The Hop Pocket - Bishops Frome, Ledbury - 24th August, 2016

A little update on wine searching.....not quite a vineyard. I read last week about quite a lot of small vineyards in our area and some of them aren't open to the public but interestingly, a wine shop at the Hop Pocket Retail Centre does stock various local wines....and so a trip in Sassy was needed!

One of the wines I had read about was 16 Ridges, at Putley close to Ledbury but which isn't open to the public...but it has a Pinot Noir red and a really good story with lots of expertise based there...

Sadly today there was none for sale at the Hop Pocket but we'll be back...

In the meantime we purchased a trio of whites from small vineyards:

.....Beeches Vineyard at Upton Bishop, Hereford which produces a dry white blend - and which is a light, refreshing drink (quite like Liebfraumilch Chris thought....)

.....Hop Kilns Vineyard near Bromyard which produces a single variety white - Solaris. I will find that tasting interesting as the Solaris at Walton Brook is my favourite white so far....

.....Astley Vineyards near Stourport-on-Severn which produces several wines from its 5 acres - and has been doing so since the 1970's...today we took home a Madeline Angevine which we will enjoy I'm sure!

As far as I understand, each of the above are bottled at Three Choirs....open to debate on the latter 2 but the first one is definitely.

Another of the local suppliers which is doing really well with its sparkling wine is Castlebrook. The family here has been famous for 4 generations as asparagus growers but since 2006 have been producing award winning sparkling wines! Their vines were planted in 2004 - on a former Roman vineyard!!