A family-owned vineyard and winery in Gloucestershire has scooped a gold medal at the inaugural UK Wine Awards.

Woodchester Valley Vineyard claimed one of the 20 gold medals on offer with its Pinot Noir Rose 2016, as well as taking silver with Bacchus 2016 and bronze with Culver Hill 2016.

The awards were created by the UK Wine industry, in association with Hotel du Vin, Country Life and Waitrose, to celebrate the impressive achievements of English and Welsh sparkling and still wines.

The industry is one of the fastest-growing agricultural sectors in the UK, and has more than doubled in the last 10 years alone.

Sales of this country's wines have now spread across the UK and they are now exported to some 27 markets overseas.

The awards attracted 293 entries, with 20 gold, 36 silver and 127 bronze medals awarded to winning wines.

The judges, a panel of 12 experts led by TV presenters, broadcasters and writers Susie Barrie MW and Oz Clarke, also had eight trophies to award.

Mr Clarke said: "We set the bar high with these awards, to show the true value of this competition and what it has set out to do, and we are proud that we did.

"The winners are the epitome of the talent that lies in the winelands of the UK, and the range of winners shows just what extraordinary directions this industry is going in."

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