Vineyard wins five wine awards in four days (and it's just down the road from Swindon)

Poulton Hill picked up three silver medals and one bronze at the WineGB West Awards 2019, held at Cirencester's Royal Agricultural University, and fifth gong at The World’s Finest Glass of Bubbly Awards.

The ceremonies were held in the same week and the vineyard took home a haul of trophies.

Vineyard managing director Tiléri Charles-Jones said: “Five awards in four days is an incredible achievement. We’re absolutely delighted.

“In contrast to last year, we’re still waiting to harvest the 2019 crop following a summer of inconsistent weather with one of the wettest Augusts on record.

“We’re thinning the canopy and fruit to help us reach the optimum ripeness, and have a team of harvesters on standby.”

Three of the award-winning wines from Poulton Hill, near Cirencester, are of the 2018 vintage, when a hot and sunny summer led to the earliest grape harvest since 1982 and a bumper crop.

They bagged a silver WineGB West Award for the vineyard’s first medium white wine, the Arlington White 2018 – named after the famous row of cottages in Bibury.

Their second silver went to another new wine called the Arlington Red NV 2018. And the vineyard won a bronze medal for the Special Reserve White 2018, a Seyval Blanc and Phoenix blend.

The Bulari Sparkling White 2016 won a silver during the same award ceremony and then went on to pick up a silver medal in the Zesty and Zingy category at The World’s Finest Glass of Bubbly Awards.

The vineyard’s sparkling wine is named after the Latin word Bullarum, meaning bubbles.

The 2018 wines – produced from last year’s bumper harvest, which was the earliest and most bountiful in the UK since 1982 following a scorching summer – went on sale in July.

The 2016 Bulari was released just in time for summer drinking.

The three-hectare vineyard was established at Poulton, on the Wiltshire and Gloucestershire border, in 2010 and established a reputation for producing award-winning tipples.