Coolhurst Vineyards

Coolhurst Vineyards: A Seventh-Generation Sussex Estate Pouring Some of England's Finest Sparkling Wines

Coolhurst Vineyards: A Boutique Sussex Estate with a Two-Century Family Story

Nestled deep within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in West Sussex, Coolhurst Vineyards is one of England's most quietly influential boutique sparkling-wine producers. Run by cousins Charlie and Will Scrase Dickins, the estate sits on land that has been in their family for seven generations, with the family Coat of Arms originally granted by King George III in 1792. The vines were planted with a single ambition: to prove that this corner of Sussex could grow grapes of world-class quality, and turn them into some of England's finest traditional-method sparkling wines.

Where many English vineyards chase scale, Coolhurst has chosen the opposite path. Every wine in the core range is single vineyard, single vintage and single varietal; every bottle is hand-picked, hand-riddled where appropriate, and disgorged only when the lees aging is judged to have done its job. It is a philosophy the family describes as a vision to "produce very special wines in very small quantities for discerning customers," and the awards shelves include a WineGB Gold for The Miller's Tale, a Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships silver for Lady Elizabeth, and a WineGB Silver for the 2018 vintage, suggesting the conviction has paid off.

The Estate, the Family and the Heritage

Coolhurst Vineyards was set up by cousins Charlie and Will Scrase Dickins, the only two boys from their generation, having taken over the running of the estate from their fathers. Charlie gave up a successful career in advertising photography to work the land full-time; Will had previously served eight years in the British Army with the Royal Green Jackets, followed by work with Middle Eastern governments on national elections and border disputes. Both came back to rural Sussex ready for what Charlie describes, in a long Q&A with American winemaker Corinne O'Connor, as a constant series of "challenges that always accompany the successes."

The label design reflects the estate's heritage. At its heart is the family Coat of Arms, granted in 1792 by King George III, an iconic testament to seven generations on the same land. Coolhurst's labels are "classically understated from a distance, but layered with depth and indulgence in the hand," a detail the team is justifiably proud of.

Single-Vintage Sparkling Wines from Sussex

Coolhurst's core trio of English sparkling wines is built around three very different expressions of fruit, time on lees and dosage.

Lady Elizabeth - English Sparkling Rosé (100% Pinot Noir)

Lady Elizabeth was the estate's first label, named in recognition of the daughter of the Marquess of Northampton who originally established the West Sussex estate. It is a single-vintage, 100% Pinot Noir rosé, disgorged after 60 months on its lees to show off both exuberant red fruit and the autolytic character that long lees aging brings. The aim is "a sublimely balanced dry sparkling wine with intense red fruit up front, a harmonious balance of acidity and a gentle soft mousse."

Lady Elizabeth Rosé 2018 - pale salmon, with five years on lees and a year on cork. Won a silver medal at the WineGB Awards. £45.00 per 75cl bottle.
Lady Elizabeth Rosé 2017 - a vintage that started with a warm March and April, then a decent summer, hand-harvested safely away by early October. £52.00 per 75cl bottle.
Lady Elizabeth Rosé 2015 - 75cl - the vintage Coolhurst calls "grown-up"; the one that "announced our arrival on the English Sparkling Wine scene." CSWWC Silver medal winner. £52.00.
Lady Elizabeth Sparkling Rosé 2015 - Magnum - hand harvested, hand riddled on a pupitre, hand disgorged and hand dosed (with a medical syringe!) at 7 g/l. Sold out, with the 2016 magnum release planned for 2026. £99.99.

American winemaker Corinne O'Connor, who, like Coolhurst, champions single vintage releases, has said: "Coolhurst is, in my humble opinion, currently the best sparkling rosé producer in the whole of England."

The Miller's Tale - English Sparkling Blanc de Noirs (100% Pinot Meunier)

The estate's first white wine, The Miller's Tale, is unusual: 100% Pinot Meunier as a Blanc de Noirs, disgorged after 60 months on its lees followed by a further 12 months on cork to encourage subtle Maillard reaction. The 2018 release won a Gold Medal at the WineGB Awards 2024 and was elected into the WineGB Golden50 list of just 15 sparkling wines.

Tasting notes: "Aromas of delicate fruit and a hint of fennel leaf and spice. Palate starts on a sweet fruit note with subtle oxidative definition. Tangy with plenty of delicate fruit on a long finish." (WineGB Judges Panel).
Sam Caporn MW described it as: "An elegant sparkling wine with attractive aromas of Conference pear, ripe red apples and honeysuckle... subtly yeasty with impressive length and stay."
Price: £45.00 per 75cl bottle. Sold by the case (12+ bottles) with free UK mainland delivery.

Demi-Sec Rosé Vintage 2017

The Demi-Sec is, by Coolhurst's reckoning, verging on the unique: a traditional-method vintage rosé demi-sec that the team believes to be the only one currently in production in the UK, with very few, if any, anywhere else in the world. The lightly coloured wine is 100% Pinot Noir given extended time on its lees, with a dosage that adds a "natural balanced fruit sweetness whilst maintaining proper tension and length."

Tasting notes: A pale salmon with fine mousse, bags of red fruit, cranberries, rhubarb and strawberries on the front palate, and pronounced Pinot Noir character on the finish.
The 2017 scored 91 points in the Tim Atkin MW England 2022 Special Wine Report and was described as "expansive, subtle with herbal, raspberry and blossom notes… the afternoon-tea wine of choice!"
Production is limited to fewer than 1,200 bottles.
Price: £45.00 per 75cl bottle.

The Vertical Tasting 3-Pack

For collectors, the Vertical Tasting set brings together the 90-point gold-medalled 2016, the highly acclaimed 2017 and the silver-medalled 2018 Lady Elizabeth vintages side by side. Each wine has had extended lees aging with variant time on cork depending on vintage. Coolhurst calls it "both informative and fun to measure them up against each other," and ships it with free UK delivery included in the price.

Price: £135.00 for the 3-bottle set (free delivery included).

Coolhurst Côtes de Provence Rosé

The Provence rosé at Coolhurst is a labour of family love rather than a Sussex-grown product. With several years spent living on the doorstep of the Verdon and a cousin in the French wine trade, the owners have long been Provence devotees. For nearly twenty-five years they hosted an annual "rosé taste-off" in which each guest would bring a wine for friendly amateur competition; eventually they decided that the surest way to win was to make their own, blended to suit every regular guest's palate.

Coolhurst Côtes de Provence is now made in Brignoles in the Hautes Pays region, blending Cinsault (softness), Grenache (body) and Syrah (red-fruit roundness) from the Maures mountains, Flayosc, Le Thoronet and Cannet des Maures. Grapes are harvested in the early evening and into the night to lock in a pale colour, followed by short maceration, cold pressing and low-temperature settling with no malolactic fermentation.

Côtes de Provence Rosé 2025 - 75cl: pale pink with golden-orange highlights; citrus fruit and summer flowers on the nose; a strawberries-and-cream mouthful giving way to peaches and pears and a long, moreish finish. £16.99.
Côtes de Provence Rosé 2025 - Magnum 1.5L: a "real crowd pleaser and party talking-point." Back in stock soon. £36.50.
Côtes de Provence Rosé 2023 - 75cl: also still listed while 2025 vintages are in transition. £16.99.

Falcon Gin

Coolhurst Falcon Gin was born out of an early-harvest problem. In the first years of the vineyard, the Fruburgunder (early-ripening Pinot) was planted to give winemaking versatility, but the single-varietal stance the team later adopted meant the small crop became a by-product rather than a core wine. As a family of gin-and-tonic drinkers who preferred classic juniper-and-citrus over the artisan explosion, they worked with a Horsham-based distillery partner to make a small-batch gin from grape distillates, bottled in 100% recycled glass.

Tasting notes: clean, refreshing, citrus and juniper. "Not much more to say than that."
Best served over ice with a neutral tonic such as Schweppes and a slice of lemon.
Endorsements include John Mobbs ("I had grown tired of gin somewhat, but this really hits the mark") and a customer who said it was "the best gin I have ever tasted."
Price: £29.99 per 70cl bottle at 40% ABV.

Nectar from a Different Hectare: The Guest-Wine Range

Alongside the estate wines, Coolhurst curates a small range of "guest" bottles from international producers it admires, sold under the playful banner "Nectar from a Different Hectare." The aim is the same as the Sussex wines, showcasing how a single grape can taste wildly different depending on climate and terroir.

Papaiannou Chardonnay - organic Chardonnay from Nemea, Greece; Coolhurst's first guest wine. "Classic chard" for traditionalists with lemon and mountain-herb intrigue. £13.99.
Malagousia - from Ktima Gerovassiliou in Epanomi, the estate credited with rescuing the indigenous Malagousia grape in 1981. White pear, mango and lemon zest with a flinty backbone. £20.15.
Viña Echeverría Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc - a 37.5cl concentrated dessert-style white from the Curicó Valley, Chile, on the 35th parallel south. Honeyed, peachy and apricot. £11.49.
Perez Cruz Cabernet Sauvignon - a 250-hectare family estate in the Maipo Andes, Chile. Ripe red fruits, vanilla from a year in oak, black pepper and wild herbs. £14.50.
Castelnau de Suduiraut Sauternes - the second wine of Grand Cru Classé Château de Suduiraut, next door to Château d'Yquem. Honeycomb, spice, almond and candied citrus. £15.49.
Papaiannou Pinot Noir - organic Pinot from Greece; the original guest wine. £13.99.
Zolla Primitivo di Manduria - a Puglian red "flavour-bomb" from the heel of Italy, six months in second- and third-use barrels. £17.49.

Accessories and Gifts

Coolhurst also offers a small accessories range designed to turn bottles into gifts:

Sparkling Wine Stopper - a retro 1920s-design chrome "fizz keeper" with a single flip lever, designed to keep opened bottles of sparkling wine fresh for days. £7.99.
Personalised Presentation Box - handmade hard-shell case with a semi-matt green lid, golden base, Coolhurst logo emboss, and a personalised message inside the lid (corporate logos can be used). Exclusively available for Lady Elizabeth Sparkling Rosé. £9.99.
A Taste of Coolhurst in the Pink - a twin-pack of the current releases of the highly acclaimed wines at a rounded-down price. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans. £56.00.

Press, Awards and Critical Acclaim

Coolhurst's reputation has been built quietly, but the accolades have stacked up. Highlights include:

WineGB Gold Medal 2024 for The Miller's Tale Blanc de Noirs 2018, and election into the WineGB Golden50 list (one of only 15 sparkling wines).
WineGB Silver Medal 2024 for Lady Elizabeth Rosé 2018.
Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships (CSWWC) Silver 2021 for the Lady Elizabeth 2015.
Tim Atkin MW awarded the Demi-Sec 2017 a 91-point score in the England 2022 Special Wine Report.
Coverage in the Daily Telegraph as one of Victoria Moore's 40 Cracking Wines for Christmas 2019 (only three English wines on her list).
Selection by Olly Smith in the Mail on Sunday Event Magazine 2020 Trends article as Wine of the Week, "Top English Sparkler."
A 17.5/19 score in the #sixatmospheres English Sparkling Wine 2020 guide, which called Lady Elizabeth 2015 "a supremely elegant interpretation of the Pinot Noir Rosé style… one of England's finest."

Delivery, Collections and Newsletter Discount

Coolhurst currently delivers to mainland UK only, aiming to dispatch within 48 hours of receiving an order. Standard UK delivery is £12.99 for most items (with a reduced £9.99 or £10.99 charge for some accessories and guest-wine bottles), and there is no additional charge for multiple orders (six-bottle cases or single-bottle gift boxes) going to the same address. A handful of items, including the Magnum Lady Elizabeth, the A Taste of Coolhurst twin pack and the Vertical Tasting set, include delivery in the price. Free local delivery is offered to the Horsham area, and collections from the vineyard are available by arrangement.

New customers can sign up to the Coolhurst newsletter for a first-order price of £38 per bottle on Lady Elizabeth, while mainland UK orders of 12+ bottles of English sparkling wine qualify for free shipping.

Visiting and Contacting Coolhurst

Enquiries, magnum number reservations and trade contacts are handled directly by the team. The contact details are:

Phone: 01403 610144
Email: sales@coolhurstvineyards.com
Registered office: Coolhurst Vineyards Ltd (company no. 9341805), 35 Ballards Lane, London N3 1XW
Estate location: High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, West Sussex, England

For news, awards and updates, follow Coolhurst on Instagram and Facebook, where the team regularly posts about new releases, medals and the seasons in the vineyard. Long-form interviews with visiting winemakers such as Corinne O'Connor, alongside the original 2019 launch announcement that put the estate on the English sparkling wine map, are also shared there.

Why Coolhurst Matters in the English Sparkling Story

English sparkling wine has grown at breakneck speed over the last decade, with sales reportedly up 77% over 2020 according to industry surveys. Many producers have responded by chasing scale and consistency through non-vintage or multi-vintage cuvées. Coolhurst has gone the other way, with fewer bottles, more vintage character, and an unapologetic commitment to single vineyard, single vintage, single varietal wines.

Charlie's own explanation, from his conversation with Corinne O'Connor, captures the philosophy: "We like that our wines tell the story of a time and place… Many larger producers are moving away from single vintage wines because they've committed so much to their investors… We don't want to do that. Our vineyard is the size that it is, we get the yields that we get, and we make a limited number of bottles."

It is that discipline, combined with seven generations of stewardship of the West Sussex land, that makes a bottle of Lady Elizabeth, The Miller's Tale or the rare Demi-Sec feel less like a commercial product and more like a small piece of English wine history.