A VISIT TO THE VINEYARD

Anyone who knows me knows I love wine, so this Easter weekend has to rank up there as one of the better ones because I have basically been sustained by the adult grape juice for 4 days solid! I'm obviously not advocating heavy drinking, not everyday anyway haha, but a nice bottle of vino on a sunny day shared with great friends is certainly one of my favourite ways to while away the hours of a bank holiday afternoon. This weekend me and my favourite girls had arranged to go on a vineyard tour in Twyford, near Reading, and it was very interesting and so much fun.

Apart from all the wine we got to try, eight small glasses of the stuff, all of which was grown and made on the premises, we also learnt so much about English wine, the processes involved in making it and some general knowledge of how the wine industry works. There was a group of about 30 of us in total (just five of me and the girls and then the rest randomers ;)) and our amazing tour guide Ruth. Ruth was probably our favourite thing about the tour because she was so unpretentious and hilarious. She started off by saying she wasn't going to get us all to swirl the wine around our mouth and then spit it out, what's the point in that (at this point we were smitten), she was just going to talk and we were just going to drink, perfect! After the 8 glasses me and the girls were very giggly, but we did actually come away with some knowledge we didn't have before!

For example, would you have known that English wine is verrrrry different to British? I wouldn't have even thought about it. You go into a shop and see the word British or a Union Jack and you think 'Ooo I'm going to buy that and support our local wine makers!'. Well, you'd be wrong! English wine is wine made from grapes that have been grown and produced in England, whereas British wine is made from imported grapes or grape concentrate that's then made into wine here but is almost always really crap and sold at very cheap prices. Who'd have known?

Also, Cava?! I know I'm not the only one who completely ignores the Cava section of the wine aisles because I think it's crap? Well, I'm here to tell you that Cava is made using the same process as Champagne. There are 3 different ways you can make a sparkling wine, Prosecco is in the second category in terms of how good it is, but Cava, Champagne and, more importantly, English Sparkling Wine are right there together at the top. The bubbles in Champagne, Cava and English Sparkling wine are developed naturally using yeast and sugar once the flat wine has been bottled and sealed, allowing carbon dioxide bubbles to form. When making cheaper sparkling wines the carbon dioxide bubbles are simply forced into the liquid, meaning it will go flatter a lot quicker and (I think) not have as many bubbles in.

Prosecco is slightly different in that it's not left to develop in the individual bottles but in a larger container before being decanted, but it's still a pretty good drink for a much more inexpensive price. (I won't go on to tell you that me and the girls then went on to drink about 7 bottles of the stuff after the vineyard tour!, what can I say!).

So, all in all it was a fantastic experience, I would highly recommend a visit to the Stanlake Park vineyard if you're ever in the area (and aren't driving) and it was a great way to spend part of the long weekend! The tour was only £17.50 which I would happily pay again, we all came away with a bottle or two from their shop as well, it's a good plan to get everyone pissed and then show them where to buy it isn't it?

#review #wine #lifestyle #life #popular