Vineyards and wineries in Shropshire

Grapes chosen for the Shropshire weather.

The Evans twins at Rowton picked their grapes for the county’s weather. Tanners, the Shrewsbury wine merchant, wrote in 2024 that they had focused on hybrid varieties that need little chemical input and suit the Shropshire weather and climate. They planted Solaris, Seyval Blanc and Pinot Noir Précoce in May 2020 at Whiston, west of Shrewsbury, on a south-east-facing slope that lets frost roll away downhill, with a treeline sheltering it from the prevailing south-westerly wind.

The same few grapes recur in several of the county’s vineyards. Hencote, on glacial-till slopes overlooking Shrewsbury, builds its sparkling Evolution on Seyval Blanc, a grape not traditionally permitted in English sparkling wine production. Rodington, which began as vegetable rows on a rented allotment, sells a dry Solaris, a Rondo red and a Seyval Blanc sparkling brut under the Blue Tractor name. Colemere, in the north of the county, makes a sparkling red from Regent and Rondo alone, and Kerry Vale, a field from Wales near Montgomery, grows Rondo, Pinot Noir, Phoenix and Solaris.

At Waters Upton, Veenow planted differently: Bacchus and Pinot Noir in 2021, then Chardonnay and Meunier in 2023, on clay, sandstone and sandy loam where, the family says, the River Tern moves low-lying frosts in spring.

Hencote and Rowton are near Shrewsbury; Hencote is a few minutes’ drive from the town, by Tanners’ account. Rodington and Veenow are near Telford. In May 2024 the county held its first Shropshire Wine Festival, over 11 days, opening with a showcase at Tanners’ premises in Shrewsbury.