A sweet wine, made using specially selected grapes of the same name, which were picked by hand when perfectly ripe at the start of October.

Showing varietal characteristics of lychee and honey, the grapes turn an eye-catching ruby colour when ripe, and the flavours shine through in the wine. Biddenden Schönburger 2018, which is on sale now, was awarded a coveted Gold award at the Sommelier wine awards earlier this year. The 2020 vintage is showing almost identical characteristics, with just a touch more acidity, showing Biddenden’s capabilities for producing quality sweet wines, year on year.

This year’s harvest had a heavy focus on quality over quantity, and so just a limited number of bottles have been produced. Tom Barnes, General Manager at Biddenden Vineyards explains “The weather over the summer months allowed us to produce a crop of outstanding quality, which we were able to pick around 4 weeks earlier than normal. As a result, we have some exciting wines in tank and have bottled our Schönburger 2020 earlier than usual too.” He continues “This wine will now be laid down to mature and develop in-bottle and we would expect to release it in approximately 18 months, in time for summer 2022. We also have plans for some other exciting limited releases in 2021, which will be announced over the coming months.”

Biddenden produces a full range of still & sparkling wines, all of which are produced solely from grapes grown on the 23 acre estate. All of their wines, including Biddenden Schönburger 2018, are available to buy from the cellar door at Biddenden’s Vineyard Shop as well as online for nationwide home delivery at www.biddendenvineyards.com