Kent’s pioneering vineyard, Biddenden has always been driven by the passion and knowledge
of the Barnes family, now in its third generation. With over 55 years of wine making
experience and knowledge honed and perfected over 3 generations, Biddenden
continue to push the limits of still wine making in the UK and have now released a unique
wine from the 2022 harvest, Biddenden Gewürztraminer 2022, the first of its kind in the UK.

Gewürztraminer is an aromatic grape variety which grows well in cooler climates. Pink
skinned when ripe, this variety is a white wine grape with high natural sugars. Very particular
about soil and climate, the vine is vigorous, even described at times as unruly, but hates
chalky soils. Biddenden boasts sandy loam over clay soils and this grape variety was originally
planted here by Julian Barnes in 2013 to see what sort of ripeness was achievable.
Gewürztraminer buds early, so is very susceptible to frost, needs dry and warm summers,
and ripens erratically and late.

Following the exceptionally long hot summer of 2022, Tom Barnes saw the perfect
opportunity to create this first Gewürztraminer vintage. Thanks to Julian’s foresight in
planting this variety in 2013, and after years of vine care and careful management,
Biddenden are delighted to see this hard work come to fruition with the release of this very
special still wine.

“As a family we’ve been producing wines for over five decades, now with a focus on still
wines and Ortega being our flagship variety. Biddenden’s site lends itself to still wine making
and through our passion and skill as growers, and knowledge passed down from my
grandparents to Dad and myself we are able to continue to push the boundaries, shown,
amongst other things, through our successes in our special edition wines, including our
Ortega Late Harvest and limited release Gamay Noir, with Biddenden being one of the only
vineyards to grown this variety in the UK.”

Tom Barnes, General Manager and third generation of Biddenden Vineyards.
“As one of the oldest commercial vineyards in the UK, we are extremely proud to continue to
be at the forefront of the industry. Our wines are made in the vineyard, rather than in the
winery. Living on site we are able to constantly monitor the grapes and be totally reactive to
the needs of the vineyard and this is one of the reasons that Biddenden wines are so
exceptional.”

Julian Barnes, second generation owner of Biddenden Vineyard.

Biddenden Gewürztraminer 2022 is an off-dry white wine with a flamboyant bouquet, with
aromas of roses and passionfruit. Made from handpicked, estate grown grapes, grown on the
shallow sheltered slops along Gribble Bridge Lane.

With less than 100 bottles of this first vintage available, this wine has been released
exclusively to Biddenden Vineyards newsletter subscribers, who will be the lucky ones to
taste a piece of history. But with a 2023 vintage on the horizon, and many other exciting
projects in the pipeline, there is much more to come from Biddenden.

ENDS
For enquiries please contact:
marketing@biddendenvineyards.co.uk