English Wine Week runs from June 18 to 26, here’s our pick of activities to celebrate
Enjoy a quintessential English picnic at Rathfinny
English Wine Week just happens to fall the same week as National Picnic Week so why not combine the two, pack up a picnic and a bottle of your favourite English fizz and head out to countryside. Or, even better, let someone else do the hard work for you – many English vineyards provide picnics of local produce which you can pre-order and then pick a spot to enjoy them among the vines.
For example, Rathfinny in East Sussex has a new monthly-changing, seasonal picnic lunch menu, featuring high-quality, locally-sourced ingredients chosen by the estate’s talented chefs. Picnics are set on the secluded Flint Barns Bank overlooking the vineyard, where reserved tables and chairs are provided. Dogs are welcome if they are kept on a lead and there is also a sheltered marquee if the weather turns.
Picnics are priced at £29.50 per adult and £13.50 for children.
Subscribe to The English Wine Diaries podcast
The Southern Quarter’s award-nominated podcast, The English Wine Diaries, is back for a fifth series.
Listen in as host Rebecca Pitcairn is joined by a selection of guests from the world of wine and beyond to talk all about their English wine journey.
Hear from Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines, Bolney Wine Estate’s CEO Sam Lintner and Telegraph Online wine columnist Susy Atkins and more. The new series of The English Wine Diaries starts Wednesday, June 22nd.
Enjoy an exclusively English-only wine menu at Isaac At
An increasing number of restaurants are now including English wine on their wine lists but Isaac At, in Brighton, was the first restaurant in the world to serve an exclusively all-English wine list.
Established in 2015, following a slew of successful pop-ups in Brighton and Hove, owner Isaac Bartlett-Copeland opened Isaac At’s first bricks at mortar site on Gloucester Street and the restaurant quickly picked up numerous awards.
Showcasing the best of what Sussex and the South Coast offers, the restaurant has launched a new Test Kitchen series, an intimate dinner of never-before-tested dishes for diners at the pass, paired alongside English wines, carefully sourced from vineyards across Sussex and the south of the UK.
Held once a fortnight and run by a different Isaac At chef, the series enables the kitchen team to capitalise on the seasonal foraged produce that is fresh on the day whilst championing experimentation, innovative ideas and techniques.
2 Gloucester Street, Brighton BN1 4EW, issac-at.com.
Join Wickhams’ English Wine Extravaganza in Devon
Taste your way around the country’s top wineries, vineyards and estates all in one place at Wickhams’ English Wine Extravaganza.
In celebration of the extraordinary rise, breadth and calibre of English wine, award winning Devon-based great British wine merchant, Wickhams, has put together an afternoon of tasting and masterclasses at Exeter’s Mercure Rougemont hotel.
Producers from across the South of England will be taking part including Sharpham Wines, Henners Vineyard, Calancombe Estate, Lyme Bay Wines, Hattingley Valley, Huxbear Vineyard, Artelium, , Gusbourne Estate, Knightor Winery, Langham Wine Estate and Breaky Bottom.
As well as being able to taste a broad range of red, white, rosé, orange, sparkling and natural wines, guests will also be able to join a selection of masterclasses led by renowened wine experts including Oz Clarke, Susy Atkins, Stephen Barrett and more.
Tickets cost from £22.50, wickhamwine.co.uk.
Book a stay on a vineyard
If English Wine Week has whetted your appetite for everything UK vineyards have to offer, then why not book a trip to stay at one for a weekend break or longer.
An increasing number of vineyards up and down the country now offer accommodation so you can enjoy sampling their wines to your heart’s content without having to worry about how you might get home! Plus, there aren’t many better views to wake up to than rows of stunning vines.
From glamping in bell tents at Woolton Farm near Canterbury in Kent, to renting the boat house or new vineyard cottage at Sandridge Barton near Totnes in Devon, there’s something to suit all tastes.
