On a beautiful hot, sunny August day in 2023, over a hundred wine lovers enjoyed a unique opportunity to sample some incredible wines from across East Anglia, tuck into great food and soak up the vineyard views at Burnt House Vineyard.
The high quality of the still red wines in this year’s competition was particularly noted by the judges
For only the second time, WineGB East opened their annual awards to the public, with attendees enjoying:
- Seeing the winners being announced
- Sampling all 66 entries to the competition
- Being the first to sample the Award winning wines
- Meeting the producers and purchasing some of their favourite wines
It was fantastic to taste the quality of wines being made in East Anglia. The judges noted a number of interesting trends in this year’s winners.
The standout wines made in East Anglia remain still wines. Being the sunniest and driest part of England, our area lends itself particularly well to making high quality still wines.
It was the high quality of the still red wines in this year’s competition that was particularly noted by the judges. This year’s coveted East Anglian Wine of the Year was won by still red wine, Flint Vineyard’s Pinot Noir Precoce 2022 and 7 out of the 9 red wine entries won awards, two receiving Gold Awards.
The range of still white wines was noted and not just the standard fruit-forward Bacchus but some clearly showing experimentation in winemaking techniques. A sign of a vibrant innovative wine culture.
The success of different grape varieties was clear from the submissions. Pinot Gris was a particular highlight with Burn Valley’s Pinot Gris 2022 winning Best White Wine.
There were 39 medal winners with 8 coveted gold medals awarded.
Head judge, Jeremy Dunn DipWSET, ran an expert panel tasting 66 wines, the largest number of submissions to Wine GB’s regional awards showcasing the best of wines from East Anglia (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex), Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
2023 Trophy Winners
- Best White – Burn Valley Pinot Gris 2022
- Best Bacchus 2022 – Cobble Hill Bacchus 2022
- Best Rosé – Copdock Hall Vineyard Rose 2022
- Best Red – Flint Vineyard Pinot Noir Precoce 2022
- Best Sparkling – Coopers Croft Pinot Noir Fizz 2021
- Guy Howard Award – Janne Hallinan of How2EnjoyWine.com
2023 Gold Awards
- Burn Valley Pinot Gris 2022
- Coopers Croft Bacchus 2022
- Cobble Hill Bacchus 2022
- Copdock Hall Vineyard Rose 2022
- Flint Vineyard Pinot Noir Precoce 2022
- Burn Valley Rondo 2021
- Shawsgate Rose Blush Frampaign 2015
- Coopers Croft Pinot Noir Fizz 2021
2023 Silver Awards
- Hazel End Bacchus 2022
- Cobble Hill Chardonnay 2021
- Burn Valley Bacchus 2022
- Babus Vineyard The Parsons Pleasure 2022
- Babus Vineyard Dulce Solaris 2022
- Babus Vineyard Late Harvest Solaris 2022
- Burn Valley Pinot Noir Rose 2022
- Coopers Croft Pinot Noir Rose 2022
- Shotley Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022
- Chilford Hall Vineyard Chancellor 2018
- Thorrington Mill Sparkling Chardonnay 2022
- House of Hemmant Blanc de Noirs 2021
- Hazel End Vineyard Three Squirrells Brut 2016
- Tuffon Hall Charlotte Pink Sparkling 2020
- Thorrington Mill Sparkling Pinot Noir 2022
2023 Bronze Awards
- Chet Valley Siskin 2022
- Burn Valley Schonburger 2022
- Congham Vineyard Concerto 2022
- Flint Vineyard Bacchus Fume 2022
- Thorrington Mill Bacchus 2022
- Shotley Vineyard Bacchus 2022
- Ark Wines Bacchus 2021
- Babus Vineyard The Rose 2022
- Hungerhill Vineyard Rose 2022
- Burnt House Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022
- Giffords Hall Vineyard St Edmundsbury Red 2021
- Ark Wines Pinot Noir 2021
- Congham Vineyard Rondo 2020
- Giffords Hall Brut Reserve NV
- Chet Valley Skylark Brut 2021
- Giffords Hall Suffolk Pink Sparkling
Our 2023 Judges were:
- Jeremy Dunn DipWSET – owner and Chief Wine Tutor of Norfolk Wine School
- Matt Hodgson – owner of Grape Britannia based in Cambridge and winner of the 2022 Wine GB East Guy Howard Award
- Janne Hallinan DipWSET – founder of How2EnjoyWine and winner of the 2023 Wine GB East Guy Howard Award
- James Long – wine consultant