Furleigh Estate: Award-Winning Dorset Sparkling Wines from the Jurassic Coast
Tucked into the rolling, sun-trapped hills of West Dorset, just five miles from the Jurassic Coast, Furleigh Estate has quietly become one of England's most decorated boutique wineries. Husband-and-wife team Ian Edwards and Rebecca Hansford have spent two decades transforming a former dairy farm into a 22,000-vine estate whose traditional-method sparkling wines regularly take home international gold medals and trophies. With an elegant cellar door, a portfolio ranging from a £10 drop-in tasting to a limited-release cuvée at £49.50, and three tiers of wine club, Furleigh offers one of the most complete English wine experiences in the South West.
The Estate and Its Setting on Dorset's Jurassic Coast
Furleigh Estate sits at Salway Ash, a strung-out village a few miles north of Bridport, in the south-west corner of Dorset. The vineyard is 15 miles west of Dorchester, 10 miles south of Crewkerne and roughly 15 miles east of Honiton. It is also just five miles from the coast, putting it firmly inside the buffer zone of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The estate itself runs to 85 acres of vineyard, lakes and grazing land ringed by woodland. The slopes face south, capturing the long, mild growing season that makes this corner of England so well suited to cool-climate viticulture. Wildlife is part of the day-to-day here: buzzards circle overhead, deer, pheasants and partridge roam the rows of vines, heron fish from the lakes and the resident geese return each spring. It is, in every sense, a working farm that happens to produce award-winning wine.
From Dairy Farm to Modern Winery: A Short History
Rebecca Hansford grew up at Furleigh Farm. After careers in mathematical business, she and Ian left city life, returned to the family farm and, by "a quirk of fate", ended up buying the dairy where she had lived as a child. Four years of careful planning and investment transformed the former dairy farm into a modern, productive vineyard and winery.
The first vines went into the ground in 2005 and 2006. A purpose-built, 5,000-square-foot winery followed in 2007, kitted out with a specialist pneumatic press, temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks from Italy and Germany, oak barrels from Cognac, and riddling and dosage machinery from Épernay in France. In 2019 a further expansion building was completed just in time to receive the magnificent 2018 harvest, partly funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
Today, over 22,000 vines grow on the south-facing slopes: roughly 15,000 of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier for sparkling wines, plus Bacchus and Rondo for the still range. Furleigh is unusual in the English wine world for keeping its supply chain almost entirely local: every wine in the range is made at Furleigh from grapes grown at Furleigh, with no importation from Sussex or East Anglia. As the team puts it: "Our Dorset wines are made from Dorset grapes."
The Winemaking Approach
Ian describes his style as a "light-handed approach", both in the vineyard and in the winery, supported by the right high-tech equipment. His ethos is built around careful handling of the grapes at every stage, with effective temperature control used to avoid bitter phenolic extraction and to manage the naturally high acidity of English fruit. The aim is to minimise intervention, keep the natural balance of the wine, encourage finesse in the mousse and let the terroir speak.
Vineyards and Terroir
Furleigh farms 16 hectares in total: 8ha around the winery at Furleigh and another 8ha at Hingsden Lane, about a mile away. The soils are Thorncombe Sand - green sand and sedimentary sandstone dating from the Early Jurassic period, giving the free-draining, sandy, loamy ground that suits classic Champagne varieties so well. The trellising is VSP (vertical shoot position), used partly to keep the vines out of reach of browsing wildlife. A full natural ground cover protects the soil from erosion, and a tunnel sprayer is used for careful, regular protection against downy mildew. Winter pruning restricts bud numbers and leaf plucking follows flowering to expose the fruit. Yields average around four tonnes per hectare (about 22 hl/ha), and the harvest is picked entirely by hand into 20 kg crates in October.
Winery and Equipment
The winery itself is purpose-built and increasingly powered by renewable energy. A Willmes pneumatic (balloon) press is inverted prior to pressing so any debris or oxidised elements can run off first. Only the "cuvée" juice is used for the sparkling wines, achieved through slow, gentle, whole-bunch pressing; the "taille" juice, taken from just under the skin, is reserved for the still wines. Sparkling base wines ferment in stainless steel with cultured yeasts, then undergo full malolactic conversion before being cold-stabilised and filtered through Kieselgur. After around six months in tank on lees, the wines are blended, a small proportion of reserve wine is held back, and the liqueur de tirage is added for the secondary fermentation in bottle. Maturation on lees typically runs to 70 months for the top cuvées, before mechanical remuage on Giropallets, disgorgement and the careful addition of dosage to balance each individual vintage.
The Furleigh Estate Wine Range
Every Furleigh wine is vegetarian and vegan friendly, screwcap- or cork-sealed and bottled on-site. The portfolio splits into traditional-method sparkling wines and a small, food-friendly range of still whites, rosé and red.
Sparkling Wines
The sparkling range is built around the three classic Champagne varieties - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier - and made by the traditional bottle-fermented method. All carry English Quality Sparkling Wine PDO status.
Classic Cuvée
The flagship non-vintage-style sparkling wine is the Classic Cuvée, a 40% Chardonnay / 30% Pinot Noir / 30% Pinot Meunier blend plus 10% reserve wine. It sees at least 24 months on lees (typically three years before release) and 100% malolactic conversion, with a dosage of 8 g/L. Tasting notes describe it as pale lemon straw with a steady stream of minute bubbles, floral aromas of apple blossom with ripe melon and pear, and a fine mousse marrying grapefruit and Sicilian lemon with crystalline structure. The Classic Cuvée was the first, and so far only, English sparkling wine to win a gold medal at the prestigious Effervescent du Monde competition in Lyon.
Blanc de Blancs
The Blanc de Blancs 2014 is 100% Chardonnay, drawn from the best Chardonnay parcels, and is limited to around 2,000 bottles per release. A very dry style (2 g/L dosage) with attractive floral aromas of acacia, elderflower and citrus blossom, and a chalky, saline minerality on the finish. The latest release, the 2018, has been described by the team as "from the vintage of the century (so far)" - a crystalline, elegant sparkling with lots of tiny bubbles.
Blanc de Noirs
The Blanc de Noirs 2014 is made only in the best vintages, from 88% Pinot Noir and 12% Pinot Meunier, and is another tiny production of around 2,000 bottles. It is lemon gold in colour, with aromas of white iris and peony married to stone fruit and cherry, leading into a fruit-driven palate of yellow peach, ripe quince and notes of medlar, with a lingering nutty, pistachio and almond finish.
Sparkling Rosé NV
The Sparkling Rosé blends the three Champagne grapes (46% Pinot Noir / 40% Chardonnay / 14% Pinot Meunier) and adds a small amount of still red wine made from a blend of Pinot and the deep-coloured Rondo variety to give a delicate salmon-pink hue and a distinctive strawberry note. It carries 10 g/L dosage and 100% malolactic, with a soft, creamy mousse and flavours of cranberry, redcurrant, nectarine and wild apricot.
Prestige Cuvée
The Prestige Cuvée 2014 is the top of the standard range, an English Extra Brut drawn from the very best plots and given at least 48 months on lees (five years before release). Production is limited to 5,000 bottles. With only 3 g/L dosage it stays bone-dry, with delicate floral aromas of hawthorn and acacia blossom, nutty notes of crushed hazelnut and blanched almond, freshly baked brioche and Italian pandoro, plus orchard and stone fruit on the palate.
The 'From the Oenothèque' Range
In 2019 Furleigh unveiled its super-premium tier, the 'From the Oenothèque' range. 'Oenothèque' means 'wine cellar', and these wines are held back from exceptional vintages to undergo extended lees ageing and post-dosage cellaring before release.
The first release, From the Oenothèque 10, was made entirely from the 2010 vintage (60% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 5% Pinot Meunier), spent 70 months on its lees and a further 24 months under cork, and is presented in a beautiful box at an RRP of £49.50. Just 1,500 bottles were produced. The original 2009 (500 bottles, 40/30/30 blend) is the even rarer earlier release, and the wines are cellared for ageing potential - both are drinking beautifully now but have years ahead of them.
Still Wines
Although most of Furleigh's production is sparkling, the estate also makes a small range of still wines designed to match local Dorset food - particularly the seafood and asparagus grown a stone's throw from the cellar door.
Bacchus Dry
The Bacchus Dry 2018 is 100% Bacchus, briefly macerated on the skins before pressing to bring out classic English hedgerow flavours of elderflower, cut grass and crushed nettles. Star-bright pale lemon-green, brilliantly aromatic, with floral scents of elderflower and honeysuckle, ripe orchard fruit, herbaceous sweet pea-shoots and nettles, then a zesty palate of lemon peel, grapefruit, gooseberry and passionfruit.
Bacchus Fumé
The Bacchus Fumé NV takes the same grape (90% Bacchus / 10% Chardonnay) and adds partial maturation in American oak barriques for around six months, lending a hint of vanilla and coconut to a tropical-fruit-driven, food-friendly white. A regular gold-medal winner.
West Dorset Chardonnay
Made only from the flavourful juice just under the skin of the grape, with around 30% of the blend aged for four months in American oak barriques, the West Dorset Chardonnay 2018 is a crisp, cool-climate white with aromas of ripe Coxes apples and juicy Williams pear, a silky mouthfeel and a zesty finish of bramley apple, quince and candied peel.
White Pinot Noir
An unusual wine made from 100% Pinot Noir, pressed white in the Champagne style, the White Pinot Noir 2018 is highly aromatic with clementine, tangerine and blood orange combined with red apple and ripe quince, and a palate of greengage, mirabelle and redcurrants. Rarity and versatility in one glass.
Sea Pink Rosé
Sea Pink is Furleigh's very popular still rosé, full of juicy wild strawberry flavours and perfect for barbecues and summer drinking. A portion of the profits from every bottle sold is donated to the RNLI, the local lifeboat charity.
Tyrannosaurus Red
And finally, a light red wine with a big, heavy name - Tyrannosaurus Red, the playful still red in the Furleigh range.
Wine Clubs: Discovery Cru, Premier Cru and Grand Cru
For anyone who wants to drink Furleigh regularly, three wine clubs sit at the heart of the customer offer, all named with a nod to Bordeaux's classification system. There are no joining fees, the discount is applied automatically, and you can change the suggested wines or adjust delivery frequency at any time.
- Discovery Cru - the entry level. Commit to one bottle of Furleigh per delivery, on a 1-, 2- or 3-month schedule. Members receive 10% off wines, tours and events, an invitation to the annual 'Get Your Hands Dirty' lunch subject to space, a mystery wine-related gift on joining, and regular updates from the estate.
- Premier Cru - three bottles per delivery on a 1-, 2- or 3-month schedule. Members receive 15% off, an option of two tickets to the harvest lunch (pick, crush and dine with the team), priority notification of new releases and limited-edition wines, and complimentary Grand Tour tickets for two each year.
- Grand Cru - six bottles per delivery, again on a 1-, 2- or 3-month schedule. The discount rises to 20%, with two harvest-lunch tickets, priority on new releases and four complimentary Grand Tour tickets a year.
The previous 'Seasonal Six' club is now closed to new members but the Grand Cru offers identical terms for fresh sign-ups. The first wine club shipment is despatched two days after you sign up, and quarterly after that.
Tours, Tastings and Experiences
Furleigh's visitor programme is built around the seasons. Vineyard and winery tours run from Easter until the end of October; drop-in tastings continue all year round. Tours should always be booked in advance.
Summer Grand Tour
The flagship experience, at £30 per person, runs twice daily on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 11am and 2.30pm for around two hours. It includes the Furleigh story, an introduction to the history of English wine, a walk to the vineyard (where you may spot the resident deer), a look inside the winery and a seated, tutored tasting of three still and two sparkling wines, plus a chance to buy the current range at the cellar door.
Driver's Tour
New for 2026, the Driver's Tour lets the nominated driver in your group enjoy the full tour and a tasting of five local apple and pear juices instead of wine, so everyone can relax and drive home safely. £30 per person, same 11am/2.30pm slots on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, around 120 minutes long.
Classic Tour
The Classic Tour runs at 11am on Wednesdays from the beginning of June and lasts around 90 minutes. It follows the same vineyard and winery route as the Grand Tour but with a shorter tasting flight of three wines (about 120 ml in total).
Group Tours
For parties of up to 25 people, Group Tours cost £45 per person (with a £450 minimum charge) and run on Tuesdays starting at 11am from Easter to harvest. They are popular with Wine Societies, gardening groups, U3A, hen parties and corporate teams looking for an away-day. Private tours can loiter, ask questions and tailor the experience to the group. Anyone appearing under 25 will be asked for ID - a legal obligation under UK licensing law.
Drop-in Tastings
If you simply want to taste three of the day's wines (two still and one sparkling) during cellar door opening hours, the self-guided tasting is £10 per person. Around 40 ml of each wine is poured. The last tasting starts at 4pm and only small groups (under six) can be accommodated. Booking is advisable, although you can drop in and hope there is space.
Summer Picnics
From the last weekend in May to the end of August, picnic hampers are offered at 1pm alongside tours or tastings on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The hampers are sourced from Washingpool Farmshop, feed two people and come in vegetarian or non-vegetarian versions at £45 per picnic. At least 48 hours' notice is required, and a maximum of four picnics (eight guests) can be accommodated per slot.
Wedding Wine Tasting
For couples planning their big day, private tastings cost £150 for the whole group (up to eight people, Monday to Friday, all year round). You visit the vineyard and winery, taste three sparkling and three still wines under the guidance of a member of the Furleigh team and take any unfinished bottles home. Only one group is hosted per day so the team can take very special care of you.
Events and What's On
Furleigh runs an evolving programme of events through the year, from seasonal cellar door evenings to harvest celebrations in October. The headline recurring experiences include the Summer Picnics (last weekend of May through end of August, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 1pm) and the annual Harvest Pick and Dine Day in October, when Wine Club members join the team to pick, crush and dine - a perk for Premier Cru and Grand Cru members.
Other events have included bespoke projects such as the Montagu Cuvée made for the Earl and Countess of Sandwich at Mapperton Estate, and the launch of the super-premium 'From the Oenothèque' range during English Wine Week.
Sustainability at Furleigh
Sustainability is built into every decision at Furleigh. As of mid-2024 the estate's carbon footprint is around zero, as measured by the WineGB carbon calculator, with a target of minus 10% by 2030.
- Energy: the winery is 100% powered by electricity and the solar panel array currently generates over 100% of the power used on site.
- Bottles: bottles account for around 40% of the greenhouse gases in wine production, dominated by weight. Furleigh's still wine bottles weigh just 395g - well under the UK average of 550g and the industry target of 420g.
- Vineyards: ground cover protects the soil from erosion, nutrients are regularly replenished, no herbicides or insecticides are used (mechanical cultivators have replaced herbicide spraying), and all waste plant material is returned to the soil. Tractor activity is dwarfed by the carbon sequestration of the vines themselves.
- Biodiversity: wildflower meadows, hedgerows and woodland are actively managed around the vineyard. Several acres alongside the vineyard have never been cultivated at all in the family's 75-year tenure - they have always been "wild", not "rewilded".
- Community: all permanent staff live locally; the team nominates a charity each year to receive a portion of profits from a specific wine (in 2024 it was the RNLI, via Sea Pink rosé).
Wedding Wine
Whether the happy couple are getting married in Dorset, met here, or simply have happy memories of the area, Furleigh's wedding wine service covers every step. Options include:
- A private tasting at the vineyard for up to eight people - £150 for the whole group, Monday to Friday.
- Wedding tasting cases of three still wines, three sparkling wines, or one of each - delivered to your door with food-pairing suggestions and score sheets for friends and family.
- Free temperature-controlled storage at Furleigh if you want to choose and reserve your wines well in advance of the big day.
As a rule of thumb, the estate recommends dividing the number of guests by two to arrive at the number of bottles needed. Worked examples for 20-, 100- and 200-guest weddings help calculate the right order.
Where to Stay: Local Accommodation
Furleigh sits in the heart of West Dorset, with the Jurassic Coast five miles to the south and rolling Dorset hills to the north. Recommended nearby places to stay range from country-house hotels to self-catering barns. Highlights include:
- Hotels: The Ollerod, Beaminster (3 miles); Outbuildings, Bridport (4 miles); The Seaside Boarding House, Burton Bradstock (7 miles); Summer Lodge Country House Hotel, Evershot (12 miles); Alexandra Hotel, Lyme Regis (12 miles); The King's Arms, Dorchester (19 miles).
- Bed & breakfast: Parnham Farm B&B, Netherbury (2 miles); The Anchor Inn, Seatown (7 miles).
- Self-catering: Kingsland Farm Hoods Cottage, Salway Ash (1 mile); The Barn @ Dormouse Cottage, Netherbury (2 miles); Springfield House, Waytown (3 miles); Laverstock Farm Cottages and Shepherd's Hut, Marshwood Vale (2 miles); Shutes Farm Cottage, Symondsbury.
Visiting the Cellar Door
The Cellar Door shop is open for wine sales from 9.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday, and on Saturdays from May until the end of October. All of the current Furleigh range is available to buy over the counter, alongside gift sets, gift vouchers and the Celebration Chiller - a wicker chiller with liner and two sparkling wines, perfect for picnics.
The pretty tasting room has glorious stone walls and a terrace looking out across the vineyard. The shop is step-free from the rear of the building, the customer WC is accessible and there is car parking close by. Coaches are not suitable for the lanes, but small coaches of up to 20 seats are fine.
Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome in the shop and on tours, but not in the winery itself. Children may accompany parents to make or collect purchases, but tours and tastings are for over-18s only.
Directions: from Bridport, take the B3162 towards Broadwindsor and go through the village of Salway Ash; after the church and school, the next turning on the right - a white finger-post signed 'Vineyard' - leads down to the cattle grid and Furleigh. From Beaminster, go via Broadwindsor. From the A303, allow about 30 minutes via Crewkerne, Beaminster and Broadwindsor.
Online Shop and Trade Enquiries
Wine can be ordered through the online shop at any time and is usually dispatched within three working days via a 24-hour delivery service. UK mainland delivery is £9.50 below £75 and free above; gift vouchers are delivered free. Some postcode areas carry surcharges (AB, BT, FK, HS, IM, IV, KA, KW, PA, PH, PO and ZE) and exports outside the UK are by arrangement.
For trade and wholesale customers, contact Lisa Ellingham on 01308 488991. Furleigh is represented outside the West Country by Thorman Hunt (020 7735 6511). The estate's AWRS URN is XAAW00000119721.
Press, Awards and Recognition
Furleigh's wines have earned a string of international accolades. The Classic Cuvée was the first English sparkling wine to take a gold medal at Effervescent du Monde in Lyon, and there have been trophies at the International Wine Challenge and the Japan Wine Challenge. Most recently:
- Independent English Wine Awards 2021 - Gold Medals to Blanc de Noirs 2015 and Bacchus Fumé NV.
- International Wine & Spirits Competition 2021 - 93 points to Classic Cuvée 2013 Magnum; 92 points to Blanc de Noirs 2015.
- Independent English Wine Awards 2020 - Gold Medals to Classic Cuvée 2014 and Bacchus Fumé NV.
- Dorset Food, Drink & Farming Awards 2020 - Business Collaboration Award for Bothen Hill & Furleigh Estate's "Bacchus and Asparagus" project in Bridport.
The estate has been featured in The Guardian, The Times and on jancisrobinson.com, and wine writer Matthew Jukes has described the Classic Cuvée 2013 Magnum as "a brilliant wine and one of the finest value celebratory formats I know". Press enquiries are handled directly by Rebecca.
Meet the Team
Furleigh remains family-owned and run by Ian Edwards (winemaker and owner) and Rebecca Hansford (owner). The wider team includes Marc McNaughton (vineyard manager), Nick Beecheno (tour manager), Charlotte Gedye (assistant winemaker), Victoria Bishop (marketing), Rupert Leeds and Jim Pitcher (vineyard assistants), Dawn Ward (cellar door manager), Lisa Ellingham (trade sales) and Chris Earl (vineyard). The Furleigh Instagram diary - @diary.of.an.english.vineyard - captures much of the day-to-day life on the estate.
Whether you arrive for a £10 drop-in tasting, a £30 Grand Tour, a £150 private wedding flight or simply to stock up on Sea Pink rosé for the barbecue, the welcome at Furleigh is the same: a small family team pouring serious, multi-award-winning wines in one of the most beautiful corners of the English countryside.