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Joining me on today’s episode of the English Wine Diaries is Jules Perowne from Cobble Hill, the award-winning vineyard on the North Norfolk coast farmed by the Perowne family for five generations.

It was Jules who gave her father Robert the vine that started it all — a 60th birthday present in 2016 that grew, within a year, into 17 rows planted on a ten-acre south-facing plot he'd bought two decades earlier.

Robert's hunch about the site's chalky, frost-free soil paid off, and the vineyard soon expanded to 150 rows of Bacchus, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with a 200-year-old barn on the farm converted into a working winery.

As the vineyard's ambitions grew, so did Jules' involvement. Bringing in industry heavyweights including former Decanter editor Guy Woodward and viticultural consultant Stephen Skelton, she helped assemble the team now led by consultant winemaker Emma Rice, who produces Cobble Hill's small, focused range of still and sparkling English wines.

By day, Jules runs Perowne International, the global travel and lifestyle communications consultancy she founded, with offices in London, Milan, New York and Mexico City. But Norfolk remains her happy place — the farm where she grew up — and she now brings the same marketing and branding instincts she's honed over 20 years in luxury hospitality to bear on Cobble Hill's next chapter.

We talk about the trials and tribulations of farming in the 21st century, what the world of tourism can bring to the industry and how Norfolk is earning its place on the wine map.

Find out more about Cobble Hill at cobblehillnorfolk.com and follow the team on Instagram @cobblehillwine.

Thanks to English Wine Diaries series sponsor Rankin Bros & Sons — trusted suppliers of corks, closures, and packaging solutions to the UK wine industry since 1774. To learn more about how Rankin is supporting the future of British wine, visit rankincork.co.uk.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at englishwinediaries.com.

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Joining me on today’s episode of the English Wine Diaries are Dominic Travers and Georgie Stedman from Abingworth Vineyard, a boutique, family-run producer in West Sussex.

Dominic began his career in English wine with an internship at Nyetimber during the 2015 vintage but his passion for viticulture began much earlier having spent time in South Africa as a child visiting family and attending carol concerts at Vergelegen vineyard.

He has worked at various UK vineyards, using a range of biodynamic, organic, and conventional practices and joined the team at Abingworth in 2024 as Head of Viticulture & Winemaking.

Georgie is one of four Stedman sisters, who together with their parents, Chris and Caroline, founded Abingworth Vineyard at Champion Farm – an historic plot in Thakeham, which holds traces of Roman roads, Tudor secrets, famous poets, and medieval disputes.

With a background in fashion and creative writing, Georgie leads product innovation and customer experience, bringing her innovative ideas to prototyping, packaging, social media, and branding.

Abingworth might be one of the youngest producers in English wine but the team are already causing a stir and recently picked up the trophy for Best Newcomer at the 2026 WineGB Awards.

Follow them on Instagram @abingworthvineyard and visit abingworthvineyard.com.

Thanks to English Wine Diaries series sponsor Rankin Bros & Sons — trusted suppliers of corks, closures, and packaging solutions to the UK wine industry since 1774. To learn more about how Rankin is supporting the future of British wine, visit rankincork.co.uk.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at englishwinediaries.com.

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Joining me on today’s episode of The English Wine Diaries is Mark Sainsbury founder of Candover Valley Wines.

Mark has enjoyed a 25-year hospitality career, opening some of London’s most successful venues including Moro Restaurant, Zetter Hotel & Townhouses and the Grain Store.

In 2011 he co-founded the Sustainable Restaurant Association, whose Food Made Good standard operates in 48 countries helping to shape sustainable food service globally.

A year later, in partnership with his brother, Julian, and father, the late John Sainsbury, who was responsible for overseeing the rise of J Sainsbury to become the largest supermarket in Britain, they planted five hectares of vines on their family’s estate in Preston Candover, in Hampshire.

The vineyard is named after the chalk stream that runs through the Candover Valley, which is one of the few remaining habitats of the rare English white-clawed crayfish and the vineyard supports the conservation work by the Hampshire and Isle of White Wildlife Trust in protecting these creatures.

To find out more about Candover Brook visit candoverbrook.co.uk and follow @candoverbrook on Instagram.

Thanks to English Wine Diaries series sponsor Rankin Bros & Sons — trusted suppliers of corks, closures, and packaging solutions to the UK wine industry since 1774. To learn more about how Rankin is supporting the future of British wine, visit rankincork.co.uk.

Thanks for listening to The English Wine Diaries. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave a rating or review, it helps boost our ratings and makes it easier for other people to find us. To find out who will be joining me next on the English Wine Diaries, follow @theenglishwinediaries on Instagram and for more regular English wine news and reviews, sign up to our newsletter at englishwinediaries.com.