English Wine Tasting at Brightwell Vineyard
My new year’s resolution for 2009 was to learn more about wine. I’m not into the kind of resolution where I have to give something up, adding something else in always seems much more attractive and achievable. Of course, wine is a vast subject so I still know very little about it in general and I certainly knew absolutely zilch about English wine until Saturday. I wasn’t even sure if I’d ever tasted an English wine but I’d heard rumours about it and they definitely weren’t good. For this reason then, I was extremely curious when Andrew invited me down to Wallingford (Oxfordshire) for a tour and tasting at Brightwell vineyard.
We started with the tour, which was beautiful, a hundred shades of green lit up in the glorious sunshine. This was my first ever vineyard visit so I learned a lot about the maintainence of the vines, including their enemies – snails and rabbits and mildew apparently – the latter being a particular problem in the UK as we have the perfect climate for it, temperate and damp. The Brightwell vineyard was apparently out of production for three years because of mildew. That must have hurt.
We then moved on from the vines to a walk around the lake, after which I was feeling rather thirsty and more than ready to get around to the actual tasting, although not before we had stopped off to have a look at the pigs.
The swines came trotting over expecting food of course and when I crouched down to get a close up shot, one of them actually tried to eat me. Well, my skirt anyway. Perhaps it wanted revenge for my consumption of goodness knows how many of its distant relatives over the years. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a tug of war with a pig but take it from me that their jaws are surprisingly powerful. I did eventually manage to retrieve my skirt, along with a considerable blob of pig saliva. Nice.
The pigs currently reside on the land where Brightwell are intending to grow Pinot Noir, something which Andrew told me sounds very ambitious. This is because the UK has a far from perfect climate for producing red wines, which is why the following tasting really surprised everyone.
If I’m totally honest, the whites weren’t really anything to write home about but the red was the star of the show (Oxford Regatta 2006), really spicy, lots of black pepper but still some good fruit and with an irony, blood-like tang. Apparently the wine is benefitting enormously from bottle ageing.
I learned that the best English wines though are generally the sparklers, although Brightwell don’t offer it at their tastings as they simply don’t have enough so we bought a bottle and took it back to Andrew’s place for round two. It was a bit cheesy on the nose, very green tasting. It was nice but didn’t blow me away. We tasted some wines from other producers too though and my favourite was probably the Limney Horsmonden 2007 which had a hint of green pepper and a toasty coconut finish, although not everyone could agree on the coconut part.
It became apparent that Mark and I have similar noses and tastebuds as he said, ‘I’m getting passionfruit on the nose’ and me with a ‘yes! passionfruit that’s been hanging around for a week’, while others looked on nonplussed. This was definitely one of my favourites. Turns out slightly funky passionfruit rocks my world.
A very short while ago I would not have had the confidence to write about wine on this blog like I do now. First, there was my mini wine epiphany, encouraged by Rob at this meal, then I started to tentatively trust my own senses with wine, just like I do with food and all of a sudden here I am, blogging about it good and proper. I’ve learned that not everyone picks up the same aromas and flavours in wine and that this is perfectly normal, which was like cutting a ball and chain – I feel more free to blog about it now I don’t have to worry if I’m not getting bloody peaches on the nose when someone else is. Aaaand relax…
You can see the full set of photos from the day here and more detailed notes from our Twitter tasting session here.
Category: Drinks, Wine 16 comments »
May 25th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Lovely post! I’ve always been too nervous to blog about wine the way I do about food, and the wine part is always conspicuously lacking in my posts. So it’s great to hear about your gain in confidence!
May 25th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
I’m a bit of a fan of English wine, I drive down to Kent and visit the Chapel Down and Biddenden vineyards a couple of times a year to stock up (Normally with a detour to Tunbridge Wells for a bit of a wander around and some shopping). In fact, I was at the Chapel Down Vineyard only last week on the way for a weekend in Hastings. I can highly recommend a nice sunny drive in the countryside visiting vineyards and purchasing wine at source.
I really like the Chapel Down Bacchus reserve, and Biddenden Ortega – strangely enough, I first came across these in restaurants in London and was blown away, so summery and light. I believe you can get the Bacchus reserve in Waitrose.
Dans last blog post..Egg and Bacon Pie.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I too would like to learn a bit more about wine. I hail from Kent and have never visited any English vineyards but did have a tour of one last year in Tuscany. I wasn’t bowled over with their offerings, no reds were part of their tasting, I’m pleased to hear that different tastes reveal themselves to different tasters!
boos last blog post..Boo in Malta – Grabiel Terrazza
May 26th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Sounds like a fantastic day. Wish I’d come!
Lizzies last blog post..Lime & Ginger Trout
May 26th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
This sounds like so much fun! I am glad you enjoyed the wines. That doesn’t happen too often…I remember the wine tastings we did of Vermont wines…not too good.
Jenn AKA The Leftover Queens last blog post..Recipe: Skoleboller or Norwegian Cardamom and Custard Buns
May 26th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Glad you enjoyed the day as much as I did. That Pinot Noir is destined for the sparkler but our guide did say they would be gunning for a top quality red from them too. On the basis of the red we tried they might just do it!
Andrews last blog post..nWarning: ./cache/80229a6e5bfdb9f9238f42b8080b9633.spc is not writeable in /var/www/vhosts/fiddyp.co.uk/httpdocs/commentluvinc/simplepie.inc on line 1664nnWarning: ./cache/48c25293b67b5e91bb9100f6683b9d24.spc is not writeable in /var/www/vhosts/fiddyp.co.uk/httpdocs/commentluvinc/simplepie.inc on line 1769nnNotice: Undefined variable: encoding in /var/www/vhosts/fiddyp.co.uk/httpdocs/commentluvinc/remoteCL5.php on line 69nnWarning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /var/www/vhosts/fiddyp.co.uk/httpdocs/commentluvinc/simplepie.inc:1664) in /var/www/vhosts/fiddyp.co.uk/httpdocs/commentluvinc/remoteCL5.php on line 69nPINOTAGE: Behind the Legends of South Africa’s Own Wine by Peter May
May 26th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
This was a fun day. A couple of the wines really surprised me, especially the Brightwell red and the Limney Estate sparkler (which totally smelt like coconut – we clearly share good noses!).
Marks last blog post..Brightwell Vineyard and a Few Bottles of English Wine
May 26th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Really wish I had been able to come. Sounds like a super day with a lot of very fun people. I love the fact that you got slobbered on by a pig. Classic.
Jonathans last blog post..Haddock with Chorizo, Roasted Veg and Polenta
May 27th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Nice one Helen, really interesting you lucky thing!
Cheers
Dave
David Halls last blog post..Probably The Best Sandwich In The World
May 28th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Looks like you’re getting there on your quest/thirst for wine knowledge.
Revenge of the Pig! would make a great film title don’t you think?
Dans last blog post..Little Ole Wine Drinker Me
May 28th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Big question though Helen is…did you have one of your trademark hangovers? Or perhaps Wine Flu?
May 28th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Helen – You must give it a go! I am convinced it is all about confidence now. We should do some tasting together.
Dan – Yeah, everyone was talking about Chapel Down on the day, I’m going to see if I can track some down tomorrow.
Boo – I was very relieved to hear it too – sometimes I thought I might be going mad! I think people can be stuffy and snobby about wine – this needs to change!
Lizzie – Me too
Jenn – ah some of them were disappointing I must admit but some gooduns in there too.
Andrew – Thanks again for such a brilliant day – as you can see I learned a lot!
Mark – Hi coconut passionfruit buddy! Yeah it was wicked. Not sure we should be proud of our antics with the lager on the way home though…
Jonathan – I know – revenge, sweet, spitty revenge…
Dave – I know, I am rather lucky aren’t I?
Dan – I think you are onto a winner with that title. I would start writing the script if I were you…
Dan – Oh I did indeed have a case of the wine flu – a bad case! Something to do with the fact I found myself in a bar in Soho until 2am perhaps?
May 28th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
What a fun read!
I read about the British wine event on another blog and promptly tried to find some British wine in SF. No such luck! Given that Napa is close by might be a hard sell, but I am going to talk with my local wine shop about getting some here. Where’s the selection?
Although a few of the wines you described sound like they were served before their time. Hmm, passionfruit and coconut – sounds like a tropical experience.
OysterCultures last blog post..Worcestershire Sauce – this one is a bit fishy if you ask me
May 29th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
You’re getting there Helen! I expect to see a proper wine write up soon! It was a great day, we have to get out of London more often. Remember Ridgeview from the impromptu tasting at Waitrose? They could be next on the list of vineyard visits.
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 am
You are a woman after my own heart… resolutions to learn more about food and especially wine! Nice one!
Kims last blog post..What am I eating?
October 10th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Je viens de faire un gros blog sur les vins anglais. N’hésitez pas a faire un tour. Mes commentaires de degustation sont en cours.
a bientot. et merci Bob et Carol de Brightwell vineyard!
Yannick