The vineyard was the only supplier to be chosen from Kent and offered tastings of their award winning wines, ciders & juices, including Biddenden Ortega which is listed in Mr.Blanc’s restaurant.  Chefs attending included Michael Caines, who has links with Kent through his Canterbury restaurant, and took the time to visit Biddenden’s table and taste a selection of the range.

The vineyard has recently received high praise for it’s wines with Biddenden Ortega claiming the title of ‘Best Kent Wine’ for the second year running and it’s Gamay – a light red wine- being recommended by a number of wine writers.

All Biddenden’s wines are available to purchase from the vineyard shop, or may be bought online.

“Local producers such as Biddenden Vineyards are a significant part of Kent and the Borough’s tourism offer” said Mr. Green, “ and it is exciting to see how the vineyard has expanded and learn about how not only the business has grown, but how it works with other tourist attractions and local producers to make a real contribution to the area and indeed the County”

The awards, which are initially voted for by the public, and then go through to a panel of judges for the final taste test are highly regarded across the county, and used as the bench mark for establishing the best food and drink products made in Kent.

Biddenden Vineyard’s Managing Director,Julian Barnes, commented “We are delighted to have retained our title for ‘Best Kentish Wine’ with our signature variety, Ortega. Not only does this show the great support we have from our customers, who voted us into the final 3, but also that we are producing wines which are of a consistently high quality.  We would like to thank everyone who voted for us in this year’s awards – without which we would not have made it through to the final, let alone won for the second year running.”

The award winning wine, Biddenden Ortega 2011 is available direct from the vineyard shop, online at www.biddendenvineyards.com and from selected independent farm shops, pubs and restaurants across Kent, Sussex and London.

The vineyard is open throughout the year, with FREE admission & tastings and free tours run on selected dates.  Please visit our website for further details, or contact the vineyard direct on 01580 291726.

The full list of winners can be found at www.tasteofkentawards.co.uk 

Below:  Julian & Sally Barnes receive the award from Sarah Sturt, Editor of Kent Life Magazine

The presentation formed part of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association’s (UKVA) annual dinner, held at Vintner’s Hall in City of London, to which English & Welsh wine producers, suppliers and critics were invited to attend.  Camilla, who became president of the UKVA last year, was in attendance as her first event on behalf of the association.

The Duchess was talked through tastings of the selected English wines, and made comment “I have never ever tried any English red.  It is much better than I thought it was going to be…”

Biddenden Vineyards is Kent’s oldest commercial vineyard producing a full range of award-winning red, white, rose and sparkling wines.  The vineyard is open to visitors throughout the year with free admission & tastings.  The full range of wines, including Biddenden Gamay, can be purchased direct from Biddenden Vineyards’ shop, online at www.biddendenvineyards.com/shop and from selected outlets throughout Kent & Sussex.

Biddenden Vineyards was eligible in the “Best Kent Wine”, “Best Kentish Cider” and “Best Juice Producer” categories, for which they have reached the judging panel in all three. 

The products which will go through to the judges will be Biddenden Strong Kentish Cider, their full range of Biddenden juices and newly re-launched Clearly Juices along with Biddenden Ortega which will be defending it’s current title as Best Kent Wine.

Julian Barnes commented “Once again we are extremely pleased to have made it through to the final judging of the Taste of Kent Awards, especially in all 3 of our categories.  This is something which shows the great support we have from our customers, along with the consistent quality that we achieve across our full range of products ”

The awards will be held on Friday 8^th March at the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel.  Further information including on the awards, including how to buy tickets can be found at www.tasteofkentawards.co.uk

The awards begin with public nominations, after which regional finalists are selected and then judged in early 2013.  Just 4 finalists go through to each regional category, the winners of which go forward to the Grand Final, to be held at Parliament in March 2013. 

Biddenden Vineyards is well suited for the “Rural Enterprise” category, which is aimed at the businesses who are doing something a bit different and those who have diversified – Biddenden vineyards was originally an orchard, planting a trial crop of vines in 1969 of just 1/3 acre. Today the vineyard spans 23 acres and is the oldest commercial vineyard in Kent, welcoming up to 40,000 visitors a year. 

More information on the Countryside Alliance awards can be found at www.countrysideallianceawards.org.uk.

The Caldecott Foundation cares for the most vulnerable children in theUKwho have suffered cruelty and neglect, providing a full range of care services.  They launched their Centenary appeal to run through 2012, to raise £750,000 to build their own vocational learning centre, which was opened earlier this month. 

Biddenden vineyards will be running FREE tours throughout 2013, a full list is available here.

Mr Blanc, owner of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saison hotel and restaurant which has two Michelin stars, is now planning to serve the red wine from Kent’s oldest commercial vineyards to his discerning guests.

He encountered Biddenden Vineyards Pinot Noir 2011 when he was a keynote speaker at the National Fruit Collections Diamond Jubilee Conference, held at Brogdale.

Mr Blanc shared his opinion of the wine, which was served at the conference celebrations, in his speech. He and his chef sommelier, Arnaud Goubet, ordered tasting samples of the Biddenden Pinot Noir 2011 and Mr Blanc is keen for it to appear on Le Manoir list as soon as possible.

“It is very exciting to discover a great Pinot Noir grown in England with such character. I am pleased to support a local supplier,” he said.

Mr Blanc is not alone in his opinion of the Pinot Noir. This summer it was awarded the Bernard Theobald Trophy for the Most Outstanding Red Wine in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year competition.

Sandra Matthews-Marsh, chief executive at Visit Kent, attended the Diamond Jubilee conference.

She said: “Such high praise, from a French connoisseur, for a Kent wine produced by one of our county’s key tourism champions is such an accolade. Biddenden Vineyards is a tremendous Kent asset – a high quality visitor destination and a shining example of high quality local produce. The Biddenden team not only works hard to build on its own achievements year on year but is always willing to share their knowledge and expertise with new businesses.”

Julian Barnes’ family established Biddenden Vineyards in 1969.  Now, as managing director, he oversees the production of Red, White, Rosé and Quality Sparkling Wines from 11 varieties of grapes grown over 23 acres. Twenty years ago the business expanded to produce traditional Kentish ciders alongside farm-pressed apple and pear juices.

Julian  commented “I am pleased Raymond Blanc really enjoyed the Pinot Noir 2011 and that he has already ordered tasting samples. It is proving very popular.”

Biddenden Vineyards has just completed harvesting this year’s grapes and has yet to discover whether they will be producing 2012 award-winning wines.

Mr Barnes said: “Some of the weather this year has been difficult – but conditions vary so much from vineyard to vineyard and between different areas and slopes within each vineyard. Overall we have had a good harvest and although I would have liked to have seen a greater quantity of grapes I think we could be pleasantly surprised by the quality.”

The vineyard is open to visitors throughout the year with free admission & tastings – for further details please see Visiting Us for further details.

We will once again be offering our Christmas hamper and gift box service.  Choose a hamper or gift box from our selection, and fill it with gifts of your choice from around our Christmas shop.  Alternatively, let us know what sort of gift you are looking for and we can put together a hand picked hamper for you – ideas to suit any person or budget!

NEW FOR 2012 – a selection of hampers will be availble by mail order via our online shop and we are able to put together any bespoke hamper to suit your requirements.  Corporate gifts are also available – please contact us for further details.

Enjoy a complementary glass of Monk’s Delight – our spiced mulling cider – on weekends during November – along with a free mince pie for every customer visiting in December.  For opening times, please click here.

Although reports on harvest across the county have been mixed, with poor weather from early in the year right through to harvest time, Biddenden has managed to take a good crop overall.  The first variety to be harvested was Ortega, the variety for which the vineyard is best known, which saw around half the expected crop being taken.  This was then followed by the remaining 9 varieties, including Reichentsteiner with almost a full crop and red varieties such as Dornfelder & Pinot Noir. 

Although the quantity produced is unlikely to be quite as high as in previous years, Biddenden Vineyards are confident that the wines produced will be of the usual high quality. Julian Barnes, Managing Director, commented “Although there may be less still wine to be released next year from the 2012 vintage, there will still be a good amount of sparkling wines available from previous vintages which are still to be released.  Despite this year’s crop not being outstanding, we are still keen to welcome visitors to the vineyard to learn more about where our wines are made and the way in which the weather can impact our growing seasons, as seen across agriculture as a whole this year”.

Biddenden Vineyards is open to visitors throughout the year, with free admission & tastings.  Free tours run on Saturdays until 17^th November inclusive and give visitors the chance to learn more about the history of the vineyard, with a guided vineyard walk, look in the winery  and tastings in the vineyard shop.  For further details please contact the vineyard on 01580 291726 or visit www.biddendenvineyards.com/visiting-us