Hambledon

Hambledon Vineyard

In 1951, Major General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones — WWI Military Cross, Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps to two monarchs — stood at a window and decided to plant vines. He called Pol Roger for advice. Every English wine since traces its commercial lineage to that phone call. Ian Kellett invested £10M+ to build England's only gravity-fed winery in these Hampshire chalk hills — the same Cretaceous limestone as Champagne's Côte des Blancs. In a Jancis Robinson MW blind tasting, Hambledon came first. Pol Roger came third. The village is also the birthplace of cricket.