Best Vineyard Restaurants in Essex

Essex vineyard food is relaxed and mostly daytime: brunch, a long lunch, a sharing board or afternoon tea, with views over the vines. Three vineyards serve food regularly, and all three are easy to combine with a tasting.

Crouch Ridge Estate, in the Crouch Valley, serves brunch, lunch, sharing boards and afternoon teas from its Wine Barn and terrace, on a menu designed around its sparkling and still wines. Daily specials include fish and shellfish from a local fisher. It is open Friday to Sunday from 11am to 6pm, from March to October. Nearby, Clayhill Vineyard's Coffee and Cake Cafe has a glass balcony over the River Crouch estuary and the vines, with light lunches, Cornish pasties, homemade cakes and afternoon teas. On Mersea Island, the Mersea Cafe at Mersea Island Vineyard is open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am, with sandwiches, toasties, paninis, baguettes and jacket potatoes to eat inside or in the courtyard.

For something more than a lunch stop, Missing Gate Vineyard's Sunday tour includes a food and wine pairing prepared by its private chef, alongside a guided estate walk and a tutored tasting of its wines. Crouch Ridge also runs tours and tastings, so you can pair a tasting with lunch on the same visit.

Opening days vary, and Crouch Ridge is open Friday to Sunday only, so check before you travel. Crouch Ridge welcomes well-behaved dogs across the estate, and for more places to eat with a dog see our guide to dog-friendly vineyard restaurants and cafes. Without a car, Chelmsford is the closest mainline station for Crouch Ridge and Clayhill, and Colchester for Mersea Island, with a taxi for the final stretch. Our guide to vineyards you can walk to lists the vineyards within walking distance of a station. For other counties, see our guide to vineyard restaurants, or read more about visiting Essex's vineyards.