Visiting Astley Vineyard has been a long time in the plans. It began with sampling their delicious wine, courtesy of my daughter Nicola, who lives only a 10-minute drive from them. Then she bought me some of their wonderful vermouth when I got into drinking vermouth a lot after attending a vermouth workshop run by the Guild of Food Writers and visiting the 'home' of vermouth - Turin.
I arranged to visit in 2020, then plans got scuppered by lockdowns. But when I was discussing with my daughter what we might do when I visited this week, I suddenly thought again of the vineyard and suggested we go there. They don't normally open on Wednesday (their opening hours are Thursday to Sunday, 10.30am to 4pm) but owner Bev Haywood kindly said if I turned up at the shop after 2pm she could show me round.
It was a pretty chilly day for the end of May, the wind strong and dark clouds overhead threatening rain, though thankfully that held off. Nevertheless it was great to finally arrive at Astley where we were warmly welcomed in the shop and Bev gave us the background to their story.
Astley Vineyard is a 5-acre single estate that was planted in 1971 and it's one of the oldest vineyards in the UK. At the time, it was also said to be the most northerly vineyard in the world. It was founded by the Bache family who did a lot of research into cold-climate grape varieties; then from 1993 it was owned and run by Jonty Daniels. When he retired in 2017, the Haywood family took over. Formerly accountants, they had no farming experience, but used their business knowledge to bring a commercial and well-run attitude to the vineyard. Until they took over, the vineyard sold their grapes but the Haywoods decided they would make the wine too. Bev and Tim's son Chris, who had been selling wine in Harvey Nichols, studied winemaking; Tim manages the vineyard, and Bev is, to quote their website, 'Astley's jack-of-all-trades', managing tours, the shop and working closely with the local community.
Ben took me to see where the wine was made and stored. In front of me were vats storing enough wine to fill 6,000 bottles.
Chris was there to explain everything. The photo below left is the filter. All wine - quite remarkably, I thought, given its size - is filtered through this. To the right is the bottling machine.
Everything is done by hand. What came through so strongly was the family's passion for what they do; their determination to make wine of the best quality they can and provide the best service they can.
Although a small vineyard, they offer a good range with regulars including Bacchus, Severn Vale, Madeleine Angevine and are they are only vineyard in the UK to grow Kerner. Later in the year there will be Pinot Noir.
Back in the shop I was able to admire the produce and this is also where tours are run from.
Bev gave me some of their sparkling Bacchus to taste while we talked. Bacchus is one of my favourite wines and this was delicious - so unsurprisingly I bought some to take home!
The wines were all beautifully arranged with notes by each to describe their grape, flavours, sweetness, acidity and information about 'for those who like' and 'similar to'. So a great guide to making good buying choices.
It was also great to see that they stocked produce from other local producers, not just wine, beer and cider but craft goods too.
One thing that's always attracted me, apart from the fine quality of Astley's wine, is their gorgeous labels. Really, how do you throw those bottles away!
Now it was time to take a look outside so I set off with Nicola and grandson Rufus. Below you can see the shop from the far side and the terrace where on sunnier days people can taste the wine and tours begin.
A walk through well signposted woods took us to the vineyard.
At the top of a slope, we rounded a slight corner to a vista of vines.
Everything was so beautifully laid out and cared for; vines clearly marked.
Of course at this early time of the year, the grapes were still very small.
As we made our way to the far side, we looked back on a view that was glorious despite the greyness of the weather. Even a little blue sky was trying to get through the clouds. Beyond lay the Malvern Hills. Astley Vineyard is set in the beautiful Severn Valley, just ten miles from Worcester.
The vineyard has won a number of awards and has been recommended by the Telegraph, Conde Nast and Delicious magazine. In Visit Worcestershire Awards 2024 they won 'Winner of Winners' and 'Ethical, Responsible & Sustainable Business of the Year'. They run events, tastings and tours. For more information visit their website: click here.
The vineyard is quite remote but a bus runs through Astley a couple of times a day and the nearest railway stations are Droitwich Spa and Worcester, where people often pick up a taxi to get there.
No comments:
Post a Comment