Vineyards and wineries in North Yorkshire

Grapes chosen for the north: Solaris, Rondo and the PIWIs.

At Goose Beck, in the Vale of York, the family planted mainly PIWI varieties, believing they would thrive in the North Yorkshire climate. PIWIs are grapes bred to resist or tolerate fungal disease, which WineGB says can be invaluable in a cool, damp climate like Britain’s, and they may let growers try sites that would be harder for conventional varieties.

Bay Vineyard, above Robin Hood’s Bay on the coast south of Whitby, planted 14,000 vines of Solaris in 2017 — a grape valued for early ripening as well as disease resistance — with 6,000 of Rondo, a hybrid associated with red and rosé in cooler climates. At Yorkshire Heart, in Nun Monkton, Solaris is the workhorse among vines chosen for the Yorkshire climate rather than copied from warmer regions.

Towthorpe, just outside York at 54°N, has two PIWI varieties at the backbone of its black-grape wines. Dunesforde, at Upper Dunsforth, grows four varieties selected for their suitability to a northern location, on a slope chosen to drain frost away and a sheltered site that could be a degree or two warmer than the land around it.

The vineyards run from the Vale of York, where Dunesforde, Goose Beck and Yorkshire Heart lie west and north-west of the city, to Ryedale, at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds seven miles from Malton, and out to the coast. Towthorpe can be reached from York on the 5 and 5A buses.