Our 2023 vintage earned recognition from Jane MacQuitty of The Times, the WineGB Awards and Decanter.

Jane MacQuitty featured our Pinot Noir as her top English red pick, calling it ‘vibrant, jolly, red plum fruit.’ We won Bronze medals at the WineGB Awards for both our Bacchus Reserve and Pinot Noir. Our Solaris took a Decanter Bronze.

The Times: Jane MacQuitty’s Top English Red

Jane MacQuitty has been The Times’ wine correspondent for over three decades. Her October 2025 feature on English wines included our Pinot Noir as her top red pick, describing it as showing “vibrant, jolly, red plum fruit.”

Pinot Noir remains one of the most challenging varieties to grow and vinify successfully. Ours is wild fermented in stainless steel with 14 days on skins. Sparkling wines dominate conversations about English viticulture, so it is good to see a still English red getting attention.

WineGB Awards: Double Bronze

The WineGB Awards judge English and Welsh wine, with Masters of Wine and trade buyers on the panels. Entering this competition for the first time with our 2023 wines, we were delighted to win Bronze medals for both our Bacchus Reserve and Pinot Noir.

What Makes Stiffkey Valley Special

These accolades reflect both winemaking decisions and the terroir itself. Our vineyard sits on a gentle south-facing slope in the Stiffkey Valley, with free-draining soil studded with flint. Beneath lies a bed of chalk, the same seam that runs through south-eastern England to Champagne, Chablis and Burgundy.

This chalk drains freely and holds enough moisture to sustain the vines through dry periods. Combined with Norfolk’s warm, dry summers and maritime influence, the Stiffkey Valley offers conditions where Bacchus and Pinot Noir can ripen whilst retaining the acidity that gives wines their structure.

We’re still learning what this land can produce. Each vintage teaches us something new.

Taste Them for Yourself

Our wines are available to purchase online at the Walsingham Farms Shop.