Monday 14 April 2008

Day eleven-Camel Valley vineyard-Cornwall

By 10.30 this morning I had drunk four different varieties of wine. No, I haven't turned into a alcoholic, or had a bad morning, neither had I succumbed to the type of Victorian shock which required me to be 'attended to'. It was because I had stumbled upon the glorious awarding winning Camel Valley Vineyard. Known for its unstinting dedication to producing the best of English wines. And boy do they deliver.

For £19.99 you can have a bottle of 2006 CAMEL VALLEY BRUT 'CORNWALL' Traditional Method Quality Sparkling Wine. Described as :

'Most impressive English wine on the market today' - Matthew Jukes.

'Delicious and so elegant, the nose is so pure and fresh' - Tom Stevenson, author Christie's Champagne Guide.

'Fresh, lovely bright, fruity style, good stuff!' - Oz Clarke

And that’s just the bubbly stuff!

We arrived after negotiating the thin Cornish country lanes swathed in wild garlic at the top of the Camel Valley, named after the river Camel that winds its way along the bottom. Acres of carefully tended vines stood, row after row like soldiers standing to attention. As we walked down to the shop Sam the wine expert bounced past us, hair flying and grinning like a maniac intent on getting to the shop to welcome us. I think visitors are few and far between out of season.
In the shop you can taste or take a glass of your favourite wine to the terrace overlooking the vineyard and gaze at the inspiring view. I'm sure it would become even more inspiring after a few glasses of Camel Valleys vineyards best. We tasted and I was really impressed. I've come to expect English wines not to be up to the standard of the rest of the wines of the rest of the world. Here I was wrong. The Bacchus was dry, very crisp, and had a slight metallic edge. Interestingly it was incredibly pale which Sam said some people find hard to fathom. The general thinking being that a white wine must have colour or else it's insipid. This had flavour by the bucket load, although it wasn't over powering. It definitely had one of those devilish finishes that leave you wanting more.

The quality dry wine was equally good,with green notes that rolled around your tongue not wanting to let go. I thought the Camel valley red wasn't quite up to the standard of the whites but was still exceptional. With a beautiful fruity tone it was a very light and indeed the colour was almost beetroot pink which was absolutely beautiful. I generally prefer heavy tanniny reds such as Merlots and Shiraz’s so it was probably that it wasn't to my preferred taste. I imagine though it would be to many other people.

We left clutching our two bottles of Cornish pleasure- a bottle of the 2006 CAMEL VALLEY BRUT 'CORNWALL' and a bottle of the 2006 CAMEL VALLEY BACCHUS QUALITY WINE.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I really fancy a bottle of that Cornish brut now, I think it may be a case of you pay for what you get as with most quality wines. We'll need wine for our wedding and have been considering English.

Keep up the blogs guys!