Robertshaw Vineyard and Winery: A New Sparkling Wine Estate on the Surrey Hills North Downs Chalk
A New Surrey Hills Vineyard on the North Downs Chalk
Robertshaw Vineyard and Winery is a family-owned English wine estate making its home at Blakes Lane Farm in Guildford, Surrey. Set on the North Downs, the site sits on the same continuous chalk seam that runs beneath the Champagne region of France, and the team behind it is using that geology as the foundation for an ambitious estate-grown sparkling wine project. The winery is not yet open to the public, but a new winery building is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026, with the wider visitor operation set to launch in September 2026. The estate holds the distinction of being home to one of only two vineyard wineries in Guildford.
A Setting Borrowed from Champagne
The North Downs chalk is among the most prized terroirs in the world of sparkling wine. The chalk soils at Robertshaw drain freely, retain moisture through dry spells, and reflect sunlight back up into the canopy, allowing grapes to ripen slowly while keeping the natural acidity that high-quality sparkling wine demands. The vineyard team frames the project as a deliberate echo of Champagne, separated only by the Channel. For visitors who know the Côte des Blancs, the geology of this Surrey hillside will feel immediately familiar.
Two Farming Dynasties, One Vineyard
The story of Robertshaw Vineyard is built on two intertwined family histories. The Robertshaw line of farmers reaches back to the thirteenth century, when an early settler named Robertus de Schagh - Robert of the Wood - cleared woodland in Yorkshire and built a farm that would eventually give the family its name. In 1662, Joshua Robertshaw moved to the land surrounding Keelham, Yorkshire, and the family has farmed that same site ever since. The current Robertshaw family is now in its eighth generation on the land first established by Joshua, who is Emma Robertshaw's seventh great-grandfather.
The winemaking heritage runs on the other side of the Channel. Emma's mother, Joan (née Blaye), worked in the vineyards of the Champagne region in the early 1960s, and Joan's own family comes from the town of Blaye on the Right Bank of the Gironde estuary in southwest France, an area long celebrated for its Bordeaux wines. Joan continues to work alongside the family at the vineyard, and her early experience in Champagne is a quiet through-line in the project. Together, the Blaye and Robertshaw families each carry centuries of agricultural heritage on different sides of the English Channel.
From Yorkshire to the Surrey Hills
In 2018, the Robertshaw family bought a farm in Guildford, drawn by the rare opportunity to farm on the same chalk seam that runs beneath Champagne. For a family with deep roots in both Yorkshire farming and French viticulture, the move felt like a natural step - a return to a shared lineage of agriculture that stretches across generations and borders. The Surrey Hills vineyard now exists alongside the historic Yorkshire farm, with the same family committed to the careful stewardship of both.
A Roman Past on the Land
The history of the Guildford site reaches even further back than the Robertshaw family. Roman coins uncovered in the vineyard suggest a possible link to the Roman presence in the area, and since the Romans are known to have planted vines in England and across the same chalk belt in France, it is entirely plausible that grape cultivation was once part of the agricultural life of this land. The estate views the modern vineyard as a continuation of a very long agricultural, and possibly viticultural, story on the Surrey Hills.
The 1662 Sparkling Wine Connection
The Robertshaw family settled in Keelham, Yorkshire, in 1662 - and that year has a special significance for English sparkling wine. In the same year, more than thirty years before the French monk Dom Pérignon is popularly credited with discovering the méthode champenoise, the Englishman Christopher Merret presented a paper to the Royal Society explaining how adding sugar to a finished wine produced a secondary fermentation in the bottle, creating the sparkle. His observation - that "our wine coopers of recent times use vast quantities of sugar and molasses to all sorts of wines to make them drink brisk and sparkling and to give them spirit" - is one of the earliest documented descriptions of the technique that would later define Champagne. The estate proudly points to this as evidence that the British roots of sparkling winemaking run deeper than is often recognised.
The New Winery Building
The estate is in the final stages of a major building project. A new winery building is scheduled to open in summer 2026, with the wider visitor operation due to launch in September 2026. The new facility will allow the team to produce estate-grown sparkling wine from vine to bottle entirely on the vineyard, a step that places Robertshaw among a small but growing number of English producers who control every stage of production on a single site. Visitors will be able to see the winemaking process first hand, participate in tastings, and learn about the craft, all on the same chalk hillside where the grapes are grown.
The Wines
The full range of Robertshaw wines will be revealed closer to the opening date. The estate is currently in the final stages of completing its winery building and has not yet released a list of wines, prices, or tasting formats. The project is being built around the North Downs chalk's suitability for traditional-method sparkling wine, the style for which the region is best known.
Visiting
Robertshaw Vineyard and Winery is currently closed to the public as the new winery is completed. The estate is scheduled to open in September 2026, with visitor experiences including tours and tastings planned as part of the launch.
Find the Vineyard
Robertshaw Vineyard and Winery sits at Blakes Lane Farm, on Blakes Lane in Guildford, on the western edge of the Surrey Hills. The postcode is GU4 7RR. The site is a short drive from Guildford town centre and is well placed for visitors exploring the North Downs and the wider Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Contact
For enquiries, the vineyard can be reached by email at info@guildfordvineyard.co.uk, by mobile on 07931 351034, or by landline on 01483 379 020. The postal address is Blakes Lane Farm, Blakes Lane, Guildford, GU4 7RR.