English Wine Week 2019

So, today marks the end of a special week for wine lovers... English Wine Week 2019.

It's a chance for English winemakers to celebrate, to market their wines, to offer tasting sessions to show the uninitiated how good English wine can be. 

In Market Harborough last Saturday, David and Jane Bates who own the nearest vineyard were doing just that. Their Steeplechase Sparkling, a brut, was very refreshing in the summer sunshine.

Elsewhere in Market Harborough, our two excellent wine merchants were also promoting English wines. 

At Duncan Murray Wines, an award-winning independent, you can always buy English wines, but last week there were special tastings of red and white wines from Staffordshire's Halfpenny Green Estates, and yesterday you could taste Biddenden Ortega from the vineyard in Kent.

In the local branch of  Majestic Wines, glasses of Selborne Classic Cuvee Brut were available to try... and although I've drank this wine many times before, I couldn't say no - I like its dry apple and lemon hints.

It's just one of one the amazing sparkling wines coming from the south of England. The big hitters of course when it comes to sparklers are Nyetimber in West Sussex, Chapel Down in Kent, and the oldest one, Hambledon Vineyard.

Nyetimber's Classic Cuvee, and their Rose with its raspberry and redcurrant shout "England in a glass" as does Chapel Down's English Rose.

Sparkling wine accounts for sixty-six percent of all the wine produced in England, and I think it's what we do best.

Being given a bottle of English sparkling wine to celebrate any event is a real treat, and when friends come for supper, I'm noticing that more and more are bringing English wine. Ian, a friend of ours  who lives in Herefordshire, likes to bring his local wine from just across the county border in Gloucestershire,

Opening an English bottle of wine immediately starts a conversation...  about a vineyard, about a county, English history (such as when you open a bottle from Greyfriars Vineyard) and so much more.

There is the passion and the back stories of the smaller producers, who have changed their careers and lives, because of a dream - such as the wonderful Liz Robson who owns the two-acre Rothley Wine Estate in Leicestershire.

There are five hundred and twenty-two commercial vineyards in the UK... here's to their success, their dreams, and their hard work... and I look forward to tasting so many more of their wines, especially the sparklers!

I adore fizz...

Wine tasting days

I'm writing this on a Thursday, but I do love Saturday afternoons. A free couple of hours to mooch  about in Market Harborough...pay a visit to my favourite shops, buy something special for supper, and change my library books.

Even if friends are over for the weeekend, they like a whizz around my favourite haunts....and more about those in future blogposts...but this is always a popular port of call with anyone.

Duncan Murray Wines..a small wine shop, with big ideas and a warm welcome for everyone .Opened by Duncan and his wife Megan about five years ago, I've been a loyal customer ever since. Why? Well the choice of wines for one thing.....





I can get my favourite gluggable reds...something special to take to a friend, there's something for everyone's budget. But I know I could get those in many other places.

No, what's great about this little place is the brilliant banter every Saturday between 12noon and 3pm, when there's wine tastings from different countries and areas.

It's almost like a club...most people like to taste new wines they haven't tried before....usually between three and five different bottles...it's nice to talk to others about wine in a casual friendly atmosphere ....

...and there's the jokes.....from Duncan mainly...accompanied by raised eyebrows and a wry smile from Megan. Don't worry though, his wines are much better than the jokes.....

Sometimes different wine growers come to do their own tastings...occasionally there's a few nibbles to accompany the wines ...for example, from Spain we had some manchego cheese and chorizo, but with last Saturdays' tasting, there was something you couldn't possibly eat....

Yes, it's a rock. A kimmeridgeon about 150 years old from the Chablis area....the rock explains the flinty character of the wine from the region. And that's the attention to detail in this wine shop.....
When did you last see one of those in the supermarket wine section?

So on a Saturday afternoon if you see me in Market Harborough, I haven't been drowning my sorrrows in the pub all lunchtime, I've merely been learning more about wine in a very sociable way. Mind you I now go to the library before the wine tasting....I was getting some funny looks from the librarians...

.
Today's track is slightly different....I could have played UB40's Red Red Wine...but this sketch still makes me laugh every time I see it....It's the incomparable, and very young (!) Fry and Laurie.....on wine tasting.....