Quoins Organic Vineyard: A Biodynamic Wiltshire Vineyard on the Edge of the Cotswolds
Tucked into the rolling countryside just outside the historic town of Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, Quoins Organic Vineyard is one of the smallest, most thoughtfully run vineyards in England. From a single hectare of vines planted in 2002, the Chubb family produces around 3,000 bottles a year of certified organic and biodynamic wine, surrounded by a wildflower meadow, a small woodland copse and over a hundred fruit, nut and forest trees. The vineyard is registered organic with the Soil Association and biodynamic with Demeter, and has been quietly picking up awards at UK and international tastings for almost twenty years.
If you are looking for a vineyard where every decision is shaped by hand, history and a deep respect for wildlife, Quoins is the real thing. Its founder, Alan Chubb, came to small-scale English viticulture after a career advising tree-crop farmers around the world, and his approach to growing wine is rooted in the same ecological philosophy. This is a working family farm as much as it is a winery, and you sense that the moment you turn down the lane.
A Family Vineyard on the Edge of the Cotswolds
Quoins Organic Vineyard lies at Little Ashley, just off the Bath road, on the eastern edge of Bradford on Avon. The satnav postcode is BA15 2PW. The vineyard is on the edge of the Cotswolds, with the Georgian city of Bath only a few miles to the north-west, and the rolling Wiltshire downs unfolding to the south and east. It is the kind of landscape that visitors return to year after year for the slow, quiet pleasures of an English summer.
The vineyard itself is a single hectare of vines, producing roughly 3,000 bottles a year. That is tiny by international standards, but it gives the family full control of every step from pruning to harvest, and lets them put real care into the wines. Wild flowers grow between the vine rows, and the surrounding field edges are home to more than a hundred fruit, nut and forest trees, planted by Alan's wife, Jane Laurie. Together, the vines and orchard create a haven for wildlife, from songbirds and owls to bees, bats and the occasional passing deer.
The vineyard is registered organic with the Soil Association. That means no inorganic fertilisers, no pesticides, and no herbicides. It also became fully certified biodynamic with Demeter in 2015, an approach that goes further than organic in treating the farm as a single, self-sustaining organism.
The Birth of Quoins: From Ploughed Field to First Harvest in 2005
The story of Quoins begins in 2002, when Alan Chubb bought a three-acre corner of a large field near Bradford on Avon. He had settled there with his young family, and until then had spent his career working overseas, advising others on how to grow tree crops such as coffee and oranges. He had long promoted organic methods in that work, and now wanted to test whether he could make a living from them himself on a small English farm.
"We wanted to produce quality wines that we could be proud of," Alan explains. "But we also needed to make a profit - this was no rich man's hobby. It was to be a family place, where we could have parties and barbecues, and where the children could earn some pocket money by helping out. And we wanted to work in harmony with nature, using organic methods and creating a rich haven for wildlife."
The English wine renaissance was only just beginning in the early 2000s, and organic vineyards were rare. Most new English vineyards were conventionally farmed. That gave Quoins a clear point of difference from the start. That winter, Alan planted three grape varieties chosen after careful research into disease resistance and suitability for English conditions. Two were new, the result of pioneering German breeding. The third was a traditional French-German variety that had a long history in cool-climate viticulture. Two acres were put under vine, while around the edges Jane began her collection of fruit and nut trees and planted a small woodland copse.
The vineyard was registered with the Soil Association, and in 2005 Alan celebrated the first small harvest. Since then, the vineyard has gone from strength to strength, with the wines regularly winning awards at UK Vineyards Association and Decanter tastings. In 2015, it was also registered with Demeter as biodynamic. In 2013, Sedlescombe Vineyard, the oldest organic vineyard in the UK (established 1979), took over production of the wine and introduced a rosé, produced from the first pressings of the Rondo grape, to complement the three single-variety wines.
What was once a bleak, ploughed field has been transformed, and wildlife has returned. Each season brings its own pleasures, from the song of the skylarks in early summer to the lurid spindle berries of autumn. Alan still does some consultancy work, both overseas and in the UK, on local food and organic vineyard establishment.
Three Grape Varieties for an English Climate
Quoins grows three grape varieties on its single hectare. They were chosen for their resistance to disease and their ability to ripen reliably in a damp, cool English climate.
Madeleine Angevine - The Traditional Variety
Madeleine Angevine is a traditional variety from northern France and Germany that has long been popular in English vineyards. At Quoins, it is planted on the western side of the vineyard. It produces a medium dry, crisp white wine, pale yellow in colour, with dried lemony hints and a gently herbal edge. The 2014 vintage, the most recent available, has been awarded a Decanter Commended.
Orion - Pioneering German Breeding
Orion sits on the eastern side of the vineyard. It is a new variety developed in Germany, bred specifically for organic production in northern Europe. It produces a medium dry white wine of pale gold, with a palate of apricot and apple, and around 11% alcohol. Orion has been the vineyard's most decorated wine: it has won an award in the UK Vineyards Association competition nearly every year since 2006, collecting nine awards in total - mostly silver - including a silver medal in the highly competitive international Decanter awards for the 2013 vintage.
Rondo - Manchurian-Austrian Heritage
Rondo, in the middle of the vineyard, is derived from a cross between Manchurian and Austrian varieties and has become very popular in the UK. It is a full-bodied red with a deep oak aroma and notes of mature red fruits. The 2013 vintage, at 10% alcohol, is the current release and has its own dedicated following. Rondo is also the source of the Quoins Rosé, made from the first pressings of the grapes at Litmus Wines in Sussex.
The Wines of Quoins
The vineyard's wine list is small but considered: a single vintage each of Madeleine Angevine white, Orion white, Rondo red and Rondo Rosé. All are certified organic and biodynamic, contain very low levels of sulphites, and are suitable for vegans.
Current Vintages and Prices
- Orion 2022 - medium dry white, pale gold, apricot and apple, 11% alcohol. £16.00 per bottle.
- Madeleine Angevine (2014 vintage) - medium dry, crisp white with dried lemon and gentle herbal notes, 11% alcohol. £12.00 per bottle.
- Rosé 2021 - red blush with wild strawberry hints, made from Rondo by Litmus Wines to organic and biodynamic standards. Bronze award from the Decanter World Wine competition. £14.00 per bottle.
- Rondo (2013 vintage) - full-bodied red with deep oak aroma and notes of mature red fruits, 10% alcohol. £16.00 per bottle.
Clearance Sale
As the vineyard shifts its focus from wine production to organic grape sales, Alan is running a clearance sale on the remaining stock of the Rosé and the Rondo red. The Rosé clearance is £60 per case of six bottles plus £6 postage when ordered direct, which works out at £10 per bottle. Orders can be placed through the online shop or by calling 07835 265082.
Low Sulphites, Vegan Friendly
All the Quoins wines are certified organic, so they contain very low levels of sulphites - the maximum allowed in organic wine under EU rules is 100 mg/litre for red and 150 mg/litre for white, compared with 160 mg/litre and 210 mg/litre for non-organic. At the Sedlescombe winery where the wines are made, the actual levels are even lower: between 13 and 42 mg/litre for reds and 73 to 120 mg/litre for whites. As the family notes, lower sulphite levels mean organic wines are often less likely to cause headaches - though, as Alan wryly points out, how much you drink still matters too.
Minimum orders are by the case (12 bottles) or half case (6 bottles), including mixed cases. There is a £10 discount on a full case, bringing the cost to £110 in total when the case-discount voucher is applied at checkout. Free delivery is available within Bradford on Avon, Bath, Trowbridge, Melksham and nearby villages for orders of six bottles or more, with a £15 delivery charge per case elsewhere in most of mainland UK.
From Organic to Biodynamic
Organic farming is at the heart of Quoins. It shapes everything from how the vineyard deals with weeds and disease to how the soil is fed and the wildlife is encouraged.
Why Organic Matters
Alan is clear about why he farms organically. Conventional UK agriculture is permitted to use around 300 different pesticides; organic farmers are restricted to around 20. At Quoins, downy mildew is controlled with potassium bicarbonate - otherwise known as baking soda - which has a long history of safe use in growing and cooking and no harmful side-effects. For fertiliser, the family grows nitrogen-fixing green manures between the vine rows, topped up with a regular foliar feed made from their own home-grown comfrey. No herbicides are used at all.
Organic farming means working with nature and finding a balance between pests and natural predators. The Soil Association inspector visits annually for a half-day check, going through the audit trail of products purchased and used, and the farm diary of activities and sales. Certification costs the vineyard around £500 a year, which Alan sees as worthwhile to give customers real assurance.
Going Biodynamic in 2015
In 2015, Quoins became fully certified biodynamic by Demeter. Biodynamic farming takes the organic approach a stage further, aiming to make the farm fully self-sufficient in production and to maintain the natural cycles and microflora of the soil and vegetation. The winery at Sedlescombe that makes Quoins' wines is itself both organic and biodynamic, and the two estates have worked closely together since 2013.
Wildlife and the Wild Garden
From the moment the vines were planted, the field around them was sown with a grass and wildflower mix. More than twenty years on, that small decision has transformed the site into a thriving habitat.
Orchids and Wild Flowers
One of the most delightful surprises has been the appearance of wild orchids in the woodland copse. When the vineyard was a ploughed field, there were none. Within a few years of sowing wild flowers between the vines and around the field margins, the first orchid appeared. The colony is now slowly increasing, and is one of the highlights of the summer for visitors and family alike.
Birds, Bees and Bats
Biodiversity is everywhere. Skylarks sing over the vines in early summer. Green woodpeckers, deer and owls have all been spotted. On one English Wine Week open day, a perfectly formed bird's nest with six small eggs was discovered under a plastic traffic bollard just as Alan was setting up - five of the eggs hatched successfully, even though no one ever worked out how the parent birds were getting in and out.
Bees are a key part of the system. The dandelions that appear in the lawn in spring are richer in pollen and nectar than most other spring flowers, and the deep roots of the dandelion improve the soil and bring trace elements up from below. As the family notes, they would travel miles to see such a glorious spread of colour if dandelions were rare - but as it is, they are an essential early-flower resource for hungry bees.
The Roman Connection
The vineyard's logo is a direct tribute to the area's Roman heritage. When the Romans founded the settlement of Aquae Sulis, now known as Bath, they brought their vines with them - and, hitchhiking along on those vines, came Bath Asparagus (Ornithogalum pyrenaicum), which still thrives in the woods and hedgerows around Bath and is not found anywhere else in the UK. The Roman vineyards all disappeared in the Dark Ages, but Bath Asparagus endured. As Bradford on Avon's secondary school playing fields were developed, a Roman villa was uncovered, and its beautiful mosaic design was adapted as the Quoins logo. English wine, the family argues, is finally emerging from its own Dark Ages, with a remarkable renaissance over the past thirty years and more than 500 vineyards now producing across the UK.
Fruit, Nut and Forest Trees
The vineyard is just as much an orchard as it is a winery. Jane has planted more than a hundred fruit, nut and forest trees around the edges, and the family sells fruit in season from a stall outside their house in central Bradford on Avon.
The plum season begins with the little hedgerow plums, whose brave flowers shine out in March. They are followed by the cherry plums, then by the named varieties from late July: Opal (a plum-greengage cross from Sweden, 1925), the greengages, and Alan's favourite, Early Transparent, which ripens before the wasps proliferate. At the very end of the season come the damsons, hanging on the tree until the end of October and producing some of the deepest-flavoured jams, gins and crumbles of an English winter.
The cherry trees are a particular love of Alan's late father, after the poet A E Housman. The birds usually get to the cherries before the family does, because they are too slow to net the trees. As for medlars, which the French call cul de chien (dog's arse), the small trees are vigorous and disease-free and the family always has more than they know what to do with. The fruits are best eaten "bletted", after the first frost, and make an excellent jelly for roast venison or other game, as Nigel Slater has also noted.
Awards and Recognition
The wines at Quoins have been quietly picking up awards since the family first entered competitions in 2006. Three competitions matter to them. First comes the regional Wessex Vineyards Association contest in winter, with five internationally standard judges, providing an initial quality check and helping decide which wines to put forward to the next two. Then comes the national UK Vineyards Association competition, and finally the international Decanter awards in summer.
The Orion has won an award at UKVA nearly every year since 2006, collecting nine awards in total - mostly silver - with only the 2012 vintage unrecognised because Alan was away the summer it would have been entered. The Orion 2013 also took a silver at the highly competitive Decanter awards. The Madeleine Angevine 2014 won a silver in the Wessex competition, beating the Orion 2015, which took bronze, and both wines were put forward for the UKVA and Decanter competitions.
The Rosé does not usually get entered, simply because production is small - around 800 bottles a year, which quickly sells out - but the 2021 vintage was entered and came back with a bronze from the Decanter World Wine competition, where the previous vintage had also taken a bronze. More than 18,000 wines from 54 countries are entered each year, which gives a sense of the scale.
On the Telly and in Brussels
In 2019, Quoins was selected to feature on the popular BBC television programme Escape to the Country. Alan spent the morning filming and ad-libbing with two prospective house-hunters who had been involved in the wine industry themselves and hoped to run vineyard tours. They were particularly interested in organic vineyard management and the growing popularity of English wines. The episode on Wiltshire aired later that year.
Earlier, in March 2015, Quoins was selected as one of the representatives of smallholder producers in the South West at the EU in Brussels, at a "Showcase of Southwest Produce" event organised by Molly Scott Cato, the Green MEP for the South West. Held at the Brewers of Europe building, the event was attended by over ninety representatives of various EU organisations and was featured on BBC Points West. Tasters were particularly impressed by the Orion white and the Quoins Rosé, and were surprised to find that the UK could produce a very palatable Rondo red wine.
Visiting the Vineyard
Quoins is a private vineyard, not a regular visitor centre, and visits are by appointment for groups. After a successful 2024 summer entertaining twenty tour groups with more than 150 visitors, the family has decided to concentrate their visits into a tighter window. From 2026, tours and hen parties are being run during July and August only, with eight weeks available to book. The cost is £30 per person, with a minimum of 10 people per group. Enquiries should go to alan@quoinsvineyard.co.uk.
The Tour Experience
The two-hour tour starts with a welcoming glass of wine and a brief outline of organic management practices. From there, guests join an informal and lively walk round the vineyard and orchards, with the chance to try fruits in season. The tour continues with a tasting of different vintage wines and a blind tasting, and finishes with the opportunity to buy the wine at farmgate prices. Because the group has sole use of the vineyard for the duration, it is up to you whether to play rounders on the grass, picnic under the cherry blossom or savour the more unusual fruits in the orchard - though it is worth checking plans with the family in advance. If the weather turns, the barn provides rustic shelter.
Hen Parties and Group Visits
Hen parties have become a particular speciality at Quoins. The hens enjoy the wine and the discussion on organic vineyard management, as well as exploring the vineyard and tasting fruit straight from the tree. They are usually a lively bunch, eager to launch into a game of rounders after lunch or even more esoteric activities - Alan still talks about one hen party that brought along its own knicker-embroidery chief and rapidly disappeared for the duration.
Bath has been called the Hen Party Capital of the UK, and the number of hen parties booking at Quoins continues to increase. They all have sole use of the vineyard, with plenty of space to lounge on the grass over a picnic as they enjoy the wine, before heading back into town for the more frenetic evening activities. Nearby, Hartley Farm can deliver delicious picnic lunches, or you are welcome to bring your own.
The vineyard is generally accessible to less mobile visitors, especially in summer when the ground is dry. It is possible to drive all the way up to the barn for the tasting if needed, though parking under the trees at the entrance is preferred when possible. Mini-buses are fine, but full-size coaches can struggle on the final lane up to the vineyard - there is a pretty ten-minute walk from the main road.
Booking and Practicalities
Booking early is recommended, especially for weekends and at least a week in advance. To book, email alan@quoinsvineyard.co.uk or call 07835 265082 with details of preferred timing and group numbers. The family will then confirm or suggest alternative timings.
How to Find Quoins Organic Vineyard
The vineyard is at Little Ashley, just off the Bath road, on the edge of Bradford on Avon. Use the postcode BA15 2PW in your satnav.
By Car
Take the A363 Bradford on Avon to Bath road. Just outside Bradford on Avon, turn left down the tiny lane opposite the Cumberwell golf course. Turn right at the crossroads, past the old wheelwright's pond. The vineyard is on your right.
By Train and Bus
There are half-hourly trains to Bradford on Avon on the Bristol and Bath to Trowbridge and Salisbury line, with a request stop at Avoncliff. The hourly 265 bus from Bath to Trowbridge and Warminster stops at Winsley and Bradford on Avon - getting off at Winsley means you don't have to walk up the hill from Bradford on Avon itself.
Walking and Cycling
The vineyard is a pleasant walk or cycle from Bradford on Avon (30 to 40 minutes), Winsley (30 minutes) and Avoncliff (45 minutes), via country lanes and footpaths. The vineyard is also off the new Bradford on Avon to South Wraxall cycle path. You are welcome to picnic at the vineyard (group tours only), but there are also good lunch options at Avoncliff and Winsley - the Seven Stars and the Hartley Farm café - and in Bradford on Avon itself. The Dog and Fox pub on the edge of Bradford on Avon is just ten minutes' walk away.
The Future: Grape Sales and a Quiet Pivot
After more than two decades of producing award-winning organic and biodynamic wines, the Quoins family has decided to move out of retailing wine and concentrate on organic grape sales. The decision follows a successful 2024 summer that nevertheless convinced Alan that the future of the small family vineyard lies in selling quality organic grapes rather than continuing to bottle, label and market wine at a very small scale. Existing stocks of the 2021 Rosé and the 2013 Rondo are being cleared at special prices, and the other wines are now only available at tour group visits.
There is also a new venture on the gate. A QR plaque has been installed next to the gate catch so that walkers using the local footpaths can scan it with their phones and read all about what Alan has been busy doing in the vineyard. The idea is that if other local farmers adopt the same approach, walkers across the Greensand Country landscape will be able to learn what has been planted, what livestock is in a field, and how hard farmers work to produce local food.