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09 Oct 2015

Grapes of wrath – The resurgence of English Vineyards and Wine

English vineyards are making something of a resurgence now. Their major issue is the size of most vineyards being so small that wine amounts tend to be too small from most vineyards to be commercially sold to supermarket chains. A few years ago, one of the best UK vineyards, Three Choirs , in fact sold their whole annual wine crop to Eurostar, meaning that the only way to taste the wine was to have a 187ml bottle on the train.

Denbies vineyard is in Dorking and Painshill is a park in Cobham with a vineyard as part of the park. A few photographs to tempt you to sample English wine.

Painshill Park Cobham Grapes

Denbies is a wine estate or perhaps better termed, vineyard in Dorking, surrey established in 1986.The vineyards of Denbies Estate are situated on the North Downs with its famous chalky soil, in a protected valley of south facing slopes. In size it is the largest in the UK with 627 acres of land of which 265 acres have been planted representing more than 10 per cent of the plantings in the whole of the United Kingdom. This makes it three times the size of any other in the UK and the largest independent vineyard in Europe. Around 65% of the wine is sold at the visitor centre. From a good harvest around 400,000 bottles can be produced of different types from the 18 varieties of grape grown. The main grapes grown include : seyval blanc, reichensteiner, Muller-Thurgau, Bacchus, Ortega, Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Dornfelder.

Painshill Park Cobham Grapes

Denbies Vineyard. Dorking

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06 Jul 2015

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Denbies Wine Estate Dorking

Denbies run tours of the vineyards using a small “train” that takes around 50 people each trip for 50 minutes. Trips cost £6 for adults and £4 for children and there is also the option to have a glass of the sparkling wine for an extra £4.50.

There used to be a house on the property that was requestioned by the Canadian military in world war 2. When they left they took their tanks with them except three were non-functioning and were pushed down a hill and buried. To date only one has been excavated and the other two remain buried in the fields and are marked there by two tall trees. There is a possibility that further excavations of at least one tank may be considered in the next year or two.In September 1940 the Canadian West Nova Scotia Regiment was camped at Upper Common, Netley Heath, West Horsley, on the North Downs
where a Bf110 crashed after bing shot down (4th Sept.).

The Greenfields sparkling wine is bottled for Sainsbury’s under their label. This is a mixture of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The 2014 crop was bottled in May 2015 and will get laid down for 2-4 years aging.

In 2013 there were 470 vineyards in UK and the commonest types of grape grown were

Chardonnay 21%
Pinot Noir 19%
Bacchus 9%

Denbies wine Estate
Copyright Chris Bushe

Flint Valley English WineDenbies wine Estate
Copyright Chris Bushe

Greenfields Sparkling Wine. Denbies wine Estate Copyright Chris Bushe

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14 May 2015

Cowpie Country Show 2015

Cowpie sounds like a strange menu item but in fact is the annual show for the Surrey Young Farmers. Up until this year it had been held at Betchworth near Dorking, but maybe because last years event had to be postponed due to rain , it was moved to near Lingfield.

The Cowpie Country Show is organised entirely by Young Farmers and volunteers and is held annually in May. The Show attracts around 20,000 visitors who come to see the wide range of main ring attractions, livestock, side shows and trade stands.

Cowpie also incorporates one of Surrey YFC’s main competition days, so visitors can see Young Farmers competing in events around the show ground, like hay bail racing, livestock judging, charity racing and archery.

The show is a great day out with a mixture of events, like various dog racing and dog competitions, birds of prey ( a little sanitised if I am honest), stalls, a small fair and various other diverse events that include tarot card reading ( maybe something for Nick Clegg next time?), motorcycle stunt riders, sheep shearers and many more things.