As harvest approaches, the county’s tourism organisation, Visit Essex, is celebrating a boom in food and drink tourism.
Visit Essex is shining a light on the county’s food producers, vineyards, distillers and brewers.
Essex is home to some major food and drink producers. For many years the county has been praised for its Colchester oysters, Maldon Sea Salt and Tiptree Jams. It’s now also become a major player in the English wine industry.
Councillor Jeff Bray, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Heritage at Essex County Council, said: “Tourists love to visit Essex to enjoy our fresh local produce. Our oysters are world renowned; our vineyards have become some of the best in England. Tiptree is an iconic brand. We really do offer it all.”
Tiptree has been making jams on their family farm for over 140 years. Their produce is distributed around the world and served on breakfast tables in the finest hotels. Nowadays the firm produces over 40 varieties of jam, and their Little Scarlet strawberry jam is known to be a favourite of James Bond!
The company has also diversified into gins, nut butters, sauces and chutneys, plus Christmas puddings. The producer also has a chain of very popular Tiptree tearooms serving the finest breakfasts, light lunches and afternoon teas. Visitors can also discover more about their story at the Tiptree Jam Museum, which is located at Tiptree HQ. Here you can look at vintage jam making machines, advertising boards and photos through the ages. Tiptree also has a shop where visitors can stock up on all their favourites and even create their own label jam or gin!
Alongside food produce, Essex has a rapidly growing wine industry. Essex is now the third largest grower of grapes in the UK – 58 vineyards – and the largest wine producer in the Eastern region. The region offers perfect conditions for growing grapes, thanks to its dry sunny climes and geology. The most popular grapes to be grown in the East are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Bacchus.
An award-winning vintner, Tuffon Hall, has also enjoyed a bumper harvest, as Pod Crowther explains: “The weather has been fabulous for the grapes this year and it looks to be an earlier harvest than usual. The drought is now beginning to show signs of stress to the younger vines, but we are taking selective unripe grapes from the vine, ‘green harvesting,’ to ensure they stay healthy and disease free.”
Tuffon Hall is a small family-run vineyard in Sible Hedingham. The owners diversified their farm 15 years ago to grow English grapes. They produce white, rose and red still wines, plus white and rose sparkling wines and three spirits -using the pressed grapes and other ingredients from around the farm. They have become renowned for their still rose, which was named after their second daughter. It won best rose in Great Britain a few years ago and regularly competes with the likes of bigger English vineyards as well as several French Provencale rose’s.
Tuffon Hall also offers a sixteenth century barn, where they run weddings and events. They also offer a Cellar Door, host tours and tastings and run an annual Jazz in the Vines event. Tourists also flock to Tuffon Hall to get away from it all in one of their glamping pods such as the quirky The Grain Silo (sleeps 2) or luxury farmhouse (sleeps 12).
Across Essex, winemaking is booming. To the north west of the county, the chalky soil is ideal, like the champagne region of northern France. This is perfect for producing award-winning sparkling wines. Whereas the clay soils along the Crouch valley have seen huge growth. Here the Pinot Noir and Bacchus grapes have become some of the most sought after English wines.
2026 has proven challenging for some wine producers, due to an early frost and a long dry summer. However, many vineyards, are looking forward to a strong harvest.
The growth in vineyards has also driven more tourists to the county. Wine GB reveals that tourism related visits to UK vineyards have increased by 55% to 1.5 million. The most popular visits are for cellar door sales, guided tours and tastings, venue hire, self-guided tours, places to stay and places to eat.
The county’s top wine producers, Crouch Ridge, Bardfield, Clayhill, New Hall, Tuffon Hall and Saffron Grange, have gathered great reputations and won many awards. Some of the top wines are served in exclusive hotels and restaurants in London, such as The Dorchester and the Michelin starred Galvin Brothers’ restaurants.