Vineyards and wineries in Cheshire

Finding ground that drains in a county of glacial clay.

For a vineyard in Cheshire, the search is for ground that drains. As the last ice sheet retreated, it dropped a thick layer of boulder clay across much of the county; only the mid-Cheshire ridge was left largely uncovered, its Triassic sandstone exposed.

At Vines of Cheshire, Simon, whose background is in geology, and Mandy still found the search hard in a county where large parts are blanketed by thick glacial clay that drains slowly. The site they secured near Backford, three miles from Chester, is on glacial soils, but on steep slopes facing south and south-west, which they chose for the natural drainage and the sun.

The other answer is the ridge itself. The Cheshire Sandstone Ridge runs roughly north to south for some 32km, from Helsby through Tarporley to Duckington, and Goldford is planted along it, on the slopes of Larkton Hill in South Cheshire. The Smith family planted two acres there in 2018 and released its first sparkling wine, from the 2020 harvest, in spring 2024. Much of the pruning and picking is done by volunteers.

Vines of Cheshire is just north of Chester; Goldford is near Bickerton, in the south of the county towards the Shropshire border.