated a purpose-built underground chalk cellar, 3,500 square feet of temperature-controlled space carved directly into the ridge. The decision mirrors what the great Champagne houses have always known: chalk maintains a constant cool temperature that no refrigeration system replicates quite as elegantly, and sparkling wine aged in chalk develops a mineral integration that is difficult to achieve above ground. The cellar alone makes Greyfriars one of the most technically serious operations in the south of England.

The wines themselves justify the infrastructure. The NV Cuvée won WineGB Gold in 2023; the Blanc de Blancs 2015 won WineGB Gold in 2022. But the wine that most serious tasters reach for is the oaked Blanc de Blancs: rich, evolved, with the toasty complexity of a wine that has spent time in both barrel and bottle, it is the kind of expression that convinces doubters that Surrey chalk is as interesting as the more famous county deposits to the south.

The visitor experience runs from free self-guided walks to guided tours at £24 per person including a souvenir glass, typically available on Saturdays from spring through summer. The cellar door shop is open Tuesday through Saturday, and the combination of hilltop setting, working chalk winery, and underground cellar makes Greyfriars one of the most satisfying full-afternoon vineyard visits within an hour of central London.