Sleep Among the Vines, the UK’s Greatest Vineyard Stays
Experience our vineyard stays in the UK, and indulge in our selection of beautiful English wines, set within stunning countryside
Uniform lines of green flow down a hillside and rise up again, majestically, in the distance: the vineyard exudes rustic tranquillity.
Imagine waking up to the morning mist rising from the rows of vines as the sun’s watery rays start to illuminate the valley.
Well, now you don’t have to imagine.
Our vineyard-view rooms and lodges nestled among the vines, give guests an immersive experience unmatched by any other English vineyard.
For years, our customers remarked on how lovely it must be to live and work in such a beautiful place, and to wake up to the vines! It got us thinking – why not provide visitors with a place to stay and truly relax with fine wine and great food?
When we opened our vineyard with accommodation in 2000, we were the first of a kind. Over twenty years on and our offering is still unique. We are not a bed and breakfast and not quite a hotel. Instead, our ‘restaurant with rooms’ concept allows guests to sample delicious flavours – both in our winery and our restaurant – and then retire to their luxury lodgings but a stone’s throw away.
Today, very few vineyards in England offer on-site restaurants. Ones serving freshly-prepared dishes, using locally-sourced ingredients, ready to be paired with exquisite wines, are even harder to come by.
We took great care in designing and building the right kind of vineyard accommodation for our guests. Our rooms and lodges enable visitors to switch off, unwind and experience England’s oldest vineyard in all its glory.
We invite you to enjoy a day of sampling wines from twelve different grape varieties and an evening of indulging in sumptuous, local fare. Then take a Three Choirs bottle back to your own private terrace and drink in the stunning views as the sun sinks beneath the vines.
Contact us today at 01531 890223 or through info@threechoirs.com for more information on your vineyard stays UK, or visit our vineyard accommodation page.
5 UK Vineyards with Rooms to visit in 2020
Making your 2020 holiday plans? Would you like them to involve wine? Then we’ve good news: France no longer has the upper hand on wine holidays.
With English wine now holding its own on a world stage, many UK vineyards (including our own here in Gloucestershire) now have vineyard rooms you can stay in overnight. So you can turn your English vineyard tour and tasting into a proper mini wine break, without worrying about the drive home.
Here are 5 UK vineyards with rooms you can visit in 2020 and, of course, if you fancy a wine tasting weekend in Gloucestershire, then please get in touch – we’ll be happy to arrange it for you.
Polgoon Vineyard, Penzance, Cornwall
Polgoon is a family-run vineyard on the edge of Penzance in Cornwall and is dedicated to producing a range of artisan Cornish wines, juices and ciders. It runs Tours and tastings throughout the year where you can learn about the cultivation and wine creation process. If you want to stay overnight, Polgoon Vineyard has its own on-site 3-bedroom holiday cottage with a hot tub to rent throughout the year.
Facilities and Amenities
- Free Parking
- Sleeps 6
- WiFi
- Restaurant
- Tours and Tastings
Ryedale Vineyards, York, North Yorkshire
You’ll find Ryedale Vineyards at the foot of the North Yorkshire Wolds. It is, currently, England’s most northerly commercial vineyard producing red, white, and sparkling wines along with cider and apple juice. This 6-acre vineyard runs informal tours and tasting between April and October and should you wish to stay, you can do so in one of the two luxurious rooms in the vineyard B&B farmhouse.
Facilities and Amenities
- Free Parking
- B&B
- Sleeps 2
- WiFi
- Tours and Tastings
Adgestone Vineyard, Sandown, Isle of White
Adgestone Vineyard sits on the east of the Isle of White, on the edge of Brading Down, and grows a variety of vines on its chalky slopes, including Seyval Blanc and Regent. This family-run UK vineyard provides tours of the vines and the cellars, along with wine tastings, and has a small shop and a cafe. For overnight guests, there are B&Bs and holiday cottages nearby that are available to rent.
Facilities and Amenities
- Free Parking
- Nearby B&Bs and Cottages
- Tours and Tastings
Llanerch Vineyard, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
Head just 20 minutes outside of Cardiff and you’ll find Llanerch Vineyard in the Welsh countryside. This English vineyard has produced award-winning wines since the first vines were planted in 1986. In 2019, Llanerch Vineyard was the first UK vineyard to open up a dedicated hotel. Guest can choose from 36 stylish rooms, including a luxurious suite, for a memorable wine holiday.
Facilities and Amenities
- Free Parking
- Twin, doubles or suite
- Restaurant
- WiFi
- Tours and Tastings
Three Choirs Vineyards, Newent, Gloucestershire
Three Choirs Vineyards is one of England’s oldest vineyards, rolling across 75 acres of south-facing slopes in Gloucestershire. As well as growing award-winning English wines, we’re home to a popular Brasserie restaurant and regularly run vineyard tours and tastings. We also have luxury accommodation onsite for you to stay in: our Luxury Vineyard Lodges and Vineyard View Rooms.
Facilities and Amenities
- Free Parking
- B&B lodges and rooms
- Sleeps 2
- WiFi
- Brasserie restaurant
- Tours and Tastings
View All Rooms Wine Tasting Experiences
Wine tasting experience: How to avoid disappointment
As you’d expect, we’ve been on our fair share of wine tasting over the years as professional wine producers! And we think it’s fair to say that not all wine tasting experiences are created equal.
Whilst many of the wine tasting experiences out there are excellently run and professionally curated, there are others that may not be to everyone’s palate.
The fact is, multiple places offer wine tasting these days: from wine merchants to gastro pubs to gift box experiences. So, naturally, it can be hard to decide on the right experience for you or your loved one.
Our criteria for judging a good wine tasting is to first look at the experience itself, and ask a few pertinent questions, then consider who you’re booking it for and see if there is a match. To help, here are some things to consider before deciding on a wine tasting – they could easily be the difference between a great wine tasting experience or sour grapes.
1. Who is running the wine tasting?
Every wine tasting experience depends largely on the skills set of the individuals running it. So find out who will be guiding the tasting and what their professional experience is before committing your money.
2. What wines will be offered?
Check the line-up of wines you’ll be offered – especially if, for example, you’re interested in learning more about English wines or wines from a particular region. Similarly, if a loved one only likes sweet wines, they may not appreciate a tasting experience biased towards dry wines.
3. How many wines will you try?
At a good wine tasting you can expect to try multiple wines. However, if it’s too many, it’s difficult to judge them effectively. Of course, if you’re more interested in drinking the wines than evaluating them, check there’s accommodation nearby or, at the very least, public transport!
4. Where will the wine tasting experience be held?
Where your tasting is held will affect the quality of the experience and the wines you taste! For example, noisy and crowded rooms can make it difficult to concentrate properly. Strong smells can also make it hard to get a sense of the wine’s aroma. A good wine tasting will try to keep the environment as neutral as possible to help you get the most out of the wines. If you can find one at a vineyard itself, it’s even more special!
5. What will you bring back home with you after the tasting?
It may sound like a funny question to ask, but tastings are all about making memories – that’s why wine tasting experiences make great gifts. So if you can go home with a piece of the experience, a bottle of your choice for example, then you can share the whole event with others and create even more memories.
If you’d like any more information about our wine tasting experiences here at Three Choirs Vineyard, please do get in touch; we’re always happy to help.
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A beginners’ guide to wine terminology: Eight essential wine tasting terms
The special terminology associated with wine tasting can seem baffling to beginners. But although it might sound like wine experts are speaking a different language, mastering the basic wine tasting terms doesn’t have to be tricky.
“Do you like your wines fruity on the nose or full-bodied with good legs?”
Getting to grips with wine terminology gives you a way to describe what you do and don’t like in a wine, as well as helping you decipher wine reviews and bottle descriptions so you know what to expect if you come across more unusual grape varieties – like the Bacchus and Siegerrebe we produce here at Three Choirs Vineyards in Gloucestershire.
So to get you started, we’ve come up with eight of the most important wine tasting terms to help boost your confidence with choosing wine and make the most of a wine-tasting experience.
Eight essential wine tasting terms
- Nose
Although it might be tempting to go straight in for a taste, take the time to swirl the wine around your glass and give it a sniff first. A wine’s nose is its aroma, and your nose is the key to picking up the subtle differences in flavour between different wines. Aromas are often split into fruity, citrus, floral, spicy, earthy and vegetal categories, and will depend on the grape variety as well as how the wine has been made and stored.
- Body
The body of a wine is how it feels in your mouth – it can be full, medium or light and depends on how much alcohol and sugar the wine contains. One of the common analogies is to compare a wine’s body to different types of milk – so light-bodied wines would feel delicate like skimmed milk, medium-bodied wines like semi-skimmed and full-bodied wines thick like full cream milk.
- Acidity
Acidity is the mouth-watering sharpness you get from a sucking a lemon. All wines have some level of acidity, but it’s usually higher in white wines like Sauvignon Blanc.
How acidic a wine is will depend on how ripe the grapes were, with cool climates usually meaning more acidic wines. Ideally, wine-makers look to combine levels of acid and sugar to make a well-balanced wine.
- Tannins
Tannins are what cause some wines to leave a dry taste in your mouth, and are also found in tea. They come from the skin and seeds of grapes. How ‘tannic’ a wine is depends on how long it was in contact with the skins when it was being made. So white and rosé wines have low tannins and are softer, whereas thick-skinned grape varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon, have more tannins, making them good with rich food as they cut through any fattiness.
- Oaky
Oaked wines have been aged in oak barrels, which influences their colour and flavour. Oak is more commonly used with red wines like our Hampshire Oak Aged Red, and it can give a smoky or spicy flavour, but it can also be used to give white wines a buttery, vanilla taste. How strong the effect is depends on how long the wine’s been in contact with the oak as well as the type of oak used – American oak gives a punchier flavour than smoother French oak.
- Minerality
Minerality has become a popular wine-tasting term recently, and it’s sometimes described as the taste you’d get from sucking on a stone. You don’t have to try that out yourself though to recognise flavours like chalk, flint or even pencil lead in your white wines – think of it as the opposite of lush, fruity flavours.
- Legs
If you swirl your wine around the glass, the legs (also known as the tears in France) are the streaks you can see running down the side of the glass. More legs doesn’t mean the wine is a higher quality, but it does means it’s got a higher alcohol content. The sweeter the wine the slower the legs will move down the glass.
- Vintage
The vintage of a wine is simply the year when the grapes were picked. Most still wines come from a single year, which you’ll see marked on the bottle. But sparkling wines are often non-vintage – like our Classic Cuvee – as they’re created from a mixture of different years’ wines to create a consistent style. Though sometimes you’ll see vintage sparkling wines if there’s a particularly good year.
Wine Tours and Tastings at Three Choirs Vineyards
Now you’ve mastered these eight essential wine words, why not try them out on one of our English wine tasting experiences and tours, where our friendly, knowledgeable guides will be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.
Wine Tasting Cotswolds: 3 Must-Try Experiences
When it comes to wine, the Cotswolds has some of the best English wine tasting experiences in the UK. Why? Because this special part of Gloucestershire is home to over 10 vineyards, including our own vineyard, Three Choirs Vineyards, here in Newent.
It’s thanks to the region’s clement weather and fertile soils that so many vineyards have sprung up in this part of the world over the years. Which means there are plenty of Cotswolds wine tasting opportunities for you to enjoy if you’re exploring the Cotswolds this year. Here are 3 must-try wine experiences that you can enjoy with us at Three Choirs Vineyards.
Best for First-timers
Wine Tasting Experience | £12.50 | 45 minutes
New to wine tasting? Come along to Three Choirs Vineyards for a comprehensive and informative wine tasting tour. One of our team will give you a guided tour of the our Cotswolds vineyard and explain how our grapes are grown, harvested and bottled. You’ll also get the chance to sample four of our delicious English Wines and have the chance to stroll through the vines at your leisure soaking in the Cotswolds beauty and, hopefully, the sunshine!
Best for Foodies
Wine Tasting Tour with Lunch | £89.95 | Half day
For those who like to pair fine English wine with excellent food, take a seat in our beautiful Vineyard Brasserie. You’ll enjoy a delicious lunch for two, as well as a 45-minute guided tour of our vineyard, 4 carefully-selected English wines to taste, and a bottle of wine to take home. You’ll also be free to explore our vineyard at your leisure and get a chance to chat to our wine experts about our unique wine making process.
Best for Couples
Couples’ 1-night retreat | £135.00 Winter Special Offer | B&B in a Vineyard View Room
Celebrating an anniversary or birthday? Make it extra special with an overnight Cotswolds’ wine tasting experience at Three Choirs. Not only will you both enjoy wine tasting and a visit to our winery (where the wines are quietly fermenting in the tanks), but you’ll be able to retreat into your own peaceful room overlooking the vine-clad valley at the end of the day. We’ll then serve you breakfast in the morning in our Vineyard Brasserie – you’ll leave us refreshed, relaxed and full of memories.
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Wine Tasting: Is it one of the best gifts you can give?
If you’re considering buying the wine lover in your life a special wine tasting gift, here’s something to think about: according to research, it’s experiences that’ll make your loved one happy in the long-term, not things.
Of course, this isn’t new news – buying experiences is a modern trend, with many people choosing to spend their money in this way. But it’s worth reflecting on why experiences create more happiness, especially when you’re gift-buyer for friends or family and we want to get it right!
Physical objects last longer, but don’t make us happier
One of the reasons experiences, like wine tasting, can provide longer-lasting happiness is, it’s been suggested, because of our human ability to quickly adapt to new external surroundings.
The physical things we buy we adapt to over time; they become the new norm and fade into the background. In contrast, the happiness we get from experiences doesn’t diminish with time; it actually becomes ingrained in us as a part of our identity.
Indeed, we know from the feedback we get here at Three Choirs, that when people come to us for one of our wine tastings and tours they leave with treasured memories.
Yes, they may also leave with a bottle or two of our English wine, but it’s the wine tasting itself and the experience of sleeping in one of our vineyard rooms that really stays with them. So much so, that we often welcome the same people back year after year!
Shared experiences come out top
The research also suggests that it’s in the sharing of our experiences that real happiness is triggered. An experience that we share with other people, such as a vineyard tour or a wine tasting, makes us feel more connected as human beings.
You’re more likely to feel connected to someone you’ve enjoyed a similar experience with, like a weekend break in the Cotswolds, for instance, than with someone who’s bought the same hoover!
The beauty of a gift experience with Three Choirs, in that case, is that you’re surrounded by like-minded people: wine lovers who like a tasty tipple of the good stuff and enjoy learning how English wine is made.
Give gifts that create memories, not clutter
The best kind of gifts, therefore, seem to be those that stay in your heart and head for a lifetime.
So before you put that silver bottle topper or personalised wooden wine box in your basket, stop and ask yourself, ‘would investing in a wine experience make more sense?’.
If the answer is ‘yes’, then take a look at our wine tasting gift vouchers. From a wine tasting tour and lunch for two, to a weekend stay in one of our luxurious Vineyard Lodges, we’ve wine tasting gifts that are sure to make your loved one’s day.
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Winter Wine Tasting Experience: Save up to 40%
Winter on our vineyard is a very special time. The vines are resting, with their crop fermenting in the winery, and we’re busy getting ready for spring – which is just around the corner.
A visit to Three Choirs during this time makes the perfect winter warmer treat – and with 40% off a stay, thanks to our exclusive Winter Warmer Package, there’s no excuse not to indulge in a spot of winter wine tasting.
Stay with us from only £77.40
Cosy up in one of our vineyard rooms or luxury lodges for 1 or 2 nights with 40% off, before taking a guided tour of our winery and vineyard with one of our wine experts for a discounted rate of just £10 per person!
During your tour, you can sample our rich and comforting red wines and fresh and fruity whites – and if you fancy it, add in breakfast & dinner at our popular Vineyard Brasserie to top your winter wine tasting experience off nicely. But hurry, our Winter Warmer Package tends to get booked up fast!
Exclusive Winter Warmer Package
Offer: Save up to 40% on a 1 or 2 night stay in our Vineyard View or Vine Lodge Room.
Dates: 1st November 2019 to February 29th 2020.
Prices: From only £77.40/night.
- Vineyard View Rooms: £77.40 for 1 night room only and £101.40 for B&B.
- Luxury Lodges: £89.40 for 1 night room only and £113.40 for B&B.
Vouchers: valid any night of the week.
Wine tasting: Get the 4pm Winery Tour & Wine Tasting for just £10 per person.
How to get: Discount automatically applied when booking valid dates!
Book: Luxury Lodges Book: Vineyard View Rooms
Wine Tasting Weekend in Gloucestershire
A wine tasting weekend at Three Choirs Vineyard has enough to satisfy anyone’s palate. During a wine tasting experience with us, you’ll be able to fill up on all the things you love – whether you’re a history buff, wildlife fan, or you simply enjoy long walks – thanks to our beautiful location in the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside.
Naturally, there’ll be plenty of wine during your stay: as part of a 2-night wine tasting weekend package you’ll enjoy a vineyard tour and wine tasting experience. Our wine experts will explain what happens from grape to glass, so you leave full of insight and inspiration.
You’ll also have the run of our vineyard to explore at your leisure during a weekend stay; it is the largest and oldest vineyard in England with 75 acres of rolling hillside set in beautiful countryside.
Should all the vineyard fresh air make you hungry, then retreat to our Brasserie, where the food comes matched with the wines. And when the day draws to a close, stroll back to your luxury accommodation for the night: our Vineyard Lodges sit at the heart of the vineyard, whilst our Vineyard View Rooms overlook the valleys of vines.
Of course, there’s so much to enjoy on our vineyard during your wine-tasting weekend that you may not want to leave it. But if you do fancy stretching your wings when you’re visiting the area, there’s plenty to do right on our doorstep.
Here are some of our guests’ top 5 favourite places to visit nearby when they stay with us for a wine weekend getaway. We’ve snuck in a couple of our favourites, too.
Pair your wine tasting weekend with these 5 Gloucestershire attractions
1. Walk the Malverns
The Malvern Hills are a range of unspoilt hills stretching through Worcestershire, Herefordshire and northern Gloucestershire. They’re a great destination for walkers of all abilities and ages, whether you fancy a gentle stroll or a more energetic hike. Three Choirs Vineyard is fortunate to sit just 12 miles from the Malverns, in Newent, so you can easily head out to the Malverns during your wine tasting weekend stay with us.
2. Visit Hereford Cathedral
Only 35 minutes’ from Three Choirs Vineyard is the beautiful Norman building of Hereford Cathedral. Built on a Saxon foundation, the cathedral contains many must-see treasures, including the 13th century Shrine of St. Thomas of Hereford and the award-winning Mappa Mundi, a spectacular medieval map of the world thought to have been created around 1300.
3. See Swans at Slimbridge
Slimbridge is a wetlands wildlife reserve that’s home to some 800 hectares of wildlife habitat and a huge range of migrating and wintering waterbirds. Slip away from our vineyards for an afternoon and enjoy all it has to offer, including a wild canoe safari and a range of hides to watch the birds from. You’ll find Slimbridge, also known as the Wildlife and Wetlands Trust, between Bristol and Gloucester – a short 45 minute drive from Three Choirs Vineyard.
4. Cycle the Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean has an extensive network of cycle trails for you to explore during your wine tasting weekend, covering a range of terrain with wonderful scenery to soak up. There are safe paths away from traffic for family cyclists, as well as off-road forest tracks for keen mountain bikers. Bring your own bike or hire one from easily from the Forest cycle shops. It only takes about 25 minutes to get to the Forest of Dean by car from Three Choirs Vineyards.
5. Shop in Cheltenham Spa
Just 25 minutes’ drive from Three Choirs Vineyard is probably one of the UK’s most famous regency spa towns, Cheltenham. Its elegant tree-lined avenues and beautiful Georgian buildings make it a popular spot for our guests on their wine tasting weekend. As well as wonderful places to eat and drink, Cheltenham has a range of boutique shops to treat yourself in, a popular theatre, museums, art galleries, and, of course, its famous racecourse; home to the Gold Cup.
Staying at Three Choirs Vineyards
If you’d like to book a wine tasting weekend away at Three Choirs Vineyards, and want to make it extra special, take a look at our luxury Vineyard Lodges tucked away amongst the vines. Then don’t forget to book yourself on to one of our vineyard tours and wine tasting experiences!
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