Three Choirs Vineyard

Three Choirs Vineyard near Newent in Gloucestershire holds a distinction that no other English winery can claim: it has been producing wine commercially, without interruption, since 1976, making its first vintage from plantings established in 1973. That is nearly half a century of continuous English wine production, through the early years when most wine journalists still considered the whole enterprise a quaint British eccentricity, through the slow accumulation of critical respectability in the 1990s and 2000s, and into the current golden age when English wine is taken seriously around the world. Three Choirs has been here for all of it.

The 80-acre estate at Newent grows an unusually diverse range of varieties. Bacchus and Seyval Blanc are the principal white varieties, producing still wines that have remained the estate's commercial backbone across the decades. Reichensteiner and Madeleine Angevine add to the aromatic still white programme. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier address the sparkling Classic Cuvée. And an experimental block, planted with new variety trials that Three Choirs manages on behalf of the English viticulture research community, keeps the estate at the edge of what is being tested and developed for England's future wine landscape.

WineGB's 2025 Best Contract Winery award confirmed something that the trade has known for years: Three Choirs' winemaking facility is technically excellent, and the estate makes wine for other producers with the same care it applies to its own label. This dual function, own-label winery and contract service provider, gives Three Choirs a breadth of technical knowledge that few English wineries possess.

The visitor infrastructure at Three Choirs is the most complete in the English Midlands wine region. A destination restaurant, hotel accommodation, and regular vineyard tours make this an agritourism destination rather than simply a winery visit. For those exploring the Cotswolds or the Wye Valley, Three Choirs offers a wine experience of genuine historical depth in a region that English wine tourists rarely think to include in their itineraries, which is entirely their loss.