The 9 Best English Rosés
8 Oct 2026 · By Stephen Pritchard in Wine Guides
English still rosé has stopped being a summer afterthought. The best bottles now come from vineyards that treat it as a serious wine, and the judges at WineGB 2026 said as much when they gave the Best Still Rosé trophy to a wine they called "elegant, gastronomic and richly structured". This guide covers nine, from a £16 bottle from Kent to a £38 Gamay rosé, and three of the vineyards have won a best rosé trophy at WineGB since 2023. I've tasted two of them myself, and they could hardly be more different: one pale and delicate, one deep and built for food.
English rosé at a glance
| Vineyard | Wine | Price | Best result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapel Down, Kent | English Rose 2025 | £16 | WineGB 2026 silver |
| Tuffon Hall, Essex | Beatrice Pinot Noir Rosé 2025 | £19 | WineGB 2026 silver (2022 vintage: Best Still Rosé trophy) |
| Kingsthorne, Gloucestershire | Rosé | £20 | IEWA 2025 gold, Decanter silver (2023 vintage) |
| Albury Organic Vineyard, Surrey | Silent Pool Rosé 2025 | £21.95 | WineGB 2025 silver, 94 points (2024 vintage) |
| Cobble Hill, Norfolk | Pinot Noir Rosé 2025 | £22 | WineGB 2026 silver |
| Kinsbrook Vineyard, West Sussex | Two 2024 | £26 | Rated "Excellent" in my review |
| Blackbook Winery, London | I'd Rather Be a Rebel 2022 | £26.50 | WineGB 2026 gold |
| Walgate Wines, East Sussex | Rosé 2023 | £34 | WineGB 2026 trophy, Best Still Rosé |
| Cobham House, Kent | Rosé 2025 | £38 | WineGB 2026 gold (2024 vintage: Best Rosé trophy) |
Why rosé suits England
Most English rosé starts with the same two black grapes that go into sparkling wine: Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Both ripen early enough to cope with a cool summer, and their thin skins give up colour quickly, so a rosé needs only a short spell on the skins to turn pink. A cool, slow season also keeps the acidity high, which is why English rosés taste fresh and crisp rather than heavy.
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Eight of the nine wines below are built on those grapes. The exception is Cobham House, which grows Gamay, the Beaujolais grape, and makes it into a still rosé. WineGB's write-up of its 2026 awards describes still rosé moving the same way, towards more structured, food-friendly wines and away from simple summer sipping.
What English rosé tastes like
The classic English style is pale, dry and fruity: strawberry, raspberry and red cherry, often with a squeeze of citrus or a hint of peach, and a clean, crisp finish. In the pale style, the grapes are pressed gently soon after picking, so the juice picks up only a little colour and keeps its delicacy.
The colour tells you a lot about the style. A longer spell on the skins gives a deeper colour and more body, and a few makers push this furthest. Kinsbrook's Two is a skin-contact rosé aged on its lees, with the weight and texture that come with it. Walgate leaves whole bunches of Pinot Meunier to soak overnight in the press before pressing, and Blackbook ferments in seasoned oak, which adds texture. For more of the same, see our guides to the best English Pinot Noirs and the best orange wines.
My Personal Favourites
Albury Organic Vineyard
Location: Albury, near Guildford, Surrey
Silent Pool is the wine Albury is known for, and its first vintage went afloat: it was served on the royal barge as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. It pours a pale coral, and Albury describes the nose as strawberries and cream, which is apparent as soon as your nose approaches the glass. The wine is dry, with peach and a squeeze of pink grapefruit behind the strawberry, and a long, clean finish. The 2024 vintage earned silver and 94 points at WineGB 2025. It's Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, grown organically on the North Downs.
Wine: Silent Pool Rosé 2025, £21.95
Kinsbrook Vineyard
Location: West Chiltington, near Pulborough, West Sussex
Kinsbrook calls Two a foodie's rosé, and I put that to the test over dinner at the vineyard, where it sat happily alongside aubergine, feta, pork belly and grilled peach. It's far deeper in colour than the as-pale-as-possible rosés that are thankfully on the way out, thanks to skin contact on Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir, followed by an extended spell on fine lees. Strawberry and raspberry come first, then red plum, with sour cherry zinging underneath. It's the second of three still wines Kinsbrook made from parcels set aside in the difficult 2024 growing year, and it comes in at 10.5% ABV. My full verdict is in the Kinsbrook Two review, and the vineyard's restaurant is covered in our Kinsbrook review.
Wine: Two 2024, £26
The trophy winners
Walgate Wines
Location: Rye, East Sussex
Ben Walgate left Tillingham to start his own winery in a converted warehouse in Rye, and the Rosé 2023 won the Best Still Rosé trophy at WineGB 2026. It's 100% Pinot Meunier from clay soils in the Crouch Valley in Essex, soaked overnight in the press as whole bunches and then pressed to stainless steel. Raspberry and melon lead, with a creamy roundness and a tingle of acidity running underneath. Only 1,274 bottles were made. The winery's taproom in Rye is open Thursday to Sunday.
Wine: Rosé 2023, £34
Cobham House
Location: Cobham, near Gravesend, Kent
Cobham House makes just one wine, a still rosé from 100% Gamay planted in 2021 on chalk and flint on the North Kent Downs. The 2024 won the Best Rosé trophy at WineGB 2025 with 96 points, and the 2025 followed it with gold in 2026. Eighty per cent ferments in stainless steel and twenty per cent in Portuguese fortified-wine barrels, which adds a creamy texture. Expect pear and bubblegum on the nose, then ripe cherry and strawberry and a crisp finish. It's sold direct, and a quarterly subscription is available.
Wine: Rosé 2025, £38
Tuffon Hall
Location: Sible Hedingham, near Halstead, Essex
Beatrice is named after the vineyard's second daughter, and the 2022 vintage won the Waitrose Trophy for Best Still Rosé at WineGB 2023. Oz Clarke said it "knocks the socks off any Provence stuff". The 2025 is the current release, and it took silver at WineGB 2026. Oz Clarke and Tom Surgey's notes on it pick out juicy peach and a little tannic chew, in a bright, dry wine.
Wine: Beatrice Pinot Noir Rosé 2025, £19
More English rosés worth tracking down
Kingsthorne
Location: Flaxley, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
Kingsthorne released its first wines only in 2025, and this rosé was among its early medal-winners: the 2023 won gold at the Independent English Wine Awards 2025 and silver at Decanter. It is Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from the Flaxley and Longney vineyards, and a brief spell on the skins keeps the colour pale, with a copper tint. Expect strawberry, peach and passion fruit, a dry palate and a long finish, at 11% ABV.
Wine: Rosé, £20
Blackbook Winery
Location: Battersea, London
Blackbook makes its wine under a railway arch in Battersea, from grapes driven in from growers in Essex. The Pinot Noir for I'd Rather Be a Rebel comes from Crows Lane Estate, hand-picked into small crates, given a brief cold soak and fermented in seasoned French oak. It then spends 18 months on its lees and a further six in bottle before release. The 2022 won gold at WineGB 2026. Expect ripe red cherry and plenty of texture.
Wine: I'd Rather Be a Rebel 2022, £26.50
Cobble Hill
Location: Docking, near Burnham Market, Norfolk
The Perowne family grow, make and bottle everything on site, and the same Norfolk estate won Best Still White at the 2026 Independent English Wine Awards for its Bacchus (see our best English Bacchus guide). Its Pinot Noir Rosé 2025 is a dry, pale pink wine at 12.5% ABV, pressed gently to keep it delicate, and it took silver at WineGB 2026.
Wine: Pinot Noir Rosé 2025, £22
Chapel Down
Location: Tenterden, Kent
The cheapest wine here, and a sound place to start. The English Rose 2025 is Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, whole-bunch pressed, fermented cool in stainless steel and left on its lees for six months. It's a crisp, fruity style with strawberry and raspberry aromas, and it's 12.5% ABV. It won silver at WineGB 2026, and the 2024 vintage won silver at both the International Wine Challenge and Decanter. Waitrose stocks it too. Chapel Down suggests serving it between 8 and 12°C.
Wine: English Rose 2025, £16 (£96 for six)
Buy from Chapel Down ↗Waitrose ↗
English rosé you can buy in a supermarket
You don't have to order direct. Several English still rosés sit on supermarket shelves, often for less than the producer's own price. Chapel Down's English Rosé, above, is at Waitrose for around £16, and these are the others worth looking for. For the wider range, see our guide to English wine in supermarkets.
Bolney Wine Estate: Lychgate Rosé
Location: Bolney, West Sussex
A dry, Provence-style rosé from the Sussex estate, with stone fruit and red berries. It costs around £16 at Waitrose, the same as from the estate's own shop.
Denbies Wine Estate: Rose Hill
Location: Dorking, Surrey
The cheapest English rosé in this guide at around £9 at Waitrose, against £10.75 from the estate. It blends Pinot Noir and Dornfelder, and it's an easy-drinking style with wild strawberry, raspberry and cherry blossom.
Simpsons Wine Estate: Pinot Noir Rosé
Location: Barham, near Canterbury, Kent
A Kent Pinot Noir rosé at around £13.50 at Waitrose. The estate sells its own Railway Hill Rosé direct, at £22.
Balfour: Lark Song English Rosé
Location: Hush Heath Estate, Staplehurst, Kent
Marks & Spencer's own-label English rosé is made by Balfour. It's a pale, dry still rosé at 11% ABV, built mainly on Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, and the current release is the 2024.
Own-label bottles are on the shelves too, including Tesco Finest English Rosé at around £12.50 and M&S English Lily Rosé.
