Dalwood Vineyard - A Community-Run English Sparkling & Still Wine Producer in East Devon
Dalwood Vineyard is one of the most quietly appealing small English wine producers you could hope to visit. Tucked into a gentle, west-to-south-west-facing hillside overlooking the village of Dalwood in East Devon, this three-acre, roughly 3,000-vine site is the work of six local villagers who turned an idea first sketched out over a dozen years ago into a thriving community vineyard that now makes both a traditional-method English sparkling wine and a clean, racy still white.
The story behind Dalwood Vineyard
Dalwood Vineyard was, in the words of the team, "an idea first discussed twelve or so years ago, but like many good ideas it took a while to happen." Eventually the conversation came up again over a pint or two, and this time six Dalwood villagers decided to make it real. They backed the project with knowledge gained from a vine-growing course at Plumpton College and a great deal of on-the-job learning, and in 2009 they planted the first acre of vines - all of it Seyval Blanc, the classic cool-climate hybrid chosen for its ability to deliver reliable crops in an unpredictable West Country climate.
A year later, three more varieties were planted: Solaris, Madeleine Angevine and Pinot Noir, taking the vineyard to its current footprint of about three acres and roughly 3,000 vines. The varietal mix was a deliberate one - each variety was chosen to cope with the vagaries of the South West weather, reliably produce fruit, and offer blending flexibility. The slope itself is gentle, but it has clearly worked for the team, as any visitor who's spent an hour on the hill will attest.
Because it takes a minimum of four years from planting to a first viable crop under good conditions, the first Dalwood harvest didn't come until 2013. The team decided to devote that maiden vintage entirely to sparkling wine - and the logic was sound: by then England was already building a strong international reputation for its sparklings, regularly seeing off Champagnes and other competition entries in blind tastings. The result was the first release of what would become their signature Danes Hill cuvée, a traditional-method blend led by Seyval Blanc.
The wines
Danes Hill - the Dalwood sparkling
Danes Hill is Dalwood Vineyard's traditional-method sparkling wine, made from an 80/20 blend of Seyval Blanc and Pinot Noir, bottled in 75cl format at 11.5% ABV. The 2020 vintage is the current shop release, priced at £29.95 inc. VAT. On the nose it shows ripe orchard fruit, peachy richness, citrus zest and a distinctive seasoning of toasted pastry. The palate opens with bright citrus and crunchy green apple, softening into riper, juicy stone fruit and pear, finishing with a slight smokiness and hints of biscuit and lemon zest. It's a generous, generous-spirited sparkler from another very warm year, and a great ambassador for English fizz from a single East Devon block.
Danes Hill is made and bottled by Steve Brooksbank of Brooksbank Barrs, based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset - the same winemaker behind the still white below.
2023 Still White Wine
The 2023 Still White Wine is the vineyard's first still release of note, a clean, dry blend of Solaris and Seyval Blanc, bottled at 11.5% ABV and priced at £15.00 inc. VAT. The vintage is significant: Dalwood's single estate, one-block vineyard produces just 3,800 bottles of this still white, and the grapes are picked individually by hand so each variety is harvested at its best. The team use a minimal-intervention, whole-bunch pressing method that lets the fruit speak for itself.
On the nose the wine opens with green pear, grapefruit, lemon and pear drops, opening up to a riper tropical-fruit and floral note as it warms in the glass. The palate is classically Dalwood - packed with crisp pear and lemon, with fuller notes of white peach and fleshy tropical fruit from the Solaris supporting the racy, salted-lemon core of the Seyval Blanc. Brilliantly clean and bright, it's a very drinkable English white for seafood, salads, sunny afternoons or a Devon cheese board.
Where the wines are made
Although the vines are entirely Dalwood's, the winemaking is contracted out. The wines are made and bottled by Steve Brooksbank of Brooksbank Barrs in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, while the disgorging and labelling for the sparklings has been handled by the well-known Lyme Bay Winery. Dalwood is also openly grateful to "members of the vineyard industry generally, always generous with the help" - a typical acknowledgement for a small English producer leaning on the wider community.
Visit Dalwood Vineyard: tours and tastings
Dalwood runs guided vineyard tours and tastings, and they are unusually generous: the tour itself is free. The team simply ask that visitors pay for what they drink, which typically works out at around £20 per head.
Tours wind through the vines while the hosts share the vineyard's story, talk through the four grape varieties grown on site, and explain how the English climate shapes both still and sparkling styles. The visit culminates in a tasting of Dalwood's wines, usually with the Danes Hill sparkling and the current still white side by side.
The vineyard is also open to hosting bespoke events. The team welcomes enquiries about:
- BBQs in the vineyard
- Tapas lunches surrounded by the vines
- Supper at The Tuckers Arms, the local village pub in Dalwood, after working up an appetite during a tour
- Parties and tour groups, including birthdays and even weddings up among the vines
After hosting an 80th birthday on the slope, the team put it simply: "We have hosted, birthdays and a wedding up in the vines... think about it!"
Special events and community spirit
Although the vineyard does not publish a formal what's on calendar, Dalwood is an active community venue. Recent highlights include charity fundraisers for Cancer Research UK and the local hospice - the latter featuring tours at 12:00, 2:00 and 4:00pm with a live band kicking off at 1:00pm - and the well-loved "Lunch in the Vines" series. Lunch in the Vines is a sit-down three-course meal among the rows, with a glass of fizz on arrival and a bottle of Dalwood still wine per couple, typically priced around £80 per couple with an early-bird offer at £75.
The team have also travelled off-site to pour and talk about English wine, including an evening at Peterley Manor Farm where their wines featured in an eight-wine tasting led by wine expert Tim Killen alongside producers such as Harrow & Hope, JoJo's Vineyard, The Wharie Experience, Oastbrook, Balfour and Abbingworth.
Day-to-day life on the vineyard includes budding in spring, sheep-dog puppy updates, a hand-tied fishing rod, and the running joke about the resident vineyard dog, Dottie, who clearly has a fan club.
Where to buy Dalwood wines and other stockists
The full current range is available from the Dalwood Vineyard online shop:
- 2020 Danes Hill - £29.95 inc. VAT
- 2023 Still White Wine - £15.00 inc. VAT
- Vineyard Tours - giftable experience, pay on the day for what you drink
For those who'd rather pick a bottle up in person, Dalwood works with a curated list of local and regional stockists across Devon and beyond:
- The Tuckers Arms, Dalwood - the village pub, a natural pairing with a vineyard visit
- Dalwood Village Shop
- Colyford Post Office, Colyford
- Millers Farm Shop, Kilmington
- The Pig at Combe, Honiton
- The Grazing Cow, Offwell
- Seriously Good Wines, Lyme Regis
- Honkytonk Wine Library, Plymouth
Following Dalwood Vineyard
Dalwood Vineyard can be followed on social media:
Why Dalwood matters in the English wine story
Dalwood is a useful reminder that the English wine story isn't only being written on the chalk downlands of Sussex and Hampshire. Three acres of vines on a Devon hillside, tended by six villagers who learnt their craft at Plumpton and worked with a Somerset winemaker and the Lyme Bay winery, have produced a traditional-method sparkler that punches well above its weight and a still white that proves just how well Solaris and Seyval Blanc can do on the right site. Add a genuinely warm welcome for visitors, a generous free-tour policy, and a calendar of community lunches, charity days and bespoke events, and you have a small Devon vineyard doing things exactly the way the best English producers do them - slowly, locally, and with a story worth telling.