In the setting of the Surrey Hills, the vineyard has a rich history that spans generations and two farming dynasties. Nearly 70 years ago, Emma Robertshaw’s mother tended to the vines in the Champagne region. Joan continues to work alongside us, producing exquisite English sparkling wine. Joan, whose maiden name is Blaye carries a rich legacy of winemaking. The Blaye family originate from the town of Blaye on the Right Bank of the Gironde estuary in southwest France, a place long celebrated for its vineyards and its role in producing some of the finest Bordeaux wines
Joan (centre) working in Epernay in the Champagne region in 1961
The Robertshaw farming tradition meanwhile began back to the thirteenth century when an early settler, when Robertus de Schagh (Robert of the Wood) cleared woodland in Yorkshire and created a farm that later gave rise to the Robertshaw name. In 1662, Joshua Robertshaw moved to the land surrounding Keelham, Yorkshire and eight generations later, the founders of Robertshaw Vineyard continue to farm this historic Yorkshire site. Generations of Robertshaw stewardship have shaped a quiet legacy defined by patience, craft, and respect for the land.
Together, the Blaye and Robertshaw families each carry centuries of agricultural heritage on different sides of the Channel.
In 2018, the Robertshaw family bought a farm in Guildford, Surrey, knowing it offered the perfect conditions to craft a sparkling wine capable of standing alongside those of the Champagne region. With Emma’s Blaye family heritage rooted in the vineyards of southwest France, choosing land that sits on the same continuous chalk seam that runs beneath the Champagne region felt like a natural step. The move soon became a return to a shared lineage of viticulture, carried quietly through generations and across borders.
The current Robertshaw family is now in its eighth‑generation on the same land first established by Joshua Robertshaw, the 7th Great Grandfather over 350 years ago. But the history of farming on the Vineyard in Guildford stretches back much further. Roman coins uncovered in the vineyard in Guildford offer a possible link to its Roman past. As the Romans are known to have planted vines in England and on the same chalk belt in the Champagne region, it is possible that vine cultivation also formed part of the agricultural life of this land.