High Clandon: one acre, one wine, and a sabrage I will not forget

High Clandon's Art & Sculptures in the Vineyard exhibition is open now, running until 12 July 2026. Sculptures are spread through the meadow and wildflower garden, with more work on show in the Glass Barn. Entry is by £8 suggested donation on the door and there's no need to book ahead.

The exhibition sits alongside what High Clandon does every day: grow one acre of vines on a south-east facing slope in the Surrey Hills and turn them into a single traditional-method sparkling wine each year - between 1,500 and 2,500 bottles, depending on the harvest. Each vintage gets its own name: the 2020 is the Cerulean Cuvée; the newly released 2021 is the Aurora Borealis Cuvée, named for the aurora borealis that was actually seen from the estate over winter. One wine, one story, one year at a time.

In a world of wine producers chasing range and volume, that's fairly unusual. Go here and you'll taste one wine, poured by the person who can tell you exactly what the weather was doing the morning every berry on those vines was picked.

Arriving at High Clandon

The vineyard sits in East Clandon, four miles from Guildford town centre and easily reached by taxi if you're coming from London. You arrive down a beech tree-lined lane, and the view opens up across the Surrey Hills - on a clear day you can pick out the London skyline, and on our summer visit the Shard was unmistakable on the horizon.

The vines double as an extension of the house gardens. Sculptures are stationed among them, wildflowers grow between the rows, and there's a sunken garden with a musical installation and a kitchen garden that looks like it escaped from a French château.

Sibylla and the tour

Sibylla Tindale, co-owner and the driving force behind High Clandon, is one of the most memorable tour guides I've come across at an English vineyard. She talks with her hands, which are never still, and she talks about the land like someone who planted these vines herself and has watched them through twenty harvests.

At one point she passed round flowers cut from the estate for us to smell, connecting what was in the glass to what was growing in the ground. Whether wine can carry the scent of flowers growing a few feet away is a stretch for some tastes, but it's a memorable way to tie the glass back to the ground it came from.

The wines

High Clandon makes one wine per vintage from Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay - the classic champagne trio - grown on chalky limestone soil that drains well and builds concentration. Every release is aged for a minimum of five years before it reaches a shelf, putting it in the same category as prestige cuvées rather than the entry-level fizz English wine is sometimes reduced to in coverage.

The Cerulean Cuvée 2020 - the vintage we first tasted - has hints of apricot and elderflower on the nose, a satiny mouthfeel and confit stone-fruit on the finish. The mousse is persistent and elegant. It scored 4.5 out of 5 from The Real Review. At £43 a bottle for a wine aged half a decade, it's strong value against comparable French alternatives.

The Aurora Borealis Cuvée 2021 has just launched, five years in the bottle and available directly from the estate. If the 2020 is anything to go by, it won't hang around.

A sabrage to launch it

High Clandon marked the launch with a sabrage in the vines to close English Wine Week - sabring a bottle open with a sword. A volunteer was needed, and my hand went up before Sibylla had finished asking the question.

Art & Sculptures in the Vineyard

That same spirit carries into the sculpture exhibition. On our summer visit, people had spread out across the grounds with picnics, clearly planning to stay for hours. Check with the vineyard directly if picnics are an official arrangement - nothing about the place discourages it.

It's one of the more distinctive seasonal events on the English wine calendar, and within easy reach of London.

Getting there and booking

High Clandon Estate is in East Clandon, Surrey, GU4 7RP. The nearest train station is Clandon (London Waterloo line via Guildford); a taxi from Guildford takes around 10 minutes and costs under £15. Tours run on designated Open Days at £30 per person - book via TryBooking. Groups of six or more can arrange bespoke tour dates directly.

The Art & Sculptures in the Vineyard exhibition runs until 12 July 2026. Entry by £8 suggested charity donation. No advance booking required.

See the High Clandon listing on Vinebound →