Welsh Wines: Ancre Hill Estates

We are drinking Welsh wines on the Food Blog. That is more of a challenge than you might think, because there are now around twenty Welsh vineyards producing a range of different wines.
 
Only about 1% of wine consumed in the UK is home-produced. However, climate change (milder winters and extended summers) is favouring wine production. Meanwhile, in Wales at least, local and regional produce is increasingly sought-after in restaurants and shops. Therefore, the market for Welsh wines could significantly expand in the future.

This week, we have been drinking White and Rosé wine (both 2010) from the Ancre Hill Estates vineyard, supplied by Fine Wines Direct (Penarth Road, Cardiff).

 

Ancre Hill Estates was the first wine to be recognized in the Wales the True Taste Awards. In 2010-2011 (Wine, Spirit and Other Alcohol category), Ancre Hill won a Gold Award for their 2009 Medium Dry White and a Bronze Award for their Rosé.

The White (11% ABV) is made using Seyval Blanc and Madeleine Angevine grapes. We found it to be dry, sharp and crisp. The taste was particularly clean, with pleasing citrus (limey) and elderflower notes. A good wine to pair with fish.

The Rosé (11% ABV, £12.79) is made from Seyval blanc and Triomphe grapes. We found it sharp and very fruity. I detected lots of strawberry. There were also floral and citrus notes. This was particularly refreshing when well-chilled. I usually consider rosé to be almost an aperitif, but this one stood up very well to mildly spicy food.

Both the White and Rosé sell for £12.79 a bottle.

Ancre Hill Estates also produce Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sparkling White and Sparkling Rosé wines, on a south-facing slopes in the Wye Valley just outside Monmouth. You can visit the vineyard during the summer months for lunch and tours.

The high quality of Welsh wines, such as Ancre Hill Estates, may surprise you if you've not tasted them before. Now is a good time to start checking out what the emerging wine nation of Wales has to offer.

Ancre Hill Estates

Richard and Joy Morris, Ancre Hill Vineyard, Monmouth NP25 5HS
01600 714151
http://www.ancrehillestates.co.uk
 

Fine Wines Direct

242 Penarth Road, Cardiff CF11 8TU
029 2078 7500
http://finewinesdirectuk.com/
Welsh wine:
http://finewinesdirectuk.com/wines/welsh-wines

Previously, on the Food Blog

Cock Hill from Bryn Ceiliog Vineyard, Vale of Glamorgan:
http://sfnottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/winde-from-dinas-powys-cock-hill.html

The Ancre Hill Estates wines reviewed here were supplied free of charge by Fine Wines Direct.

Wine from Dinas Powys: Cock Hill

A quality wine is made from grapes grown on a hillside between Dinas Powys and Cardiff. Cock Hill is labelled as ‘a dry white produced from a blend of handpicked grapes selected from six varieties of cool-climate vines’. The grapes are grown on the Bryn Ceiliog [Cock Hill in English] Vineyard, Beggan Farm, Leckwith, Vale of Glamorgan. The wine is crisp and fruity, with apple and elderflower aromas. It is bottled for Cock Hill by Three Choirs Vineyards in Newent, Gloucester.

There have been Welsh vineyards since Roman times, although a decline set in around the 17th Century. Lord Bute revived the tradition, planting vines on the slopes around Castell Coch and pressing the grapes in Cardiff Castle. By 1893, annual production was recorded as 12,000 bottles. Production declined and was stopped by WWI. Recently, vineyards have increased in the UK, favoured by the generally milder conditions bought on by climate change, and there are currently around 20 in Wales.

The vineyard at Leckwith, first planted in 1998 and containing 2,000 vines, is run by Ian Symonds, on a family farm whose main business is Welsh Black beef. The wine has been given approval by the UKVA (United Kingdom Vineyards Association) to be labelled as a ‘Welsh Regional Wine’.

We buy our Cock Hill in the village stores in Dinas Powys. It is on sale in a couple of other outlets and is served in some of the top restaurants in the area. We have had bottles of the 2006 production recently and have found it reliably excellent, and comparable to good quality crisp England whites. It's ideal to serve to guests along with other local produce; the vineyard being only a mile or so from our house in Dinas Powys.

References:
Peter Finch (2009), 'Real Cardiff Three: The Changing City', Seren, Bridgend, Wales, Pages156-159.

Beggan Farm, http://www.graigfarm.co.uk/idwal_symonds.html