The Best English Bacchus

Bacchus is England's signature still white, the grape that tastes most like England in a glass: elderflower, gooseberry and cut grass, with acidity that snaps. It also comes in more styles than most people realise, from bone-dry and zesty to oak-aged and skin-fermented. This guide covers eight, from a £16 bottle you can pick up at Majestic to a £36 single-vineyard Kent white, with two trophy winners and an orange Bacchus I've tasted in two vintages. Some are made in small runs, so a sold-out bottle usually means the next vintage is worth watching for.

English Bacchus at a glance

Vineyard	Wine	Price	Best result
Chapel Down, Kent	Bacchus 2025	£16	WineGB 2025 silver, 93 points (2023 vintage)
Giffords Hall, Suffolk	Bacchus 2024	£16.95	IEWA 2025 gold
Camel Valley, Cornwall	Darnibole Bacchus 2023	£19.95	WineGB 2026 silver, IWC 2026 silver
Cobble Hill, Norfolk	Bacchus 2025	£20	IEWA 2026 trophy, Best Still White
Balfour Winery, Kent	Liberty's Bacchus 2025	£25	WineGB 2026 gold
The Wharie Experience, Hampshire	Bacchus Orange 2023	£25	IEWA 2025 gold
Chapel Down, Kent	Kit's Coty Bacchus 2023	£36 (by the case)	WineGB 2025 gold, 96 points (2022 vintage)
Wraxall Vineyard, Somerset	Bacchus Reserve 2022	Sold out	WineGB 2025 trophy, 97 points

Why Bacchus suits England

Bacchus was bred in Germany in 1933, when Peter Morio crossed a Silvaner-Riesling cross with Müller-Thurgau at the Geilweilerhof institute in the Pfalz. The point was a grape that ripens early and piles on aroma, and that is exactly what a cool English summer needs. It ripens reliably where Sauvignon Blanc would struggle, and a long, cool growing season keeps its acidity bright while the elderflower and citrus build.

It now covers about 7% of the UK's vineyards, fourth behind the three Champagne grapes, which makes it the most planted variety here that isn't one of them. It also travels well around the country: the eight wines below run from Cornwall to Norfolk. For more on the grape itself, see our Bacchus grape guide.

What English Bacchus tastes like

Classic Bacchus is fermented cool in stainless steel to keep every bit of its aroma: elderflower, gooseberry, lime and green apple, with a grassy, nettly edge. It's the reason Bacchus gets called England's answer to Sauvignon Blanc, and it's at its best young and well chilled.

If that style is a bit too sharp and grassy for you, there are two other routes in. A fumé or oak-aged Bacchus spends time in older barrels, which rounds off the green edge and adds a smoky, creamy note without smothering the fruit. Chapel Down's Kit's Coty is the benchmark. A skin-contact or orange Bacchus is fermented with its skins, which swaps some of the zing for texture and spice: a little grip on the finish and a more savoury, floral character. The Wharie Experience makes one of the best.

The best English Bacchus to try

Cobble Hill

Location: Docking, near Burnham Market, Norfolk

The Perowne family have farmed this corner of North Norfolk for five generations, and they grow, make and bottle everything on site. Their Bacchus is on a roll: the 2025 was named Best Still White at the 2026 Independent English Wine Awards, two years after the 2023 took gold at the same competition. At £20, it's the cheapest route to a trophy-winning English white on this list.

Wine: Bacchus 2025, £20
Buy: cobblehillnorfolk.com

Wraxall Vineyard

Location: near Shepton Mallet, Somerset

Wraxall's Bacchus Reserve 2022 has the best competition record of any Bacchus here: gold at WineGB 2024, then a trophy and 97 points at WineGB 2025. It has sold out, and pre-orders for the next Reserve go through the vineyard's newsletter. In the meantime, the standard Wraxall Bacchus 2025 is £18.50.

Wine: Bacchus Reserve 2022 (sold out), Bacchus 2025, £18.50
Buy: wraxallvineyard.co.uk

Chapel Down: Kit's Coty Bacchus

Location: Kit's Coty vineyard, near Aylesford, Kent

The grapes come from Chapel Down's 100-acre Kit's Coty vineyard on the North Downs, are whole-bunch pressed, then fermented with wild yeast in third- and fourth-use French oak barrels for nine months. Expect pineapple, melon and grapefruit with a little oak richness underneath. The 2022 vintage took gold with 96 points at WineGB 2025, and the 2021 came second out of more than 40 in Great British Wine's blind Bacchus tasting. The 2023 is sold direct by the case of six.

Wine: Kit's Coty Bacchus 2023, £216 for six (£36 a bottle)
Buy: chapeldown.com

Balfour Winery

Location: Staplehurst, Kent

Named after the family's Dalmatian, Liberty's Bacchus gets a touch of barrel ageing and a partly wild fermentation, which takes the edge off without losing the zip. Rose petal and citrus on the nose, crisp apple and a little spice on the palate. The 2025 won gold at WineGB 2026. A half bottle of the 2023 (£15) is a cheap way to try it.

Wine: Liberty's Bacchus 2025, £25
Buy: balfourwinery.com

The Wharie Experience

Location: Sway, near Lymington, Hampshire

Guillaume, the Swiss oenologist who runs this two-hectare New Forest estate, makes his Bacchus as an orange wine. The 2023 is the current release and took gold at the 2025 Independent English Wine Awards. I also loved the 2022 vintage, which spent 18 days on its skins and a year in a 500-litre barrel, and comes across floral and citrussy with a lingering streak of sweet spice. Only 630 bottles of it were made, and it's still on sale at £27.50. Guillaume also runs tours and cheese pairings at the vineyard by appointment.

Wine: Bacchus Orange 2023, £25 (2022, £27.50)
Buy: wharie.co.uk

Camel Valley

Location: Nanstallon, near Bodmin, Cornwall

Darnibole is the first and only single vineyard in the UK to be awarded Protected Designation of Origin status, planted on free-draining soil over slate on the Camel Valley estate. The 2023 took silver at both WineGB and the International Wine Challenge in 2026, and the estate recommends giving it a few years in the bottle. For something zestier and cheaper, the estate's Bacchus Dry 2023 is £16.95.

Wine: Darnibole Bacchus 2023, £19.95
Buy: camelvalley.com

Giffords Hall

Location: Hartest, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Classic Bacchus done right. The fruit comes from 30-year-old vines, picked by hand and fermented at 16°C in stainless steel to lock in the aroma: elderflower, lime and green apple with a dry, clean finish. The 2024 won gold at the 2025 Independent English Wine Awards, where the judges called it "how Bacchus should be". If the 2024 runs out, the 2023 is £14.95.

Wine: Bacchus 2024, £16.95
Buy: giffordshall.co.uk

Chapel Down: Bacchus

Location: Tenterden, Kent

The easiest Bacchus on this list to find, and a sound place to start. It's the classic style, all elderflower, gooseberry and citrus, and the 2023 vintage took silver with 93 points at WineGB 2025. You can buy it direct from Chapel Down or at Majestic.

Wine: Bacchus 2025, £16
Buy: chapeldown.com

Questions about English Bacchus

What is the best English Bacchus?

On competition results, Wraxall's Bacchus Reserve 2022 (a WineGB trophy and 97 points) and Cobble Hill's 2025 (Best Still White at the 2026 Independent English Wine Awards) lead the field. For an oak-aged style, Chapel Down's Kit's Coty has the longest track record. My own favourite is The Wharie Experience's orange Bacchus.

Is Bacchus like Sauvignon Blanc?

In its classic style, yes. It shares Sauvignon Blanc's elderflower, gooseberry and grassy notes and its high acidity, which is why it's often called England's answer to Sancerre or Marlborough Sauvignon. It tends to be more floral and a little softer, and the oak-aged and skin-contact versions take it somewhere Sauvignon rarely goes.

What does "fumé" mean on a Bacchus label?

The term is borrowed from Fumé Blanc, the name California uses for oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc. On an English Bacchus label, it means the wine has been fermented or aged in barrel, usually older oak, which rounds off the grape's green edge and adds a smoky note. Flint's Bacchus Fumé topped Great British Wine's blind tasting of more than 40 English Bacchus.

What is orange Bacchus?

Orange wine is white wine made like a red: the juice ferments with its skins for days or weeks instead of being pressed off them straight away. That gives the wine an amber tint, a little tannic grip and a more savoury, spiced character. With a grape as aromatic as Bacchus, the result keeps its floral lift but gains texture. The 2022 from The Wharie Experience in Hampshire spent 18 days on its skins.

How much does English Bacchus cost?

The wines here run from £16 to £36, and most sit between £16 and £25. That makes Bacchus one of the more affordable ways into English still wine: compare our guides to the best English Chardonnays and best English Pinot Noirs, where prices start at around £25 and £30 respectively.

Can I visit the vineyards behind these wines?

Each vineyard's page on Vinebound explains how to visit, so check there before you travel. You can also browse the full vineyard finder to find Bacchus producers near you.