Explore some of the World's Best Vineyards
World's Best Vineyards: The UK Wine Estate Experience
The Benguela Collection presents Mannings Heath and Leonardslee Gardens. As well as Benguela Galleries and the destination to visit in South Africa.
Winemaker Johann Fourie and Owner, Penny Streeter OBE
Mannings Heath Golf and Wine Estate
Wine Region: West Sussex, UK
Standout Points: UK’s first golf and wine estate. Vineyard golf buggy tours and wine tastings, restaurant and terraces overlooking the international 18-hole golf course.
Winemaker: Johann Fourie
Acquired: 2016
Size: 34-acre Vineyard in the 500-acre Estate
First vines planted: 2017
Estimated bottles to be produced: 80 000
Sparkling wine cultivars: 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier
First release of wine: 2023
Website: www.manningsheath.com/top-vineyards
Discover the UK’s First Golf and Wine Estate
Wine and hospitality entrepreneur Penny Streeter OBE acquired the 500-acre (220 hectare) Mannings Heath golf club in 2016, to create a new vineyard and realise her passion for quality sparkling wine.
Penny’s vision was for a vineyard destination as unique as the Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate in South Africa which she acquired in 2013. Located on the Hermanus Wine Route in the Walker Bay region, Penny transformed Benguela Cove into an award-winning wine producer and hospitality venue, with its outstanding location on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
The similarity between Benguela Cove and Sussex is that they are cool-climate regions and are both uncharted territory in terms of grape growing and winemaking. On both properties, the vines currently planted are the first-ever of their kind in these soils, with Penny’s visionary approach constantly pushing the boundaries.
Penny’s plan for Mannings Golf and Wine Estate combined classic English period charm, superb wines and live entertainment. With her South African winemaker Johann Fourie, Penny created the UK’s first golf and wine estate, converting one of the two 18-hole golf courses into a 9-hole, and planting a 37-acre (15-hectare) vineyard in the reclaimed land.
Wine Tastings and Tours by Golf Buggy
Guests can enjoy a vineyard tour by golf buggy and then wine tastings while viewing the 100 000 vines under cultivation, with a backdrop of the beautiful Sussex countryside. Visitors can learn about the advent of English viticulture and the sparkling wine cultivars at Mannings - 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier. Johann Fourie will produce some 80,000 bottles of sparkling wine annually, with the first release of wine in 2023.
Drinks on the Terrace then Restaurant Lunch
Returning to the period golf clubhouse, with its sculpture works by artist Anton Smit, guests can enjoy a further wine tasting and wine and cheese pairing on the terrace, with beautiful views over the landscaped international golf course. This is followed by lunch at the Vineyard Kitchen restaurant.
There is a programme of events throughout the year, including wine and food pairings, Wine Masterclasses and Winemakers’ dinners, and South African-style braais on the terraces. And highly popular for special occasions, guests can book a Sabrage - striking the cork from a bottle of sparkling wine with a sabre.
Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens
Wine Region: West Sussex, UK
Standout Points: Michelin Star Restaurant Interlude, with luxury accommodation. Grade I Listed, ‘England’s Finest Woodland Gardens’. An extraordinary collection of rare flora and fauna in the stunning 240-acre estate. Harvest grape picking open days.
Winemaker: Johann Fourie
Acquired: 2017
Size: 3.1-acre vineyard in the 240-acre Estate
First vines planted: 2018
Estimated bottles to be produced: 4 000
Wine style: Sparkling Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Experimental Pinotage Vineyard.
First Estate Pinotage: 2022
Explore Leonardslee: One of the Most Unique Vineyards in England
Complete your Trip at Leonardslee Gardens and Michelin Star Restaurant Interlude, with luxury overnight accommodation.
From Mannings Heath Golf and Wine Estate, visitors travel just three miles to Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens, described as ‘the finest woodland gardens in England’. Penny Streeter bought the 240-acre (97-hectare) estate, with its Grade I Listed gardens, in 2017.
Leonardslee is integral to Penny’s vision for this unique English wine experience. Guests can experience a Classic Afternoon Tea in the estate’s Grade II Listed Italianate mansion, with Anton Smit’s beautiful sculptures on display, with home-baked scones and cakes, and produce raised or foraged on the estate.
Then in the evening visitors may then enjoy pre-dinner drinks to the tinkling tunes of the self-playing piano, and dinner at Restaurant Interlude. Executive chef Jean Delport won his first Michelin Star award in 2019, with a stunning multi-course tasting menu, complemented by a superb wine list, specially selected from across the globe.
At the close of dinner, guests can relax in the luxurious overnight accommodation; ten charming and unique en-suite bedrooms each featuring the fabric and wallpaper style of quintessential British interior design houses.
In the morning, guests can tour the experimental 0.5-hectare (1 acre) Pinotage vineyard - the first commercial planting in the UK, which celebrates the estate’s close ties with South Africa; following excellent harvests, guests can enjoy its wines from 2022.
Then it’s time perhaps for a walk in the magnificent woodlands and parkland, visit the seven interlaced lakes in the valley and see the sculpture park, colony of wallabies and stunning flora and fauna. The Grade I Listed gardens were created by the great Victorian plant collector Sir Edmund Loder and many of the plants and trees are now rare and threatened in their native habitat.
Today there are tea rooms and giftshops and a famous Dolls’ House Museum, with a year-round programme of music, arts and crafts and other entertainment. And of course, wine tastings and pairings with superb artisan cheeses.
Benguela Galleries
Visitors to Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens can see one of the largest sculpture park exhibitions in Europe by a single artist. This results from an ambitious collaboration by the Streeter family, owners of the estate, with South African artist Anton Smit. ‘The Walk of Life’ features over eighty contemporary sculptures, each set by the artist in the Grade I Listed gardens to great effect, creating an unmissable experience.
The Leonardslee event is part of an international art galleries series that includes exhibitions at the Streeter’s other properties - Mannings Heath Golf and Wine Estate, just three miles away, and at Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate in South Africa. Visitors to Benguela Cove can now see the works of 30 top African artists at a new contemporary exhibition, “The Art of Living”, that opened in March 2022.
Benguela Cove Wine Estate
Name of wine estate: Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate
Country: South Africa
Wine region: Walker Bay, Hermanus
Standout points: Stunning oceanside location and nature reserve, WWF Conservation Champion, cool-climate vineyard. Cellar tours, pontoon boat cruises and wine pairing experiences.
Winemaker: Johann Fourie
Assistant Winemaker: Michelle Waldec
Wine style: Captures and showcases the spirit of the estate. Eminently drinkable, elegant and balanced wines with fruit purity and longevity. Classic in style, the wines highlight the winemaker’s philosophy and their cool-climate provenance at this special location at Benguela Cove in Walker Bay.
Grape cultivars: Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
The Destination to Visit in South Africa: Benguela Cove
At Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate in South Africa, owner Penny Streeter OBE and her family have created an outstanding wine destination on the Hermanus Wine Route in the Walker Bay region of the Cape Winelands. The estate is located in a beautiful lagoon, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the lowest lying and with the longest seaboard of any vineyard in the world.
In 2013 Penny acquired the struggling Benguela Cove vineyard and has transformed the estate into an award-winning wine producer and hospitality venue, with great food and wine to enjoy, vineyard tours and a pontoon wine tasting experience and much more.
Set in the Renosterveld Nature Reserve, the estate is framed by majestic mountains, with panoramic views of the Bot River Lagoon. It is just an hour’s drive from Cape Town International Airport, 15km from the town of Hermanus, renowned worldwide for whale-watching tourism.
Buy land and houses for sale, directly from the Developer. Luxury architect-designed homes available from £170K*. Explore the property for sale and invest in your dream home at Benguela Cove Luxury Lifestyle Estate - the best place to live.
“Whether your idea of bliss is a home within the Benguela Cove vineyards themselves or on the estate’s prestigious ridge with sweeping views of the lagoon and the ocean, a dream home is there for anyone, just waiting to be built. A new build project is a great opportunity; you can take all the features that you have loved from homes you have lived in or visited, and combine them in the house of your dreams. It’s easy too: as the developer, we can introduce homebuyers to excellent builders and architects or we even build a home for you.” - Estate Owner, Penny Streeter OBE