We were thrilled to receive an invite from Furleigh Estate to have a tour and wine tasting. As the best vineyard in the country – and just 6 miles from us – this was an invite we could not refuse.
The weather was on our side – a warm spring day – when we met Lisa who showed us around.
The back story of this vineyard is particularly special. It had been a dairy farm, farmed by the Hansford family since the 1950s. In the 1990s the family decided to retire from farming and sold the farm. Rebecca Hansford went to university and then worked in London where she married and started a family.
It was then that she felt it was time to come back to her roots and her family farm came up for sale. What Serendipity! In buying back the farm Ian and Rebecca tested the soil and found it was an ideal place to start a vineyard. Ian underwent training to learn his craft and they invested in equipping the farm to make it the multi-award winning vineyard it is today. Their wines have outshone many of the best in the world ever since they started winemaking. We were told that the flavour of the wine is influenced by a combination of the soil, weather and the making process – something Furleigh understand well!
Having visited the vineyard and learned about the multiple varieties of grapes grown there and the properties of each that make them valuable to the wine process, we had the opportunity to try these special wines. We’re no stranger to Furleigh Estate Wines – we offer three of these wonderful English wines to our guests.
We were lucky enough to be able to try 6 very different wines – and Lisa’s understanding of how these wines are made and the tasting notes for each made the experience very special.
We would thoroughly recommend a visit to Furleigh Estate to any of our guests. We now have a new favourite white wine – which we are able to offer to our guests. Furleigh Estate Bacchus Dry is made from the bacchus grape which is ideal for our English climate. It is described as having aroma of the English hedgerow in spring. It really does – I was surprised by how its aroma and notes reminded us of elderflower – so fresh and crisp. Very drinkable!
