Abingworth from Above
An illustrated vineyard map designed to help you understand the place, the practices, and the values behind every bottle of Abingworth.
“Understanding where a wine begins changes how you experience it.”
Discover the landscape that makes Abingworth wines
Insight into where a wine comes from adds depth to the wine tasting experience.
To help visitors connect more closely with Abingworth, we created an illustrated vineyard map — a bird’s-eye view of the land designed to make the vineyard visually easy to understand. It offers context, clarity, and technical details for anyone discovering Abingworth, whether online or in person.
Why an illustrated map?
While we never assumed that we would become Cartographers in 2025, Juliet, our sister, and Abingworth’s Artwork Director, who’s already shaped the character of our wine labels, created the design for Abingworth from above.
From the early stages of designing our bottles in 2022, we wanted Abingworth’s visual identity to reflect personality and flair.
Illustration allowed us to bring warmth and personality to the vineyard while remaining honest to its layout and scale. It also created a natural link between the labels and the vineyard — connecting what you see on the bottle with the rows of vines in the fields.
Wines with character
As each wine took shape, we began thinking of them as individual characters — not just in a playful sense, but as reflections of their varietal, growing conditions, and care. This approach helped us build a visual link that makes the wines easier to recognise and remember while maintaining cohesion across the range.
Cohesion was the critical part of creating the characters whilst maintaining the creative flow and finding our niche — from subtle historical references to unexpected details, like the grasshopper.
Our illustrative style plays tribute to Abingworth’s rich history and combines that with our own creativity to amplify a contemporary design that stands out.
A clearer way to understand Abingworth
With the launch of our ecommerce website in 2025, the map became an important way to open up the Abingworth story. Instead of hiding the behind-the-scenes details, the interactive map allows visitors to explore the vineyard, how it is organised, and sustainable vineyard practices.
It answers the questions people naturally ask:
• Where does the vineyard sit?
• How big is it?
• What’s planted where?
Design with the visitor in mind
Although the idea of drawing a map may seem straightforward, Juliet wanted to ensure this was the perfect visual to show the world Abingworth at a glance ….
“I wanted the map to feel easy to read straight away. The shape of the vineyard is quite awkward, so illustration helped me simplify it without losing what’s actually there. Using the same style as the labels also meant it felt like part of the same world, and something we can keep adapting over time.”
A vineyard within a working farm
Abingworth Vineyard covers 30 acres within Champions Farm — a 100-acre working sheep farm with roots stretching back to the 13th century. The map helps place the vineyard within this wider landscape, showing where the vineyard sits, the historic farmhouse and landscape features that connect to the stories on our labels.
The sheep still play a role here, as helpful winter pruners grazing between the vines during winter months and naturally managing the grass. Blending Abingworth’s agricultural history with its new purpose.
Clarity with practices
Transparency is central to how we work, and the map reflects that commitment. Visitors can see exactly which varietals are planted and where, including specific clone types within each row.
It also highlights the sustainable decisions shaping the vineyard — from wildflower planting along Greenhurst Vineyard’s ridge to the way the land is managed year-round. When the wildflowers are in bloom, they’re visible from the public footpath as well as within the vineyard, framed by a breathtaking vista across the South Downs.
Map Experience
Our Marketing Director Annie, who spent a much of 2024 and 2025 preparing the website gives insight into the interactive map element:
“User experience was a priority with our website design. We wanted visitors — whether online or in person— to clearly understand what we offer, what we grow, and our practices. The interactive map ties this all together, and having it designed by Juliet feels especially meaningful, as family sits at the heart of our story.”
Although a map may seem simple, it needed to be flexible. The vineyard will continue to evolve, and the illustration and interactivity can adapt alongside it.
A connection to where the wine grows
Whether you’re exploring Abingworth from afar or walking the vineyard in person, the interactive map offers a way to connect visually with the vineyard.
To celebrate its launch, we’re delighted to share our merchandise featuring the map design:
• The Abingworth Everyday Set
• Relaxed Harvest T-Shirt
• Abingworth Map Tote
