Blackdown Ridge

The wines of Blackdown Ridge Estate are the result of the vision of the owner, Professor Martin Cook, who has lived on the estate for 20 years. A passionate wine-lover, Martin was inspired to create his vineyard when an Italian family friend and winemaker, Antonio, suggested that the beautiful, serene south-facing slopes of Blackdown would be perfect for growing vines.

Antonio’s words inspired Martin to realise the potential of the estate and the first vines were planted in 2010. The soil of the Sussex Weald shares much with the terroir of the Champagne region of France, and this influenced our plantings of the classic sparkling wine varietals: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. These have been used to create our first sparkling wine, released in 2015.

The grapes planted for our range of still wines include the aromatic Bacchus for our single varietal English white wine, Triomphe and more recently, Sauvignon Blanc.

All the wines produced at Blackdown Ridge are made from grapes grown within the ten and a half-acre vineyard and are processed in our purpose-built winery.  They are matured in the bottle for at least 2 years before release.  Before release our wines go through a system of independent testing and tasting, for quality and provenance, to obtain PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status.