Ewelme Hills: new premium English wine brand launches still rosé!
A picture postcard location in the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Beauty, watercress growing in its chalk stream for centuries. An English idyll admired by Chaucer, Jerome K Jerome, TV drama and Hollywood movie producers … and a vineyard smiling in the background. Welcome to Ewelme village and Ewelme Hills estate.
Ewelme Hills Estate
Ewelme Hills estate, located in the hills above Ewelme village, is a farm and vineyard founded in 2014 by Lubov Chernukhin, a leading British businesswoman, entrepreneur, philanthropist and investor. In addition to grape vines, there are pear and apple orchards for pear cider and apple brandy production, 20 beehives, several polytunnels and caged raised beds growing fruit and vegetables. The wider Ewelme Hills collection includes estate honey, beeswax candles, natural handmade soaps and hand-selected luxury gifts.
While not currently certified organic, they follow organic and sustainable practices and plan to seek certification in the future. They farm without chemical pesticides, using locally sourced, recycled fertilisers and manure from their stables. A diverse range of grasses, herbs, wild flowers and legumes are left to grow between the vine rows without excessive mowing, further encouraging biodiversity.
Lubov Chernukhin at the launch of Ewelme Hills Pinot Noir Rosé 2025
A sustainable approach
A sustainable, interconnected approach protecting biodiversity and soil health is integral to Chernukhin's overall philosophy of agricultural management. "With our sustainably farmed and nature-focused Chiltern Hills estate, we're creating much more than a vineyard. Everything is connected. Our bees pollinate our orchards and wildflowers. Our orchards give us fruit for cider and brandy. We're working to create a state where agriculture and nature don't merely co-exist, but genuinely thrive together."
The vineyards
The ten acres of sunny, south-facing vineyard slopes lie on a chalky subsoil with around six inches of clay and loam on the surface. There are over 20,000 vines growing at 150-170m altitude, comprising Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Seyval Blanc, currently destined for sparkling wines. For still wines, the Pinot Noir grapes are sourced from Essex's highly prized Crouch Valley and the Chardonnay from Kit's Coty in Kent.
Chernukhin and her team were keen not to rush any viticultural or winemaking decisions. So, having begun the project in 2014 with extensive soil and climate research, they selected the plots, grapes and clones that best suited the terroir. In order to put nutrients back into the soil after ploughing, they planted cover crops, such as black radish, before adding the vines in 2019 and harvested their first crop five years later.
Itasca Wines expertise
Ewelme Hills' overall aim is to build a premium English brand rooted in provenance and responsible production. Their wines are being made by Itasca Wines in Hampshire, whose expertise, low intervention, sustainability and eco-friendly credentials plus state-of-the-art facilities match the vision and ambition of Ewelme Hills.
Harriet Elder from Itasca Wines describes further: "We tend to take quite a low intervention approach to winemaking. Essentially we want the grapes to do the talking and allow the character of the vineyard and fruit to come through in the finished wine."
Launching Ewelme Hills
The winery recently launched its first release, Ewelme Hills Pinot Noir Rosé 2025, in the elegant confines of The Orangery in London 's Holland Park. Only 1,260 bottles were made, but the winery has plans to increase this to at least 8,000 or 9,000 bottles for subsequent vintages.
For Lubov Chernukhin, the event was more about showcasing the philosophy of Ewelme Hills than just unveiling a new wine, as she explains. "Tonight is particularly special for me, because it has taken us twelve years to get here. We're here to launch a wine, but to me, this evening is about something rather bigger. It's about introducing what we want Ewelme Hills to stand for. That's exceptional quality, English craftsmanship and a very English interpretation of luxury. I've always believed that true luxury isn't about making something louder, bigger or more ostentatious. It's about taking the time to make something exceptionally well. It's about knowing where something came from, understanding the people who made it, respecting their craftsmanship and, ultimately, creating something that gives enormous pleasure. That philosophy is at the heart of Ewelme Hills."
Building a premium English wine brand
The launch of this rosé is an important step in the estate's ambition to build a premium English wine brand, as Jason Horner, Director of Ewelme Hills, explains: "This has been a genuinely collaborative project, bringing together winemaking, estate, design and brand teams. It represents the standard we want to set for Ewelme Hills as we build a premium English brand rooted in craftsmanship, responsible production and a strong sense of place."
Ewelme Hills Pinot Noir Rosé 2025
Created principally for the premium on-trade, the bottle features an elegant label design with a heavily textured white label and embossed rose-gold foiling.
Made from Essex-grown Pinot Noir, the grapes were hand-harvested and whole-bunch pressed for around four hours. Fermentation took place primarily in stainless steel, while 16% of the blend was fermented, with malolactic conversion (Malolactic conversion is a winemaking process that transforms sharp malic acid into softer, creamier lactic acid - the same acid found in milk - creating a rounder mouthfeel), and aged for six months in second and third-fill, neutral Burgundy oak barrels.
Tasting notes
🎚️ ABV: 12.5%.
🍇 Grapes: 100% hand-picked Pinot Noir from the London Clay-based soil of Crow's Lane Estate in the Crouch Valley.
🔍 Appearance: Clear, light pink.
👃 Nose: Aromatic and floral with fruity notes of strawberry, raspberry and pink grapefruit plus a delicate hint of creamy butter.
😋 Palate: The palate is similarly fruity with red berry and pink grapefruit notes to the fore with a hint of redcurrant too and a slightly savoury edge on a persistent finish. The fresh, 'quintessentially English' acidity is kept in check by gentle oak influence which is never prominent, adding smooth texture, roundness and refined elegance to the crisp and vibrant mouth feel.
This is a serious rosé with some capacity to age, while being very drinkable now.
Seafood canapés: a perfect accompaniment to Ewelme Hills Pinot Noir Rosé 2025
🍴 Food Pairings: Delicious to drink on its own, Ewelme Hills Pinot Noir Rosé 2025 has enough character and structure to work well with a variety of dishes, including fish, seafood, vegetarian options and white meats. While particularly successful with the seafood canapés served at the launch event, the wine was also a good match for the mini burgers and apple-based desserts that followed!
💳 Where to buy: Available to buy through the Ewelme Hills website or direct order for businesses, priced at £50 per bottle.
English still wines have a bright future
While England has traditionally been best known for sparkling wine, Ewelme Hills Pinot Noir Rosé 2025 reflects the growing interest and quality of the country's premium still wine category.
The Crouch Valley, in particular, is being increasingly recognised as one of England's most exciting regions for still wine. The quality of the grapes grown there, particularly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, has not gone unnoticed globally, with Californian and French producers investing in the region. It is no surprise then that Lubov Chernukhin and her team chose Crouch Valley Pinot Noir grapes and decided on a still rosé for their inaugural release.
"English wine has already achieved something remarkable", she says. "For many years, an international reputation has been built primarily on outstanding sparkling wine. I believe, we are now entering the next chapter. With exceptional fruit, increasingly favourable growing conditions and some extraordinary, talented people working in this country, there is no reason why the finest English wines should not stand proudly alongside the great wines from anywhere in the world. We intend Ewelme Hills to be part of that story."
💡 The Write Taste was the first to report on English still rosé wines over 15 years ago and you can read the article, originally published in Speciality Food Magazine.
You can also find other reports on English and Welsh Wine in the dedicated section on The Write Taste.
A shorter version of this piece was originally published in Harpers.