CHAMPAGNE corks have been popping once again at a Dorset vineyard after it scooped more top accolades for its wines.

The Langham Wine Estate, just outside Milborne St Andrew, was awarded two gold medals and also retained the Vintners’ Trophy for most outstanding wine, at the recent English and Welsh Wine of the Year competition.

Langham Blanc de Blancs 2011 won Gold in the International Wine Challenge (IWC) and Gold in the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), in the Bottle Fermented Sparkling category.

The IWC judges said it was ‘elegant and pure – lemon and honeyed with freshness and balance. ‘Good buttered brioche with citrus notes, this wine is delicately balanced and long.’ The IWC also awarded a silver medal to the vineyards’s Classic Cuvée 2011.

For the second year running the estate was also awarded the Vintners’ Trophy for the Most Outstanding Wine in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year competition, for the Classic Cuvée Reserve 2011.

Extremely limited, it is produced from carefully selected parcels of barrel-aged wine, bottled without being fined or filtered then aged for 36 months on yeast lees.

Justin Langham, owner and founder, said they were delighted to win.

He said: “Winning these awards highlights our dedication to producing fine English sparkling wines that can compete with some of the finest sparkling wines in the world, including Champagne.

“Dorset has everything required to produce wines of the highest quality: chalk soils, a warm climate and long growing season.

“We are extremely proud to have won these awards and hope that it will encourage people far and wide to try our wines and or visit our estate to see how we go about producing world-class wines.”

The vineyard was planted in 2009 and the estate’s first vintage, the 2010 cuvee, won them the top prize at the Judgement of Parson’s Green tasting. Their second vintage won the UK Vineyard Association award.

Dorset sits on an area of chalk and limestone, which is the same as the Champagne region of

France.

Speaking to the Echo in February, the team said their mission for 2016 was to get the name of Langham out there and get Dorset out there as a destination.

The team will be opening the doors to their new Tasting Room on Thursday July 21 from 11am to 1pm. For more information visit langhamwine.co.uk