Vineyards and wineries in Berkshire

Thames Valley vines from 1979, and the still wine they make.

Stanlake Park, near Twyford, began in 1979 as Thames Valley Vineyard, when Jon Leighton put in 500 vines as a pilot. He went on to expand it with predominantly rare, even obscure grape varieties, and in the late 1980s hired the Australian John Worontschak to build a diverse range. The Siegerrebe planted that year in the Stallion Vineyard now goes into an orange wine, and it is mainly because of those older plantings that still white makes up most of what Stanlake produces, with sparkling at 30%.

Stanlake sits on flat land of clay, loam and sandy soils, and makes its wine in a grade II listed 17th-century barn. Its winemaker, Nico Centonze, also makes the wine for Dropmore, in Buckinghamshire.

The west of the county was planted later. All Angels, at Enborne near Newbury, put in its first vine in May 2011, on south-facing slopes of sandy loam, greensand, gravel, flint and clay, and makes only sparkling wine. Winding Wood, near Hungerford, planted in 2012 on loam over flint and chalk and became Demeter-certified biodynamic in November 2024. At West Ilsley, near the Ridgeway, Rowles grows on the chalk of the Berkshire Downs, with frost-hardy Seyval Blanc at the cooler lower end of the vineyard.

In the east, the Royal Archives record a vineyard at Windsor Castle in the reign of Henry II. The vineyard Tony Laithwaite began in Windsor Great Park was planted in 2011, on land leased from the Crown Estate, and its grapes go to Marlow to be made. Stanlake Park is a 15-minute walk on pavement from Twyford station.