Kent Wine Tours / Vineyards / Domaine Evremond
Vineyard guide · Chilham
Domaine Evremond is Champagne Taittinger’s English estate, run with its UK partner Hatch Mansfield on chalk slopes near Chilham, outside Canterbury. The cellar door opened in 2025. You can walk in for a glass on the terrace, but the tours, tastings and long lunches are all booked.
| Founded | Founded 2015, first vines 2017, first wine released 2025 |
|---|---|
| Known for | Classic Cuvée, a non-vintage sparkling wine released in numbered editions |
| Grapes | Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier |
| Open | Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 5.30pm from October to March and 11am to 6.30pm from April to September; shop from 10.30am |
| Booking | Book tours, tastings and lunches online. Walk-ins for the terrace and cellar door |
| Tours from | £25 |
| Food | Light bites at the cellar door, booked Flavours of Kent lunches and seasonal sharing boards |
| Dogs | On a lead on the terrace, not on tours or in the cellar door |
| Children | Welcome on the terrace for a soft drink, not on tours or tastings |
| By train | Chilham, about a 30-minute walk |
Checked on the vineyard’s own website in October 2026.
Two men who had been friends since childhood started Domaine Evremond. Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger runs Champagne Taittinger, and Patrick McGrath MW is at Hatch Mansfield, which has been Taittinger’s UK agent for more than 25 years. They spent 18 months looking for the right site and settled on the old apple and pear orchards of Stone Stile Farm near Chilham, launching the project at Westminster Abbey in 2015. The abbey is where Charles de Saint-Evremond is buried. He was a French writer and soldier, exiled to England in 1661, who made Champagne fashionable at the court of Charles II, and the estate is named after him.
The estate covers 125 hectares, 60 of them planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The vines face south on deep, free-draining chalk at about 50 to 90 metres above sea level, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Planting began in 2017 and the first full harvest came in 2019. Vineyard Director Christelle Rinville divides her time between Champagne and Kent, and the day-to-day growing is shared with Gaskains, a family fruit farm that is one of the UK’s largest apple growers.
A French architect designed the winery, and most of it is underground so the wine can move by gravity. The Duchess of Edinburgh opened it, and it took its first harvest in autumn 2024. Alexandre Ponnavoy, Chef de Cave at Taittinger, blends the wines, and Vitalie Taittinger is President. The first wine, Classic Cuvée Edition I, came out in spring 2025 at the same time as the cellar door opened. Edition II followed in 2026. Tom Cannavan, writing on wine-pages.com in August 2026, gave Edition I 91 points and Edition II 93.
There is only one wine, Classic Cuvée, a non-vintage traditional method sparkling wine that comes out in numbered editions. Edition I is based on the 2020 harvest with reserve wine from 2019, and is 55% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Meunier. Edition II is based on 2021, with reserves from 2019 and 2020, and has more Pinot Noir at 65%. Each spends three years on the lees, both have 7g/l dosage, and both cost £55 a bottle. Critics say the style leans towards freshness and precision more than toasty richness. Where to buy them.
The cellar door is next to the winery, with a terrace looking out over the vines, and it is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays. Without booking you can have a glass of Classic Cuvée Edition I on the terrace or inside, with olives, crackers and crisps, though terrace tables cannot be reserved and it is first come, first served. Everything else is booked online, for groups of up to six. Larger groups should email. Bookings are not refundable, but you can move them with 72 hours’ notice, or seven days for Flavours of Kent. If time is short we’d book the £25 tasting over the tour. The reason to come is to taste the two editions side by side, and the tasting does that in 45 minutes. The cellar door is wheelchair accessible, with accessible parking about 10 metres away. Picnics are welcome in the wildflower meadows and among the vines, just not on the terrace. There is no accommodation on the estate, and you cannot leave a car there overnight.
| Experience | Price | Length | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Cuvée Tasting A hosted tasting in the winery of Edition I and Edition II of Classic Cuvée side by side, with the story of the estate and how the wine is grown and made. Up to 16 guests. Non-drinkers can have a soft drink instead. | £25 per person | About 45 minutes | Wednesday to Sunday, start time chosen when booking |
| Classic Cuvée Tasting and Domaine Tour A walk of about 1.4km through the vineyards, with Edition I poured out among the vines and Edition II back in the winery. Expect uneven ground and a gentle climb. Tours go ahead in the rain, and the tour is not currently suitable for wheelchair users. Up to 16 guests. | £60 per person | About 1.5 to 2 hours | Wednesday to Sunday, start time chosen when booking |
| Flavours of Kent Three courses of seasonal Kent produce at a shared tasting table, with a glass of Classic Cuvée for each. The winter menu has scallops with Gaskain apples and Longland Farm duck. Up to 16 guests, and new dates come out each quarter. | £140 per person | 2.5 hours, from 12pm | Selected Sundays, including 22 November and 13 December 2026 and 24 January 2027 |
| Cheese and Charcuterie Sharing Boards A bottle of Classic Cuvée and a board of local bread, English and French cheese, charcuterie and nibbles, for two to four people. | £100 for a board and a bottle | 1pm to 2.30pm | Until 21 November 2026 |
| Yuletide at Domaine Evremond Four Christmas events. A mistletoe wreath-making evening with a local florist and two glasses of Classic Cuvée costs £75 (Friday 27 November). The Founders’ Party with live music is £50 (Friday 11 December). The Winter Brunch with oysters and galettes is free (Saturday 12 December), and soprano Susan Bullock gives a festive concert for £70 (Friday 18 December). | From free to £75 per person | Various | 27 November to 18 December 2026 |
Book these on the Domaine Evremond website.
Coming up at the vineyard, from its own website. All vineyard events.
Workshop
Make a seasonal wreath with florist Lucy Day using foliage from the estate’s meadows and vineyards. Two glasses of Classic Cuvée are included.
Friday 27 November 2026 · 5.30pm to 7.30pm · £75 a head · Book ahead
Christmas
A festive evening at the cellar door with the founders, with food, Classic Cuvée and live music.
Friday 11 December 2026 · 5.30pm to 8pm · £50 a head · Book ahead
Christmas
A festive drop-in day with live music, local oysters and galettes to buy alongside the Classic Cuvée. Seats are first come, first served.
Saturday 12 December 2026 · 11.30am to 4.30pm · Free entry · Drop in
Music and social
The Great Little Orchestra and soprano Susan Bullock perform a programme of Christmas music in the winery. A glass of Classic Cuvée is included on arrival.
Friday 18 December 2026 · 7.30pm · £70 a head · Book ahead
2 bottles in stock with our wine partners this week. Prices are for a single 75cl bottle.
Sparkling
Crisp and faintly saline from the chalk, with green fruit, white peach and quince, and a rounder texture from malolactic fermentation.
Directions to Domaine Evremond
Chilham station is about a 30-minute walk from the winery. From London St Pancras the train takes about an hour with a change at Ashford, and there are direct trains from London Bridge and Charing Cross. By car, the estate is on New Cut Road near Chilham, south-west of Canterbury. Search for Domaine Evremond in your maps app rather than using the postcode, which is what the estate advises. There is parking on site, with accessible spaces near the cellar door.
Chilham is the nearest village and has places to stay. Ask the estate’s team for a pub or restaurant nearby if you want a hot meal afterwards. Canterbury and its cathedral are a short drive north-east. There are plenty of other Kent vineyards to add to the day, but check how each one opens before you go, as many need booking.
See every vineyard you can visit in our Kent directory. Our other Kent vineyard guides: Chapel Down, Gusbourne, Balfour, Westwell, Warehorne, Silverhand, Chartham, Yotes Court.
For a glass, yes. Edition I is poured by the glass on the terrace or in the cellar door on a first-come basis, and the shop needs no booking. Tours, tastings and lunches have to be booked online in advance.
Children are welcome on the terrace for a soft drink but cannot join tours or tastings. Dogs on a lead can come onto the terrace, but not into the cellar door or on tours.
It is a joint venture between Champagne Taittinger and its UK partner Hatch Mansfield, founded in 2015, and Taittinger’s Chef de Cave blends the wine.
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