A Night at Denbies Wine Estate Eco Hotel!
Denbies Wine Estate is a beautiful winery surrounded by its own vineyards just outside of Dorking in Surrey. An impressive driveway sees you passing a vast number of different grape varieties which they use in their three-tiered wine range.
The estate warmly welcomes visitors and is designed to offer a range of experiences from café style food and gift shop, art gallery, vineyard and winery tours and a high-quality restaurant with gorgeous views over the vines. Their latest venture- the Denbies Hotel is the first carbon-neutral vineyard hotel in England. The seventeen rooms overlook a small neatly gardened courtyard featuring warm, romantic cabanas and further views onto the vines. The hotel also features a fantastic restaurant on-site that provides an exquisite breakfast and seasonal dinner menu.
Whilst enjoying your stay a walk through the vines is compulsory- two routes provide easy access and the oak tree terrace is the perfect place to stop for a rest. Wellies are recommended as Denbies use grass cover between the vines protecting the soil from erosion and allowing competition to the vines for water and nutrients. This is an important viticulture practice that is used to get the best quality fruit from the vines.
The Wines.
After strolling through the vines its time to taste what they have produced. The first and most important aim of the Denbies Wine Estate is to make high-quality English wines at extremely competitive prices. They produce a vast number of wines in many styles; still white, rosé, red, sweet and sparkling from a number of different grape varieties. There are wines to suit all palates and some examples that you probably won’t have tried before. Two very interesting wines were the traditional (Champagne) method sparkling Bacchus and the Botrytised Ortega.
Traditional method sparkling wines undergo their second fermentation in the bottle they are sold in. This means the carbon dioxide released from the fermentation creates the signature fizz, this method also allows the wines to stay in contact with the lees (dead yeasts after the ferment has finished) for a period of time developing complex brioche or pastry-like notes. The longer the wine is kept in contact with the lees, the more intense the flavours will be. Bacchus is a light, aromatic grape variety with flavours of lime zest, green pepper and blossom, the style of winemaking adds well-balanced honey and brioche tones that create a well rounded and interesting wine.
The Botrytised Ortega is a very different sweet wine. It is produced from hand-picked Ortega grapes from vines located just outside of the hotel. ‘Botrytised’ means grapes affected with noble rot, this causes the grapes to shrivel concentrating the flavours, acids and sugars whilst removing the water found in the berries. This creates an intense style of sweet wine with a luscious texture and flavours of marmalade, apricots and pineapple.
However, it’s the stand-out Cubitt Blanc de Noirs that really shows how fantastic English wine can be. Made from 100% Pinot Noir this traditional method sparkling wine has huge complexity. Having spent 40 months on the lees it has developed savoury mushroom-like notes with flavours of strawberry leaf, white pepper, and pastry. Outstanding.
A night at Denbies wouldn’t be complete without an extravagant meal paired with some of the exceptional wines. Their three-course menu with smaller bites to start regularly changes with the seasons and the local fresh produce. The large panoramic glass windows of both restaurants allow fantastic views over the vines whilst you sip away, enjoying what they have created.
