A WINEMAKER near Winchester has been awarded Winemaker of the Year at this year’s New Forest show.

Emma Rice, head winemaker at Hattingley Valley, was presented the award adding to the vineyard’s list of success stories so far.

Its first release, the 2011 sparkling rosé was awarded gold at the 2014 Decanter World Wine awards which was followed with gold awards at the UKVA’s Wine of the Year Competition.

Ms Rice said: “This is now a dynamic and vibrant industry with many opportunities for young winemakers; the future is bright for English wines and Hattingley Valley wines in particular. We are being highlighted more and more by the wine trade press as the place to look for high quality sparkling wine.

“We want to continue making award-winning wines that we are proud to call English and sell them not only to the domestic market, but take the message across the world. Hampshire in particular is the newest frontier in vineyard establishment and is seeing huge growth in volume as well as quality.”