So it was that the plan adapted a little in that we were visiting our old friends in Cornwall and decided that it was a bit far with unpredictable weather to take Sassy on this trip - I have told her all about it though!
It did seem too good an opportunity to miss out on vineyard visits since we don't get to visit Cornwall very often - we promise our friends we will be there again soon though, we had such a good time with lots of catching up to do. It is a beautiful and interesting part of Britain with such a wonderful coastline...South West coast path?....
We had found the
Camel Valley vineyard on our listings and it was also en route so off we went. What a lovely valley it is too!
It is apparently the largest vineyard in Cornwall. It started in 1989 when the owners, the Lindo family, decided to try vines on their sloping fields and planted 8,000 vines! And they have gone from strength to strength, winning many prizes, both nationally and international ones.
We didn't have time for a tour today but they do have a shop as well as online sales so we sampled a couple of the whites - the red has sold out so we await the red to taste hopefully next spring... Tours here are only available April to October. We tried the Atlantic Dry, a blend of grapes and the Daribole (an old Cornish word for a field) Bacchus, a single grape variety and preferred the latter which was really good.
We took some bottles of the Daribole with us along with a rosé too, the rosé is made from the Pinot Noir grape. The winery was opened in 1999 I seem to remember by Rick Stein.
The vineyard has a lovely seating area looking over the vines and there are cottages to rent so you can have a holiday there too!
And there were the red grapes waiting to be picked, soaking the last of the Autumn sunshine - should be a good red! Here's hoping!
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