English wines are on the rise … from a quality viewpoint and in the marketplace. In 2017 Winbirri from Norfolk won one of the Platinum medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards for its Bacchus 2015, Taittinger has bought Domaine Evremond in Kent, and Nyetimber beats Champagnes in the Paris blind tasting event! And all this BEFORE Brexit …. no wonder the French are worried!
So a couple of visits to some nearby English vineyards was a must earlier this summer and we decided on Poulton Hill Estate just 7 miles away, Three Choirs also in Gloucestershire and finally Bothy Vineyard just 30mins away near Oxford. Sad to say Three Choirs didn’t live up to our expectations from previous visits, the wine is good, but the shop was dusty and uncared for, the tasting room and staff both surly and more focused on the telephone than helping customers. The other two were magnificent, both new to us despite being so close and a record of our visits is below. As usual click the title for the link to each post article:
Poulton Hill Estate, Gloucestershire
My article was entitled “Think local, Drink local” and described a vineyard very close to our home in the English Cotswolds striving to improve the brand of English sparkling wine.
Bothy Vineyard, Oxfordshire
Another local vineyard close to Oxford with history and a biodynamic approach, my post entitled “Wines under those dreaming spires”. Can you spot the connection?
Wine Tasting at Bothy Vineyard with Sian
Footnote & Summary
That concludes this series of posts highlighting most of the vineyards we have visited this year and being considered for our Two Doctors Wine Awards 2018. Last year the winner was from Pommard so this year will see a new #1 and we have decided to choose best vineyard for visits and wine tasting, PLUS the best wine we have tasted this year too. Do you know any of these vineyards or which place/wine would you vote for? We’d be pleased to know.
Categories: England, Reviews, Wine
English Wine: “Think local, drink local” 
From wine bluff to wine judge-The icing on the cake! 
Is “English Sparkling Wine” bubbling enough? 
The Two Doctors 
Looks like a tight cork (or piece of plastic). What are those synthetic corks made from?
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Plastic material mostly I believe, a real bugger to get out!
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Portugal provides half of the World’s cork so is the place to go for bottle of wine with a proper stopper – no screw caps!
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