On a blazing hot day in June, myself and some friends headed to White Castle Vineyard in Abergavenny, Wales and, to our surprise, not only found some glorious sunshine but some incredibly wonderful wines! If you have any preconceptions about Welsh wine, please put them to one side and read on….. I had been at the WineGB event in […]
Ah Hambledon. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” Never have Shakespeare’s words been more true! Hambledon is my favourite English Sparkling wine – I have shown a Hambledon at many a wine tasting, I served it at Christmas, I take it to parties and, hopefully, if […]
In the UK, we consume around 1.6 billion bottles of wine per year. One point six billion! That’s one hell of a lot of grapes. Many are collected using a grape harvesting machine but this isn’t possible in small production vineyards and in those vineyards which are high up or on steep slopes – in […]
Hattingley Valley is in a quite ‘out-of-the-way’ spot in deepest, darkest Hampshire. Near to Alresford, the vineyard is accessible only by car and through some beautiful winding country roads. Quintessentially English, it’s only a few miles from Jane Austen’s house and one could, very easily, picture the Bennett girls having a wander across the landscape. […]
Happy New Year! I hope the festive period was good for you and that hangovers were scarce. The first few weeks of the new year can be a grim time. The festive fun is over, you’re back to work and it’s cold and dark. So, rather than think about all that, I thought I’d just […]