averilburystedmunds: Wine-tasting for a 90th

Happy wanderers

A week ago my local daughter and grand-daughter presented me with a fab 90^th birthday gift: a wine-tasting and vineyard tour at Giffords Hall Vineyard at Hartest, near Bury St Edmunds. Our personal guide Emma, [part of the tour gift] was delightful; fun and informative with an easy knowledge of the Giffords’ wines and of the vineyards. I have copied below the official short biography of the family vineyard assuming its compact description is much better than anything I could attempt, non-expert that I am.

Another example of the Mystery of the Missing Apostrophe

“Situated on an ancient glacial riverbed, our 19-acre site grows upon fertile sandy loam soil over gravel to produce quality grapes, high in natural sugars and acids, which lend themselves particularly well to sparkling and still wines. It is this special terroir which gives our wines their dry flinty quality and delicate floral accents. Pinot Blanc; Pinot Noir, both Burgundy clone and Précoce; Madeleine Angevine; Reichensteiner; Rondo and Bacchus varieties thrive here. The vineyard was established with plantings of these modern clones.”

The Giffords Hall label was officially launched in 2009 with a Rose and a Bacchus still wine, so, a young vineyard in European terms and yet, since then, over the years, Giffords Hall has achieved success at national and international levels producing elegant wines of the highest standard.

Not only grapes, not only vines, but interesting,
possibly lethal, goats as well!

Our gradual wandering down lanes from one vineyard to the next, the type of vine growing in each, identified by Emma, was interesting in vinous terms and beautiful in aesthetic, but to be outside, surrounded by green vistas in sunny breezy weather served to further embellish the already happy
spirit. The day grew into an even more leisurely but, at the same time, a more intellectually interesting pilgrimage for these three wine-lovers spanning three generations, rather more engaging than the Wife of Bath could have dreamed of! We did tell stories in comments and memories as we progressed, but mainly we luxuriated in the summer light; the cumulus clouds against an impossibly blue sky overhead; the serried ranks of green vines with certain fields ahead in growth, displaying luscious bunches of grapes tempting the passer-by while in others nearby, the grapes were still in minor mode!

It was a rare moment for me, in a quiet life, to have a period of contentment and companionship with a shared interest in an almost silent landscape.

And there was wine-tasting to come! What a perfect conclusion to a companionable green summer day rendered perhaps even more sublime when a well-laden cheese board appeared on our table, shaded by leafy boughs!