Trevibban Mill near Padstow, Cornwall - 20th May, 2016

So we found ourselves visiting our friends in Cornwall once more - and a lovely time we spent with them too. Hikmet had made a magnificent cross stitch picture for us of a scene from our coastal walk at Nefyn on the Llŷn peninsula.

I have very much been enjoying the rosé wine from Polgoon which we visited last year - at the moment it remains my very favourite English or Welsh wine...

We popped into Camel Valley vineyard on our way down to our friends; we knew how to find it from our visit last year...and purchased some sparkling to celebrate recent birthdays!

On our way home, we decided to try the vineyard near Padstow which we had read about recently having won an award for its red! A visit seemed to be a must....and we also took the opportunity to see Padstow, a pretty working harbour town - but busy even so early in the season!

It is a very pretty location at Trevibban and the vines were planted here in 2008, followed by apple and other fruit tress planted in 2011. The vineyard now produces several wines and ciders all from its own land and using its own winery. Interestingly the vines here are all covered with envirofleece which not only helps to keep bugs away, it apparently is also deterrent to the sheep grazing here throughout the year and which used to help themselves to the vines! The reds are below the winery.....

.....and the whites above....

Many of the wines are award winning and the whole vineyard is organic, being approved and certified by the Soil Association. The winery and visitor centre also has a restaurant, Appleton's at the vineyard, run by a well-renowned chef formerly working with Jamie Oliver at Fifteen.

We tried one of the white wines, Merope which was very pleasant with an elderflower taste

and then the red, Black Ewe Red 2014 that we had read about and tasty it is too, if quite expensive.

The red won a silver award this year in the International Wine Challenge. We shall enjoy the bottle later in the year - maybe a Christmas toast to Trevibban! British wines won 120 medals at the International event this year - brilliant!

Interestingly, Liz, the owner, told us that they now work with a vineyard in Bradford-on-Avon which has grown white varieties for a number of years but was about to sell up. Trevibban Mill now takes all the grapes from them to make into wines here at their winery which gives them both a win-win relationship.

Ancre Hill Estates, Monmouth - 5th May, 2016

Having enjoyed our Sugar Loaf visit, it was on to the next - not far away just outside Monmouth. Memories of Offa's Dyke path walk last year flooding back! Through private gates and up to the Cellar Door with lovely views around the Wye Valley.

We had to wait a while for Richard to open up but he was very welcoming and informative. We sampled the Chardonnay - really very crisp and refreshing. We are getting a taste for whites now - and English whites are really good. Then it was a Rosé which again was very flavoursome - and the case was on special offer! Then the 2 reds! Almost spoilt for choice here - Richard sees no reason why our reds can't be really good to compete with any others. The Triomphe from the Triomphe d'Alsace wine is a really light and fruity wine benefitting from being a little cool and ideal to compete with a rosé for lunch. The Pinot Noir is a little heavier but also very fruity. Currently only 4 grapes are grown, Pinot Noir, Albarino, Triomphe and Chardonnay. In addition to the still wines, 2 sparkling wines are produced -a white and a rosé which I understand have won several awards -some tastings even beating Champagne....

The estate here was first planted in 2006 on the suitably south facing slopes with a following planting in 2007 and so the first vintage produced was 2008. The winery opened in 2015 so currently the wines are registered as organic wines but subsequent years now they have their own winery, their wines are going to achieve the bio-dynamic label.

Bio-dynamism was first introduced as a concept and a way of growing, by Rudolf Steiner in 1924 for general farming and it is now becoming popular in other horticultural interests, including viticulture. To be able to achieve it, the producers pay strict attention to the additives - or in this case, into not adding anything but letting the grapes do their own work using careful measures.

With new land being acquired, the vineyard will soon be up to 12 hectares and luckily Richard's son offers a helping hand having also acquired his skills at college.

So we then wended our way home, stopping for coffee once more at the Hunter's Moon at Llangattock - one of our favourite places! And at home, we enjoyed our first barbecue of the year - accompanied by a bottle of Ancre Hill Rosé -a perfect day!

Sugar Loaf Vineyards, Abergavenny - 5th May, 2016

So Spring has arrived, or is it indeed summer? Brilliant sun forecast and arrived so we took the opportunity for a run out in Sassy now she's all sparkly with new paintwork - and shiny steel wheels!

A suitable route for the day was decided, so we started at Sugar Loaf Vineyard, not too far away from us at Abergavenny. And how lovely it is there!

The owners are celebrating their 20th year here this year. They have 5 acres of vines with 7 varieties of grape.

The vineyards are so beautifully set with Sugar Loaf looking over them - and Skirrid not too far away.

And so far this is the only vineyard we've seen with sheep grazing!

There is a cafe here so we enjoyed a coffee - Chris also partook of a glass of the Madeleine Angevine - and it was lovely. They also produce a blended white, Abergavenny and a rosé.

A dry but refreshing white. We also purchased a bottle of red - from the Regent grape and which is always in short supply. The wine is made and bottled at Three Choirs. A really lovely spot with good products - haven't sampled the red yet so will keep you posted on that but can definitely recommend the Madeleine!

Also, whilst sitting in the hot sun, saw a grey wagtail sitting in the stream!

It wasn't exactly this one - I was too slow with the camera! But it looked like this!!

RHS Wisley Vineyard, Surrey - 26th April, 2016

All goes to show that you can often miss things! We have visited the Royal Horticultural Garden at Wisley since 1990 and although we no longer live close by we do try to visit when we are in the south East with our children. We had seen the now huge orchard planted but had missed the fact that in 2004, over 700 vines, Phoenix and Orion, were planted!

The first wine was produced in 2006 and then in 2007, just over 750 bottles were produced. I am not sure how much is produced in more recent years. The grapes are all sent to Plumpton College in Sussex for production and bottling - the wine course here is second to none I understand and now very popular!

We purchased a bottle of the new vintage - haven't sampled it yet - it is advertised as a light, refreshing white, to enjoy in the garden! Sounds good to me!

Hope they'll introduce a red variety soon!!

Sassy, our red Morgan, is waiting patiently for her next trip out - hoping it may be later this week as we have a promise of sunshine......keep a look-out for the next one...

Pant Du Vineyard and Orchard, Caernarfon - 16th April, 2016

Whilst we were disappointed to have missed the 2 vineyards on Anglesey on our walk, we knew that we would visit Pant Du on our way home. Well we were virtually driving past the door! Sitting on the glacial south facing slopes in the Snowdon foothills of the Nantlle valley, Craig cum Silyn overlooking the vines, this must be one of the most picturesque vineyard sites ever!

Only a short distance also from the magnificent hills of Yr Eifl (if you've read my Walking for Velindre blog, you will know those hills already!) means that this vineyard is also quite close to the sea.

What a location! We were welcomed by Richard Huws, the owner, and his wife and although we were a bit early for opening time, they gave us a lovely coffee in their splendid cafe, with their new coffee machine! Very nice too.

The vineyard was planted in 2007 and now has 8 grape varieties, the first wine bottled in 2010. The red wine was initially made with the Regent grape but they have discovered that the Rondo grape is more successful here. Currently they use Three Choirs vineyard as their winery. Unfortunately for us, we were only able to have a taste from the VERY LAST bottle of their red wine but it was really good. It again is a fruity wine, quite like a Beaujolais but with a little tannin. We brought home some white wine....still awaiting a tasting session!

As well as the vines, Richard was telling us about the apple trees he grows too. Many now are from the old variety which was almost extinct, from the variety that grew on Bardsey Island. This variety is proving more successful than some of the earlier cider varieties her had tried and it is great that it is a local old variety which is being rejuvenated! So they also make cider and an award winning apple juice.
And in addition, they also have produced since 2013, their own spring water.
As well as having innovated all the new products here, Richard is also a film cameraman and has 2 proudly won BAFTA awards in his display cabinet.

Well done to them at Pant Du - it is a fantastic venture and with many great products! Looking forward to their next red wine!
And another visit maybe - it is so beautiful!

Croft Castle Vineyard, Herefordshire - 25th March, 2016

It was an early Easter and eggs were to be hunted at nearby Croft Castle so off we went - with our grandsons of course!

Whilst on the egg hunt through the lovely gardens, we came across the vineyard in the walled garden...

...a really nice surprise as we hadn't seen this on our last visit on a similar Easter egg hunt 3 years ago!

It seems this is the only vineyard on a National trust property and the 450 Pheonix vines were planted in 1979!

It's not really the best time of year to look at vines but they are quite impressive...

And so of course one had to enjoy a glass of wine with lunch. Very nice it is too - quite dry but also fruity. I do seem to be getting a taste for white wine after all!

The wine is available for sale in the cafe here but I guess it is limited so you should get in quick after bottling I would think...

They are holding a "Meet the gardeners" event at the castle on 31st May during English wine week which runs from 28th May - 5th June. May be it should be BRITISH wine week? A programme on TV interviewing a Welsh vineyard owner the other day announced that in the next 20 years the existing 17 vineyards of Wales will have risen to over 40!!! Get those vines planted...

Here is a link to the event if you are interested....and the 2014 vintage will be available for tasting..

Meet the Gardeners, Croft Castle

Denbies Wine Estate, Dorking, Surrey - 6th February, 2016

Belated Happy New Year!
Much English wine was sampled from our collection over the Christmas festivities. Favourites so far? Well - for whites we have found Walton Brook's Solaris hard to beat. Reds are still more tricky - red English wine will probably never be a Bordeaux now will it? I think the Llaethlliw is Chris's favourite and mine is Kerry Vale's - a close run thing! For me the best rosé so far is the Polgoon....

So after the very wet winter, we were looking forward to visiting our youngest daughter in Surrey - particularly myself as it was my Christmas treat - a spa day at Nirvana Spa on the 5th which was wondrous. I can most certainly recommend some time in the celestial flotation pool!
We decided that as the weather was still not brilliant, a vineyard trip would be a good choice - not that I did great persuasion - would I ? It is several years since we visited Denbies and took the little train trip around the vines. We discovered today that the winery was opened about 1993 so it must have been around that time. I remember that at that point we were not impressed really by English wine - it has come a long way since then! It is now one of England's largest wine suppliers!

It is a very impressive location. As well as the winery, it offers a huge shop and restaurant, caters for weddings - indeed there was a wedding taking place today. There is also a gallery which we looked around with pictures by local artists. We duly booked our tickets and were very lucky to do so - it was very busy. As the tour wasn't for a couple of hours, we took the opportunity to visit the Surrey Hills Brewery which is a microbrewery at the rear of the building - and sampled their offerings!

They make 3 brews ranging from very hoppy to a pale ale and tasty they were too.

We are trying to convince Richard that beer is preferable to lager - it's our northern roots! After a pleasant lunch alongside the wedding guests, we gathered in our group for the tour - there were over 20 of us, some having just a tour and tasting 3 wines, others having tasting and nibbles!
The tour started with a 360˚ cinema information film about the history of the wine estate here which was very interesting, if a little dated. Vines have been grown here for probably as long as people have lived here and it was in 1986 that vines were replanted here by the Denbies family. The vineyard is more or less at the foot of Box Hill. It is a natural place for vines to grow with its chalky outcrop, just like in the Champagne region. Those vines required for sparkling wines - Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay love it here. Recent breaking news on the wine front is that Tattinger have just bought a large amount of land in Kent to compete with English sparkling wines - we have taken so much of the market from the French champagnes. There's success for you!
We then had a walk through tour of the winery with lots of detail told to us by a really good tour leader - she was a real character and has been working with the family for a long time - very knowledgeable about the grape varieties and the market. The map of the vineyards which we saw at the tasting in the cellar, shows where each grape variety is planted. I'm afraid I can't remember now how many varieties they grow but if you study the map they are all there.....

Denbies is a big supplier to several supermarkets and shops but it still sells most of its wine on their premises. The stainless steel wine vats are from South Africa and another bit of detail was that 1 ton of grapes makes 650 litres of wine!
Of course in February there is not much to see in the fields.....so the tour is all indoors.

Denbies has 627 acres of land - some of it is woodland too. At this time of year the pruners are very busy - there are 11 of them and they walk 350 miles each on their pruning work. On a good day, there are plenty of walks to take, amongst the vines and in the woods. This is a Denbies picture of some of their vines with Box hill behind...

Our tour finished in the cellars where there are several barrels in here each with their own carvings.

These barrels were made from trees which had to be felled after the 1987 storm by an Austrian cooper. Another trade which is in short supply these days.

 We now had 3 wines to taste - what a hardship! First was the sparkling, demi sec.

Sparkling is not a speciality of ours but our daughter thought it really good...those cellars are really impressive too..

Next it was a white, I believe it was Surrey Gold but I am not writing this immediately after the visit....it was very pleasant too...and indeed is I think the most popular English white at the moment..

And the last was the rosé, Chalk Ridge Rosé which was a nice light wine, lovely for lunches...

Denbies do now offer a red but only when the season is a good one - Redlands. We had a small taste in the shop and took some home with us but haven't tried it again yet so I don't have a firm opinion about it yet...

So another good day at a vineyard. It is a very impressive visit and the busiest we have had so far. It is great to see them being so successful.....looking forward to the next visit already!