St George’s Day celebrations are running throughout the land this week in celebration of our Patron Saint. Leaden Hall Market in the centre of the square mile in The City of London, as organised by Nick Johnstone, be-decked in Union Jacks was the central point for sampling English wines.

A magnificent setting in the heart of London, set just behind the famous “gherkin” building and full of city high flyers and wannabees! As usual I managed to arrive early and enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of this busy iconic London market, setting up, taking in deliveries, the local characters going about their business.

Present and sampling were Carr Taylor Vineyards from Westfield in East Sussex, Sedlescombe Organic Vineyards from East Sussex, Bedales Wine Stores pouring Biddenden wines from Kent and David of Meopham Valley Vineyard in Kent. All of these wines are great, clean, fresh, good fruit notes and well balanced. They are all a major credit to the English Wine Industry and many thanks to David of Meopham, Sue of Carr Taylor and Martin of Sedlescombe for making the journey into London to promote our fine English wines.

Taylor & Shroff, English wines for curry (produced by Carr Taylor) was sampled and enjoyed by quite a few passers by at lunch times. On sampling were the Cherry, Ginger & Apricot Taylor & Shroff wines and all went down well. We shall be visiting Leaden Hall on a monthly basis to continue sampling, hopefully from the end of June – Friday’s! Hopefully UK stocks will be available from early June and will start to find their way into the nation’s culinary hearts and minds. Mine’s a Ginger Taylor & Shroff served in a tall glass with ice, with a popadum and some lime pickle please.

A special thanks to Georgie Furst from English Vine Tours for letting me out for the day! Leaden Hall was a great opportunity to talk to people about corporate Vineyard Tours that are on offer. If anyone wishes to know more about these unique bespoke tours, perfect for a corporate day out – www.englishvinetours.co.uk or call Georgie on 01323 732 001.

Easter Multi-Experience Vine Tour

A superb Easter Weekend Vineyard Experience. Working in-conjunction with Pelham House, Lewes we had on offer a fabulous weekend experience. With a half-day vineyard tour, tasting at Carr Taylor, over night stay in a 4 star country hotel followed by a day at the races, Plumpton Race Course.

The group had mainly come down from London for the weekend, the weather was good and vines beckoned. At Carr Taylor we could see already that buds left from pruning had started to open to create the new fruiting canes for this year. Also at Carr Taylor we saw one smaller vineyard had been completely grubbed up, making way for new trellising, wires, and young vines. Chardonnay is going to be experimented with and possibly a growth in Pinot Noir too. Seeking greater growth capacity for their sparkling wines, possibly even a straight English Pinot Noir too in a few years.

The group having wandered the vineyard and the winery were now keen to sample and what a sampling it was. We tasted their Sparkling Brut, Sparkling Pinot Noir, 1066 Dry White, Dry Rose as well as a range of great fruit wines too. Upon completion of the tasting most of the group ran downstairs to bag a magnum of the Brut whilst on offer!

Pelham House was our next stop where the overnighters were staying, a 3 course meal for supper followed by a classic English breakfast was on the menu. We set off again on the Sunday around mid-day headed for the Easter Meet at Plumpton Races. Plumpton is one of the finest of smaller National Hunt courses in the UK and it proved to be a great day. Throngs were gathered for their day already despite us having arrived early, bets were placed and ......they were off.............

It would be a lie to say that we all won money, that's not really how gambling works unfortunately. However it was an excellent day out and the London crew had a superb time. All in all it was a fantastic Easter break experience and we need to thank a few folk.....Lizzie of Pelham House for efficiency and friendliness, Moppy at Plumpton Races for her efficiency and friendliness too as well as all involved in English Vine Tours for offering the experience in the first place.

Keep an eye out for a multi-day experience towards the end of May and Father's Day in June, for further details; www.englishvinetours.co.uk

English Wine Week Tours Available to Book

English Vine Tours are delighted to offer three unique wine tour experiences for English Wine Week. English Wine Week runs from 23rd May to 31st May 2009, a great week of events spread throughout England to promote the variety and uniqueness of English wines and vineyards

English Wine Week wine tours are now available to book. Visit our website for more information...

English Vine Tours does BPS Supper

The 2009 annual British Psychologists Society supper, being held this year at the Holiday Inn, Brighton was organised by Ruth Raven with guest speaker, Miles Thomas.

English Vine Tours and Ben Furst, were invited to present a range of Italian wines, featuring indigenous grapes to a crowd of over 200 guests.

Prior to the wine tasting there was a wine talk on the psychology of wine, enjoyment and purchase by Miles Thomas. A great guy who spoke with passion and knowledge.

Miles covered the many concepts of the psychology of buying wine. He discussed the use of music by wine merchants experimenting how it affects purchasing behaviour of customers in shops. For example those retailers who played classical music found their customers bought fewer bottles of wine but higher value wines.

According to Miles findings, consumers experience of wine is related to the amount they spend as their expectations are higher, ie the more people spend on wine the more they savour and enjoy it.

The wine tasting presented by Ben Furst, consisted of 4 great Italian classics, Fiano, Soave Classico, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo and Chianti. Ben disucssed the importance of indigenous grapes and terroir, placing an emphasis on wines that have been forged through history and time: not a concoction of kiss me quick international grape varieties with high alcohol and a big bouquet. As such the wine went down well, all bottles were milked dry and as hunger set in Ben bowed away with thanks to Ruth and Miles.

English Vine Tours & Ben Furst are next presenting on 22nd April, for St George's Day - event to be announced. A final word: remember when buying wines, buy carefully with thought to price and provenance. Better to buy local or spend a bit more if buying wines from the new world. That way you won't be disappointed. Drink with a meal and friends and you will get more from your grapes!