BY AMANDA STEWART
WINE enthusiasts are being offered the chance to visit the numerous boutique vineyards in and around Henley, South Oxfordshire and the wider Chilterns.
The first of the Henley Wine Tours takes place on May 2 and offer people the chance to explore the stunning countryside, meet the owners of the vineyards, hear their stories and taste their wines.
The trips are being organised by Keith Hodgskiss, the founder of the food and drinks events group Chiltern Safaris, believes that the Chiltern wine industry “is a dark horse within the English and global wine world”. He adds: “Establishing Henley Wine Tours is a big step for Chiltern Safaris and a natural progression for the blossoming Chiltern wine industry.
“I’m extremely fortunate to be in the position to be able to showcase these vineyards to the public at a point where, each vineyard has matured to develop their distinct, signature tastes and are just now beginning to be noticed by industry experts and the wider community.”
The Henley Wine Tours, along with the Northern Chiltern Wine Tours, have linked up with five vineyards and the itineraries include transport, a two-course lunch and, of course, tasting the wines.
The region’s vineyards have been highlighted in a book called Oxfordshire Uncorked, which was published by the wine expert Marcus Rees.
The guide book invites wine lovers to embark on a journey around the winemakers of Oxfordshire and North Cotswolds, profiles each one and reveals how the natural landscape provides ideal conditions for top-class wine production. With tasting notes, visitor information and insights from the grape-growers themselves, it offers an in-depth look into each part of the winemaking process.
‘The region’s vineyards have been highlighted in a book called Oxfordshire Uncorked, which was published by the wine expert Marcus Rees’
It also shines a light on the unsung heroes including Stanlake Park in Twyford, the oldest in the area, and relative newcomers such as JoJo’s Vineyard in Russells Water. Marcus says: “I’d describe the book as a practical guidebook with information on location, facilities, tours, tastings and events, as well as a profile of each vineyard and helpful tasting notes and pictures of the range produced.
“We can be super-proud of the quality of wine coming out of Oxfordshire. There’s no doubt that climate change has helped this and with warmer summers we can now ripen grapes enough to produce excellent wines — especially world-class sparkling wines that need relatively high levels of acidity.
“There was a gap in the market for a guidebook that brought together all these vineyards that very few people know about. Their wines are amazing and English wine is in phenomenal growth. It’s incredibly exciting.”
Marcus, 53, who lives in Wallingford, fell in love with Oxfordshire after studying English language at Oxford University. He said: “Back then, Mic Young, the superb runner of Lincoln College’s bar, used to organise trips to the Oxfordshire countryside to visit real ale pubs and it was on these trips that I was struck by the beauty of places such as Finstock, Great Milton and Long Wittenham.
“After I left university I lived in Dorking, Surrey, for seven years, right opposite Denbies Vineyard, which is one of England’s largest. I always remember having a burning desire to stay at their onsite B&B despite living only 200 yards away.
“For around 20 years, I used to make annual visits to France with my brother and a friend. We’d cycle around the different wine regions, then fill up the car with as much wine as we could from the producers we had met along the way. One year, all of us pressed for time, we decided to have a short weekend near Hastings, instead cycling around a handful of small producers in Kent and Sussex. We were amazed by the quality of the wines we tasted and it was on that trip that I first realised just how good English wine could be, as well as how many vineyards were springing up around the country.
‘We can be super-proud of the quality of wine coming out of Oxfordshire. There’s no doubt that climate change has helped this… to produce excellent wines’
“After a few years in Buckinghamshire, I moved back to Oxfordshire in 2010 and have since lived in Witney, Minster Lovell, Charlbury and Wallingford. Wherever I live, I’ve loved exploring the beautiful Cotswold and Chiltern Hills on my bicycle and it has always motivated me to know that I can find a good pint of ale en route at a pub or a brewery. But, increasingly, a chilled glass of wine at a local winery or vineyard has become an option too, and what an enjoyable one it is.”
Oxfordshire has 15 commercial vineyards and wineries and the book includes essentials such as their first vintage, its acreage and visitor and tour information, with each site description offering further insight into the story of the land, the wine and the people behind its production.
Among those to feature from the Henley area include Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery in Hambleden, Fairmile Vineyard in Henley, Oaken Grove Vineyard in Fawley, Kidmore Vineyard in Kidmore End and Wyfold Vineyard. Marcus would spend two to three hours at each location and the owners would give him a history and a tour and his photographer, Paul Gregory, would take pictures.
He said: “Obviously, I visited all the vineyards and wineries featured in the book. Nearly all of them are run by passionate, hardworking couples who often hold down another job on the side. All the vineyards in Oxfordshire are relatively small. Nyetimber in Sussex and Chapel Down in Kent now produce around a million bottles per year. That’s tiny compared to some of the Champagne houses. But the largest vineyards in Oxfordshire only produce around 40,000 bottles. We are lucky to have them.”
Marcus worked in a range of different jobs before settling in wine. After leaving university he became a tour guide and worked in a hotel. He later switched to retail and joined the Sainsbury’s graduate scheme and became a buyer. Unable to get into buying beer and wine for the company he moved to Woolworths and then to Comet, buying fridges, washing machines and computers, travelling between the UK and Paris. After a two-year stint working as a brewer from 2012 he joined Oxfam where he stayed for eight years, sourcing Fairtrade goods such as coffee, chocolate and handicrafts.
Marcus left in 2023 because he had had enough of the corporate environment. Knowing about retail and beer and wine his first plan was to open a shop in Oxford, as yet unfulfilled, but that’s when he came up with the idea for his book. He pitched his idea to the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and it provided a grant to cover the costs and he found a publisher.
Marcus said he enjoyed researching the book and hoped there might be more in the pipeline featuring other areas or covering the breweries of Oxfordshire. He said: “I’ve been to so many vineyards over the years — mostly in France. But I learned lots I didn’t know about vineyard management, such as the different training systems, the importance of pruning the canopy and letting in light, the two dreaded risks of frost and mildew, how farming methods have changed to become more environmentally sensitive and testing grapes for sugar and acidity levels.
“It was an eye-opener to find out how good the still wines are, even the red wines. Don’t expect a heavy Rhone wine from Oxfordshire but if you prefer lighter-bodied wines such as Burgundy or Beaujolais, there are fantastic red wines including from Freedom of the Press near Minster Lovell and Brightwell, near Wallingford.
He added: “But the biggest eye-opener of all was how good the wines are — not a single bad wine at all, which would have been unimaginable 30 years ago.”