Wyfold Vineyard

What's the vibe?

Wyfold is proof that good things come in small parcels: just over two hectares on a chalk slope above Henley-on-Thames, planted in 2003 by Barbara Laithwaite as what started out as a hobby and became a full-time passion. Her son Henry makes the wine, when he isn't busy running his own vineyard, Harrow & Hope, twenty minutes down the road in Marlow. Between the two of them, the trophy count is wildly out of proportion to the size of either estate.

There's no cellar door here, and nothing to book. Wyfold is a working vineyard, not a visitor attraction, and its own website makes no claim otherwise. The wine is sold through Laithwaites' home delivery, with enquiries handled by email. If you're after a Chiltern Hills day out with a glass in hand, this isn't it; if you're after the wine itself, it isn't hard to find.

Two wines, both sparkling, both aged four years before release. The Brut 2017 is a Chardonnay-based blend grown on Wyfold's own patch of geology: a south-facing slope of Thames gravel over Paris Basin chalk, 120 metres up, the same bedrock, more or less, that Champagne itself sits on. It shows honeyed citrus and a biscuity note rather than anything flinty, with a full mouthful of summer fruit. The Rosé 2018 swaps the citrus for red fruit: hedgerow berries and a touch of cream, built to be drunk rather than picked apart.

Four years is a long wait for a vineyard this size. Both wines arrive already settled, with no rough edges.

Barbara Laithwaite planted Wyfold in 2003 and trained under Tony Jordan of Domaine Chandon and Mike Roberts of Ridgeview Estate, two of the people most responsible for English sparkling wine being taken seriously in the first place. In 2023 she was made a CBE for services to wine, named specifically as Wyfold's founder.

Her son Henry makes the wine here too, alongside running his own vineyard, Harrow & Hope, twenty minutes away in Marlow.

The wine itself has picked up three UK trophies (one for the 2009 debut Brut, two for rosé), represented England at New Zealand's Battle of the Bubbles, and been served to visiting dignitaries by the British Embassy in Washington. The Pantone Institute once chose Wyfold's own colour as the official reference shade for English sparkling wine. You can, apparently, buy the paint.