Glorious weather, super English wines and Jilly Goolden's autograph, what more could you want?
The surprise for me at the 1999 English Wine Festival was the number of rather good red wines. Yes, English red wine. For elegance the Dark Fields from Hidden Spring vineyard, for Rioja-like oak Chapel Down vineyard's 1997 Pinot Noir. Winner of the Festival's red wine prize was Valley Vineyard's Ruscombe, though my personal favourite was the chewy King Coel from Carter's Vineyard in Colchester (Dornfelder, Dunkelfelder, Pinot Noir, Rondo if you're interested!).
There were three 'tutored tastings' during the Saturday (I went to all three - naughty but nice). Martyn Doubleday took us through an informative 45 minutes on the reds - even roping my wife in to pour the samples. Later, Klaus Bambola (Australian) did an entertaining session on sparklers, and later another on whites. All English wines, of course. The tutored tastings were all included in the £8 entrance price.
Forty three stands exhibited their wares: English wines, regional foods, a couple of ales - and a very nice chap selling vines (tip - plant the Rondo vine in your back garden if you want to make your own red wine).
You can wander round to your heart's content and taste wines at the various vineyard's stands - all free, the entrance price even includes a complimentary tasting glass. There must have been a couple of hundred different wines to try - hard work but somebody has to do it. And of course you can buy bottles to accompany your lunch and to savour at home.
A magician for kids - grape treading too, a first class barbecue at reasonable prices, a jazz band and general bonhomie made for a super day out. If you're remotely interested in wine go in September 2000.
Oh, and Jilly, the lovely Jilly Goolden. Jilly opened the proceedings, chatted to exhibitors and visitors alike - and signed my Festival programme. Worth going just for that!
The organiser is Christopher Ann, bottles@englishwine.co.uk
The wine festival web site is at English Wine Centre
We got our tickets last year by calling 01323 870164.
Who am I? Just a visitor to the festival. Mike at hraconsulting-ltd.co.uk (replace at with @ - anti-spam device)