Whittern Vineyard

Whittern Vineyard - White Heron Estate, Lyonshall, Herefordshire

Introduction to Whittern Vineyard

Whittern Vineyard sits within the wider Whittern Farms estate, a fourth-generation family farm on the Herefordshire - Welsh borders, near the village of Lyonshall. The vineyard is the newest of the estate's many enterprises and trades under the White Heron Estate wine label. Across roughly 30 acres of south and south-east-facing slopes, the team has planted cool-climate grape varieties chosen for their suitability to the English weather and, after the first harvest in 2023, is now producing a sparkling wine made in collaboration with Sussex-based Fitz Wines.

The vineyard is part of a much larger diversified farm that has been in the same family for more than a century and a half. Whittern Farms also grows 150 acres of blackcurrants for Ribena, 60 acres of cider apples for Bulmers and Aspalls, broiler chickens for the major supermarkets, arable crops, sheep-grazed pasture and 150 acres of sustainably managed woodland. The estate also runs the White Heron Drinks liqueur brand and a portfolio of luxury White Heron Properties holiday lets.

Where to Find the Vineyard

The vineyard lies within the hamlet of the Whittern and Next End Farm, on the gently rolling slopes above Lyonshall in western Herefordshire, close to the Welsh border and the Black Mountains. The south/south-east-facing slopes were chosen after extensive land and soil surveys because they maximise light and drainage while offering panoramic views from the Clee Hills to the Black Mountains.

The estate's postal address is:

Whittern Farms Ltd
Lyonshall
Herefordshire
HR5 3JA
United Kingdom

Visitors and trade enquiries are best directed to the main office on 01544 340241 or by email to jo@whitternfarms.co.uk. Cassis and drinks enquiries go to production@whiteherondrinks.co.uk, and holiday let enquiries to info@whiteheronproperties.com.

A Short History of Whittern Farms

The story of the farm - and therefore of the vineyard - begins in the 1870s, when Jo Hilditch's great-grandfather, Richard Green, travelled down from Yorkshire to build a large Victorian house and start his farming career. Richard was a noted breeder of Hereford bulls and was, in his day, one of the county's prime cattle breeders. The parkland pasture around the original Whittern homestead is largely unchanged, and the famous larch tree in the background of an early photograph of Richard and his contemporaries is still standing - reportedly the sixth-oldest larch in Great Britain.

The farm has always been around 600 acres, growing and shrinking over the decades as pieces were sold to pay death duties and bought back when finances allowed. Jo's father and grandfather ran the farm in turn, and Jo - the fourth generation - returned from a career in PR and marketing in London in 1997 after the death of her brother and then of her father. She has overseen the diversification that has transformed the business, adding holiday lets, the White Heron Drinks liqueur brand, a biomass and solar renewables programme, and most recently the vineyard.

The estate is well known beyond agriculture. It has appeared on television programmes including Countryfile, The Hairy Bikers, Salvage Hunters, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cooking shows and Escape to the Country. Jo's most famous appearance was on Dragons' Den, where she famously turned down offers from three of the five Dragons to back White Heron Drinks.

Meet the People Behind the Wine

Whittern Farms employs around 25 full-time staff in roles from poultry management to bookkeeping, with a strong culture built around the values of Respect, Innovation, Commitment, Honesty, Efficiency and Reliability - in the team's own acronym, RICHER. The key names behind the vineyard and the wider estate include:

Jo Hilditch - Owner and Managing Director. Fourth-generation custodian, returned to the farm in 1997 and has driven every major diversification, including the vineyard.
James Wright - Farm Manager. BSc (Hons) graduate who joined Whittern in 2011 as assistant farm manager and took over as farm manager in 2013, with oversight of all operations from poultry to fruit husbandry.
Greg Taylor - Assistant Farm Manager.
Lawrence Roberts - Farm Worker and the estate's apple expert, formerly an orchard man at Bulmers.
Osyp - Vineyard specialist. Originally from Ukraine, Osyp joined the farm soon after the Russian invasion and brings professional vineyard experience from back home. He single-handedly pruned all 22,000 vines through a Herefordshire March snow.
Craig Evans - Heating, Renewables and Electrical Engineer.
Di Rogers - Brand & Marketing Manager.
Karon Cooper - Senior Admin and Bookkeeper.

Jo's Golden Labrador, Emily, also plays her part, accompanying Jo on walks and bike rides around the estate's 15 miles of mown footpaths.

The Vineyards

Why Herefordshire?

The vineyard sits on slightly warming slopes that suit cool-climate viticulture. Although there is no chalk seam on the estate, the terroir is otherwise well matched to vines. South and south-east-facing aspects maximise sunlight and drainage; the rolling topography channels cold air away from the fruiting zone; and the soils derived from land and soil surveys proved ideal. Together these factors allow the team to ripen varieties that would struggle in less-favoured sites.

Planting

Vines were planted in 2021 and 2022 on around 30 acres of sloping prime farmland. Three varieties were chosen for their suitability to the cooler northern European climate and for naturally higher sugar levels:

Seyval Blanc - a French hybrid that performs exceptionally well in cooler English sites and is widely used in quality English sparkling wine.
Madeline Angevine - an early-ripening German variety that is naturally sweeter and is also a useful table grape.
Reichensteiner - a German cross that ripens reliably in marginal climates and produces clean, aromatic still and sparkling base wines.

Planting was carried out using GPS-guided machinery adapted from the estate's blackcurrant operation. Around 1,155 vines are planted per acre - a density that supports competition for roots and helps regulate vigour. Every vine and metal stake is aligned to the nearest degree so that, whichever direction you look, the rows are completely straight and symmetrical.

Growing

Vines are extremely labour-intensive compared with most other combinable crops. Although the team has automated every task that can sensibly be mechanised - mowing, spraying, leaf removal - around 35,000 vines still need to be tended by hand each year. Winter pruning and spring bud rubbing in particular require teams of people to go through the vineyard row by row. Canopy management is critical: opening up the canopy promotes airflow to reduce mildew pressure and allows light to reach the bunches, which maximises sugar accumulation.

Harvest and Winemaking

Harvest runs from late September into October, with Madeline Angevine and Reichensteiner picked first and Seyval Blanc brought in once it has reached full ripeness. All grapes are picked by machine, using a harvester similar to those used for the farm's blackcurrants and apples. The fruit is shaken from the vine, passes over a riddle to remove leaves and other extraneous material, and is tipped into bins for transport. The entire crop is then taken straight to Ledbury, where it is juiced before being sent down to Fitz Wines in Sussex for vinification.

Fitz makes the sparkling wine using the Charmat method - the tank-fermentation technique familiar from Prosecco - producing a fresh, fruit-driven fizz that is then bottled under the White Heron Estate label. The first commercial harvest was in 2023, and the wine is now available to purchase through White Heron Drinks.

The Wines and Other Produce

White Heron Estate Sparkling Wine

The flagship wine from the vineyard is the White Heron Estate Sparkling Wine, made from estate-grown Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner and Madeline Angevine, Charmat-fermented by Fitz Wines. It is the natural extension of the estate's long expertise in fruit - from blackcurrants to apples - into the world of wine.

White Heron Drinks

The vineyard and the liqueur business are intertwined, and both fall under the White Heron umbrella. White Heron Drinks produces two signature liqueurs using the estate's own fruit:

British Cassis - a British take on the classic crème de cassis, made from the estate's surplus blackcurrants.
British Framboise - a raspberry liqueur in the same British style.

Both are widely used in cocktails and have featured at events ranging from a royal visit by the Duke of Kent to a Waitrose photo shoot in the blackcurrant plantations. A natural partner to the sparkling wine, the cassis is also the basis for the estate's British Cassis Bramble.

Other Farm Produce

The wider farm produces around 350 tonnes of blackcurrants a year (up to 400 tonnes in a good year) for Ribena, around 1,400 tonnes of cider apples from 18,840 trees for Bulmers and Aspalls, around 5 million broiler chickens a year for supermarket supply under the Avara banner, plus a rotation of wheat, barley, oats, maize and oil seed rape grown in joint venture with three neighbouring farms. The estate also rents out grassland for sheep grazing and manages 150 acres of woodland under a Premium Woodland Grant Scheme.

Visits, Tours and Tastings

The estate runs a range of visitor experiences that bring together the vineyard, the orchards, the blackcurrant fields and the cassis distillery. The following experiences are available on request:

Cassis farm tour and cocktail tasting - walk the blackcurrant fields with one of the team, visit the cassis production area, and finish with a cocktail made with the estate's liqueurs.
E-bike and walking farm tours - guided tours that illustrate the estate's exemplar farming across arable, fruit, vineyard and livestock enterprises. Footpaths run for around 15 miles across the farm.
Vineyard feasts - long-table dining events set among the vines, combining White Heron Estate sparkling wine and British Cassis cocktails with local Herefordshire food.

To enquire or book, contact the office on 01544 340241 or email jo@whitternfarms.co.uk.

Stay on the Estate

The vineyard sits within a larger tourism offer run by White Heron Properties. There are six self-catering holiday lets sleeping between 2 and 22 guests - and the Colloquy site can accommodate larger parties of up to around 36. Properties include The Sheriffs and other converted Victorian stable-block buildings, as well as a Queen Anne farmhouse. Many have hot tubs, saunas, table tennis and squash courts; the Colloquy also has an outdoor heated swimming pool.

The holiday lets have been finalists at the Visit Herefordshire tourism awards and the team is now targeting Visit England. A stay combines beautifully with a vineyard feast, a cassis tour and a morning walk on the estate's mown footpaths. Booking enquiries go to info@whiteheronproperties.com.

Environmental Commitment

Whittern Farms has been part of a Higher Level Stewardship Scheme for more than 20 years, and the team is working steadily towards carbon net zero alongside its customers. Key environmental measures include:

Solar power - around 720 kW of solar panels across the poultry shed roofs, supported by 220 kW of battery storage. One poultry site is up to 70% self-sufficient in electricity.
Biomass boilers - three 600 kW chicken-litter burners heat the poultry sheds using manure produced on the farm, plus a 160 kW wood-chip boiler fuelled by timber from the estate's own sustainably managed woodlands.
Biodiversity - six-metre wildflower margins around most fields, hedges cut only two years in five, more than 50 bird boxes, sustainably managed woodland, and an on-farm wetland under development. The annual farmland bird count identifies around 130 species.
Ribena six-point plan - in partnership with Ribena and The Wildlife Trust, the farm supports grass alleyways, hedgerow habitat, wildflower margins, bird boxes, new tree planting and species-specific conservation.

Apple orchards on the farm have significant carbon-sequestration potential and contribute to the UK's net-zero targets, while vineyards add their own soil-structure and biodiversity benefits.

Practical Information

Address

Whittern Farms Ltd
Lyonshall
Herefordshire
HR5 3JA
United Kingdom

Contact

Telephone: 01544 340241
General enquiries: jo@whitternfarms.co.uk
Cassis and drinks: production@whiteherondrinks.co.uk
Holiday lets: info@whiteheronproperties.com

Useful Links

Why Whittern Vineyard Matters

Whittern is one of a new generation of Herefordshire vineyards proving that high-quality English sparkling wine can be made from soils that were historically given over to cider apples and arable. The decision to plant Seyval Blanc, Reichensteiner and Madeline Angevine - rather than the more fashionable Champagne varieties - reflects the team's pragmatic, fruit-grower's approach: choose varieties that ripen reliably on your site, look after them obsessively, and partner with a winemaker who knows how to turn them into something special.

For visitors, the result is a destination rather than just a vineyard. A single afternoon can take in the cassis tour, a tasting of British Cassis cocktails, a walk past the 35,000 vines, and a stay in a converted Victorian stable block. For trade buyers, the White Heron Estate label offers a genuine farm-to-bottle English sparkling wine with provenance, biodiversity credentials and a celebrated family story behind every bottle.