IN THE NEWS AND REVIEWS
Jancis
Robinson
We were absolutely thrilled to see our Bacchus featured by Jancis Robinson in The Financial Times — as one of her recommended English still wines! The feature appears in “The Changing Face of English Wine”. We were proud to be featured among 17 standout English still wines, showcasing the exciting diversity England offers beyond sparkling.
From the article:
"I’m no apologist for English wine. For decades I was highly critical of it. But there is a new professionalism in English wineries to complement the generally improved vineyard conditions. I rated four of the still wines tasted chez WineGB 17 out of 20, and no fewer than 26 of them 16.5, meaning they are serious, well-made wines that would give pleasure. The average price of my 17 pointers was £35 a bottle, probably lower than the average price of all the other wines of the world that I have rated 17 points. And the average price of my 16.5 pointers (when supplied) was just under £27. [Our Bacchus was included in the list in the article]."
Jancis’ tasting notes on the Bacchus.
"Really good spine of fruit on the palate. Just off dry but good balance. Confident winemaking".
In addition she also gave our Rosé great reviews on her website.
"Very pale strawberry. Good core of fruit. Lots of personality. This works!"
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Matthew
Jukes
We’re incredibly proud and deeply humbled to have been featured in Matthew Jukes’ final column for Vineyard magazine. Matthew sadly passed away on 6 August, just days after writing this piece.
Matthew has been a real champion of Williams Family Wines and has supported and encouraged us from the very beginning. We are so grateful for his support and belief in our wines, and for the wonderful way he has championed us through his writing. It has meant a huge amount to us, and we feel very lucky to have had him in our corner.
He described us as a winery that was “pushing the envelope”, celebrating those willing to take risks, challenge expectations and see where things can go. For a relatively new winery, to be recognised in this way by someone with Matthew’s extraordinary knowledge and passion is an honour we can hardly put into words.
Matthew encouraged producers to be brave, experiment and push boundaries. We’re so grateful that he saw something in what we’re trying to do.
Pushing the envelope
"I love old phrases and use them often. But I realise I sometimes have no idea of their origins. While preparing this month’s column, I described this trio of wines to my wife as those that push the envelope. But what does this actually mean?
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The word ‘envelope’ originally referred to the performance limits of aircraft. Regular pilots were instructed to keep to safe speeds and altitudes, but test pilots were encouraged to break new ground, pushing these envelopes.
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Lots of English and Welsh wineries stay safely inside the envelope, as they should. But some risk danger and push hard to see what might happen. I expect we don’t hear about the failures!
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But when pushing hard results in wines like this month’s collection, these brave souls are worth celebrating. So, let’s raise a glass to those who have pushed the envelope so deliciously this month. I am so pleased that they have driven their wines past what might be commonly accepted to break new ground.
2025 Williams Family Wines, Pinot Noir Précoce
The wine that pushes the category with all its might is my featured PNP.
It does a remarkable feat of culinary brinkmanship by utilising 45% English oak, 45% French oak, and 10% stainless steel to create a wine of elemental and brazenly unique appeal.
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The fruit hails from Herefordshire, where warm, steep slopes and nutrient-rich red soils help to build an impressively toothsome wine, with bold fruit notes and a velvety texture. But the six months spent in English and French oak do something magical to the recipe, imbuing a rare sense of invisible patriotism, while cradling the contents gently and not overstepping the mark.
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You are left with a wine that sits outside the traditional box of Pinot Noir, and its unpredictable journeyman cousin Précoce, while delivering a different side to the latter thanks to its clever choice of fruit and utterly inspirational carpentry.
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I take my hat off to all this month’s vigorous envelope pushers. The more the merrier, and to think that Williams is both a new arrival on the wine scene and a member of this collective says more than mere words."
"I discovered this husband and wife producer at the London Wine Fair this year. This is their inaugural vintage. Nick and Julia Williams make the wine in Cambridgeshire from fruit sourced from Kent and Herefordshire for this cuvée. The 2024 Chardonnay in a Chablis-style is also excellent and the 2024 Pinot Noir showed promise [For context this was taken to the tasting unlabelled prior to release].
If like me you're a bit of Bacchus sceptic give this a go. It had a peachy roundness and lack of aggressiveness, helped by seven grams of residual sugar."
"2025 Williams Family Wines Bacchus – I loved this wine last year, and it is a notch up in 2025. The Williams team has gone from nought to sixty in record time, and this wine leads the charge with its pinpoint accurate flavour and thrilling balance.
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2025 Williams Family Wines Pinot Gris – with 9 gms of residual sugar, this is officially an off-dry number, but it really looks like a classic Alsace model with its sultry mid-palate and generous finish. This is very assured winemaking, and I personally love this style, so I am delighted that this wine sits apart from the other PGs in my line-up!​​