Building a respected wine brand requires a combination of creative talent, energy and teamwork, but above all, a passionate love of what we do and the wine we craft for you to enjoy.

Planted by Andrew and Sarah in 2007, English Oak is a boutique family vineyard, thriving in Dorset’s beautiful countryside. It’s foundation is a combination of Sarah’s experience in horticulture and green fingered love of growing, Andrew’s catering,  marketing and business development background and in the formative years of the vineyard, the advice and wine crafting skill of highly respected winemaker Dermot Sugrue.

After studying viticulture at Plumpton College in Sussex, Andrew and Sarah acquired a perfect Dorset vineyard location and now combine that with the experience and winemaking talent of Marcus and Megan Rayner in the winery.

The combined passion of everyone involved, serves to create something truly special, lovingly and painstakingly crafted from the vine to the bottle, for you to discover and for your pleasure. A definate 'non interventionist' approch to our wine making, allows our wines to express the clarity and fruit led essence of the distinctive English Oak brand.

Following the renovation of a beautiful oak barn, , English Oak has today become a perfect destination for fascinating vineyard tours and a beautiful venue for spectacular, unforgettable vineyard weddings, private parties and corporate events.

More than just producers of a range of delicious award winning wine, providers of fascinating days out and hosts of spectacular events, English Oak is also recognised for building and maintaining a responsible, sustainable, environmentally concious business, with a minimal carbon footprint.  At English Oak, we care about the environment as much as we care about our wine, something recognised in 2019 by the award of Dorset Environmental Business Of The Year.

At the heart of our vineyard, a spectacular 350 year old English Oak, considered the king of the green realm and our national tree, perfectly symbolizes our 7th Generation philosophy.

In a world apparently obsessed with ‘bigger is better’, often blighted by scant environmental regard, our commitment to sustainable, boutique scale low density planting and winemaking, respects the environment and at the same time ensures that the character sealed inside each and every bottle still matters.

Striving for the lowest possible carbon footprint is a driving force for our boutique vineyard. That's why we were awarded 'Dorset Environmental Business of The Year 2019'. Firstly, to minimise our carbon footprint, we deliberately focus our sales and marketing activity to potential hotel and restaurant customers within a 50 mile local radius. Solar panels generate the energy used, all our vehicles are 100% electric with solar recharging , the vineyard offers free electric charging facilities to all visitors, water is sourced from an on-site well. We use 'recycle spraying' equipment to avoid randomly throwing spray into the environment and source organic feeds to ensure responsible vineyard management.

Care of wildlife is a key part of responsible environmental protection. In addition to rows of evocative vines, deer, pheasants, badgers and rabbits wander freely through the vineyard as we have removed the barbed wire and electric fences which we inherited, that create unwelcome barriers for wildlife in the Dorset countryside. Numerous bee hives are dotted around the site, monitoring our environment and producing delicious local honey.

Community is also important. We employ workers from the local community and if teams from further afield are needed, arrange local accommodation to minimse carbon miles. We have worked and continue to work with students from local collages including Kingston Maurward and Bournemouth and Poole College, to teach vineyard husbandry and wine appreciation skills. Students visit the vineyard to attend lectures and perform tasks in the vineyard throughout the year. in addition, we provide summer employment to local residents and students, increasing their awareness of their environment and our impact on it.

We are careful to supply in packaging that can be recycled and re-use at every opportunity. Most recently, we commited to leading the field in the removal of foil capsules from our wines, since this unecessary bottle dressing is not produced or recycled responsibly.

We maintain an easy access public footpath through the vineyard, making sure that the local community and all visitors feel welcomed and share in the vineyards change through the seasons.