Beare Green Winery

Beare Green Winery: Small-Batch Cool-Climate Wines from the Surrey Hills

Beare Green Winery is one of the newest and most exciting small-batch producers to emerge from England's cool-climate wine scene. Founded in the Surrey Hills by Jimmy Smith, Sam Hill and Bethany Paterson, the winery released its first vintage in 2022 and has rapidly built a reputation for thoughtful, low-intervention still wines made from grapes grown in some of the most picturesque vineyards of Southern England.

Based in the village of Beare Green in Surrey, the team work with growers across West Sussex, the Surrey Hills and as far afield as the Crouch Valley in Essex, sourcing fruit from sites that suit each variety and style. The result is a focused portfolio of two ranges - a precision-driven Clonal Range exploring Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and a more playful Spring Range built around Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Bacchus.

The Beare Green Story

Beare Green Winery was founded by Jimmy Smith, Sam Hill and Bethany Paterson in the cool climate of the Surrey Hills of England, releasing their first vintage in 2022. From the outset the trio committed themselves to a clear set of principles: small batches, careful sourcing, and a winemaking culture built around natural yeast fermentation, minimal intervention and a spirit of innovation in the cellar.

Rather than owning every vineyard they work with, Beare Green intentionally partners with growers across Southern England whose terroir and farming philosophy align with their own. The fruit is hand-harvested and whole-cluster pressed at the winery, allowing the team full control over vinification while championing regional diversity. Sustainability and minimal handling run through everything they do - from no fining or filtration on many cuvées, to bottling their pink wines in darker green glass to protect against light damage.

The Founders

The winery is the work of three co-founders - Jimmy Smith, Sam Hill and Bethany Paterson - who together brought the project to life in the Surrey Hills. Their combined experience and shared passion for low-intervention winemaking is the engine behind Beare Green's tightly curated range.

The Two Ranges Explained

Every wine in the Beare Green portfolio falls into one of two clearly defined ranges, each with its own purpose.

The Clonal Range

The Clonal Range is Beare Green's deep dive into two of the world's most expressive grape varieties - Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The team isolate specific clonal selections from named vineyard sites to show how a single variety can speak with different voices depending on clone, soil and microclimate.

Clone 95, Chardonnay, Pulborough, 2023 - £34.00: featured on Alan Titchmarsh's Love Your Weekend Show. This Burgundy-originated clone (certified 1971) is grown on 20-year-old vines on free-draining green sand soils in Pulborough, West Sussex. Expect stone fruit, nutty spice, flinty saline minerality and a creamy, layered palate, raised on gross lees for ten months with a partial new-barrel influence.
Clone 96, Chardonnay, Pulborough, 2023 - £34.00: from the same Pulborough site, this clone shows a livelier, more aromatic profile with floral notes, stone and green fruits and a delicate almond hint. Natural yeast fermentation at 15 - 20°C, ten months on gross lees, and partial barrel ageing deliver a medium-bodied Chardonnay reminiscent of village-level Côte d'Or wines.
Clone 121, Chardonnay, Thakeham, 2023 - £34.00: grown on young vines in water-retentive clay soils around 30 minutes north of Brighton. White blossom, elderflower and grapefruit aromas lead into a creamy, saline palate - a versatile, food-friendly Chardonnay.
Chardonnay, Clonal Blend, Sussex, 2023 - £29.50: 50% Clone 121, 25% Clone 96 and 25% Clone 95 blended into a balanced Sussex Chardonnay. A portion of the Clone 95 was aged in a ceramic vessel under flor, layering bruised green apple and nuttiness into a creamy, mineral wine.
Clone 777, Pinot Noir, Pulborough, 2023 - £36.00: small, tightly packed clusters from a Pulborough greensand site yield intense red cherry, raspberry and structured tannins. Hand-harvested, fermented with a portion of oven-ripened stems, and aged six months in a mix of new and old Burgundian oak.
Clone 114, Pinot Noir, Pulborough, 2023 - £36.00: a lighter, more aromatic Pinot Noir from the same Pulborough site, with bright red fruit - wild strawberry and cranberry - and delicate floral and spice notes.
Pinot Noir, Clonal Blend, Sussex, 2023 - £29.50: a Clone 777 / Clone 114 blend that marries structure and aromatic lift, with 25% aged in Burgundian oak for six months and the rest in stainless steel for freshness.

The Spring Range

The Spring Range is where Beare Green explores varieties that thrive in the cooler, brighter English growing season - Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Bacchus - and where the team push the boundaries of texture, skin contact and ceramic maturation.

AAA Pinot Blanc, Crouch Valley, Essex, 2022 - £24.50: 100% Pinot Blanc hand-harvested from the family-run Fleming Vineyard in Essex's warm, dry Crouch Valley, on clay-based soils. Naturally fermented in stainless steel at 15 - 18°C and aged ten months on fine lees with regular bâtonnage. Lively orchard fruit, lemon, fennel and a saline, long finish at 12.5% ABV.
AAA, Pinot Gris Skin Contact, West Sussex, 2023 - £25.00: Pinot Gris from free-draining loam at 100m altitude on the West Sussex / Hampshire border, fermented on its skins for a week to add colour, body and intensity - deep gold in colour, although technically an orange wine by method.
'Flock' White Blend, Pinot Gris x Bacchus, England, 2023 - £24.00: 55% Pinot Gris and 45% Bacchus, with 10% of the Pinot Gris component having gone through a week of skin fermentation to add texture and roundness. A refreshing, light spritz makes it a perfect warm-weather aperitif.
DIO - Bacchus 2023 - £19.50: 100% Bacchus from a south-facing Surrey Hills vineyard at 125m altitude, just fifteen minutes from the winery. Hand-harvested, whole-cluster pressed, naturally fermented in stainless steel - bright, aromatic and varietally pure.
DIO Skin Contact - Bacchus 2023 - £24.00: the same Surrey Hills Bacchus, but with a week of skin fermentation that adds texture, body and roundness while taming Bacchus's exuberant aromatics.
'DEX' Pink, St. Mary's Vineyard, West Sussex, England, 2023 - £19.50: 100% Pinot Noir (Clone 386) from chalky soils on St. Mary's, in the hills north of Brighton. 48 - 72 hours of skin contact in stainless steel gives deeper colour and flavour, bottled in darker green glass to protect against light damage.
'Sounder Pink' St. Mary's Vineyard, West Sussex, England, 2023 - £22.50: the same St. Mary's Clone 386 Pinot Noir, but fermented in old French oak barriques with 48 - 72 hours of skin contact for added complexity and tertiary notes.
Tickety Boosh, Pinot Noir x Bacchus, Sussex, 2023 - £19.50: Beare Green's homage to the original winemaking process - foot-trodden grapes, natural yeast fermentation with skin contact, no fining, no filtration. An elemental, characterful red-meets-orange hybrid.

Vineyard Sources Across Southern England

Although the winery sits in Beare Green, Surrey, the fruit for its wines is deliberately drawn from a patchwork of vineyard sites across Southern England, each selected for the character it brings.

Surrey Hills - south-facing, free-draining loam at 125m altitude, the source of the DIO Bacchus range, just fifteen minutes from the winery.
Pulborough, West Sussex - green sand soils at 80 - 100m altitude, hosting 20-year-old vines that supply the Clonal Range Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Thakeham, West Sussex - water-retentive clay soils at low altitude, home to the young vines producing Clone 121 Chardonnay.
St. Mary's, West Sussex - chalky soils in the hills north of Brighton, an ideal cool site for complex Pinot Noir pink wines.
West Sussex / Hampshire border - free-draining loam at 100m altitude, providing the Pinot Gris for the AAA and 'Flock' cuvées.
Crouch Valley, Essex - the warm, dry, family-run Fleming Vineyard on clay-based soils, source of the AAA Pinot Blanc.

A Low-Intervention Winemaking Philosophy

Across both ranges, Beare Green's winemaking is defined by patience and restraint. Natural yeast fermentation is the rule, allowing each site's microflora to shape the wine. Whites are typically fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures, with extended time on fine or gross lees for texture and complexity, and either no or partial oak influence. Reds are hand-harvested and spontaneously fermented with gentle pump-overs, with a proportion of oven-ripened stems adding aromatic lift and fine tannin structure.

The team also actively explore less conventional techniques in the cellar. Skin contact maceration is used to add body and texture to varieties as varied as Pinot Gris, Bacchus and Pinot Noir, while ceramic pot and flor ageing has been trialled in the Chardonnay Clonal Blend to introduce nutty, reductive complexity.

Buying Beare Green Wines

Wines can be purchased directly from the winery through the Beare Green Winery online shop, which is organised by both range (Spring Range, Clonal Range) and by style (White, Orange, Pink, Red). Prices currently range from £19.50 for entry-level Bacchus, Pinot Noir x Bacchus and pink wines, up to £36.00 for single-clone Pinot Noir cuvées.

Delivery

All wine orders are dispatched from Beare Green's warehouse partner and delivered Monday to Friday to any mainland UK address for a flat fee of £15.95. Orders must be purchased and signed for by an adult aged 18 or over. Packaging uses double-walled cardboard boxes with recycled, compostable inserts, and any issues should be raised with the team at info@bearegreenwinery.com.