A VINEYARD near Dorchester has won the top prize at the South West Vineyards Association's annual competition.

The South West Wine of the Year was awarded to Langham Wine Estate for their Classic Cuvée Reserve Magnum 2011.

Langham also scooped two gold medals for its Sparkling Rosé – Rosé NV and for its Blanc de Noir 2013.

Some 95 wines from 28 local producers were tasted for the SWVA competition, which was held this year at the Langham Wine Estate.

Wineries from Gloucestershire, Cornwall, Somerset and Devon also won gold awards.

The SWVA is one of seven regional associations of national body Wine GB, and this years’ competition involved artisan producers from across the breadth of the South West, from Cornwall to Herefordshire.

On the judging panel were wine experts Patricia Stefanowicz MW, Lindsay Oram, Richard Coulson, Jemma Mitchell and Alex Taylor.

The remaining categories were ‘other unoaked dry whites’, ‘medium dry whites’ and ‘red’, where entrants received silver, bronze and highly commended awards.

Langham Wine Estate’s head of sales and marketing Caroline Gitsham, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have received the trophy for South West Wine of the Year for the first time, in addition to the chairman’s cup for Best Sparkling Rosé (for our Rosé NV) for the second year running alongside a gold medal for our Blanc de Noirs 2013.

"All these accolades are testament to the expertise of winemaker Daniel Ham and the commitment of our small team. As first time hosts it was a privilege to have a behind-the-scenes insight into the awards and see the passion that the committee and judges share for the wines. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the SWVA and WineGB for all their support."

SWVA chairman Guy Smith said: “I’m tremendously proud to see such a strong set of results, which reflect the skill of the winemakers and quality of wine available across the south west. The standouts for me include a triple trophy for Langham, and two trophies for Sharpham Estate; Woodchester Valley picked up a gold from the first vintage out of its brand new winery, and Oatley scored their first gold medal in 30 years’ production. "

Each wine was marked out of 20, scores were averaged across the panel and awards allocated accordingly: Gold 17/20, Silver 15.5/20, Bronze 14/20 and Highly commended 13/20.

The full results, including trophy, gold, silver, bronze and highly commended awards, are available to view on the SWVA website:

swva.info/competition/2018-competition-results