My husband booked a wine tasting session at the Hencote Vineyard for 8 March, to celebrate Women’s Day. We stayed for lunch afterwards, so I am including pictures from our meal as well. We’ve had a wonderful time. The tasting session included 5 wines and lasted for about an hour and a half. Hencote is in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 3AB. Their website has more details if you fancy visiting them.
The vineyard is around one hour and a half from us. It is the farthest north in England because vines like sun and England is not particularly sunny. That being said, the temperatures around Shrewsbury are good enough for specific types of grapes, like Pinot Noir, to allow Hencote to produce good wine, so good that it wins prizes.
The place is wonderful. This is the path from the car park towards the restaurant. The restaurant is lovely with those gorgeous views. They also have accommodation, but that is for a mansion with 14 bedrooms which is booked as a whole. I think that makes it perfect for a special event like a wedding or an anniversary.
We’ve waited for our tour/wine tasting session to start. Unsurprisingly, the name of the restaurant is The View. The staff was very friendly and attentive.
We were told about the history of the place, Hencote. Its history starts in 1086, when a hencote – as in a shelter [cote] for hens [birds, not only chickens] – was recorded on this place. Farming and small artisans were living in the area. Besides a battle in the English civil war taking place nearby there is not a lot of other things happening in the area. In 2009 vines were planted as a hobby. This turned into the business that it is today, raising from 160 vines to 24,000 they have today. There wasn’t an expectation that good grapes could be grown so far north.
The wines are named after members of the family. There are a couple of exceptions, like the LXX sparkling, which was named for the Platinum Jubilee, as it matured in 2022. This sparkling is aged for 3 years and I liked it. It’s the one in the picture.
We tried 2 sparkling, 1 still white, 1 still rose, and a red wine. My favourite wine was the red and the LXX sparkling. When we’ve tasted one of the sparkling wines we went outside and we were told about this place, where the grapes are planted, how they are cared for, we were shown different landmarks of the city. We were also told about the sycamore tree, see the picture below. The one I pointed towards is an old tree, over 300 years if I remember correctly and it is the inspiration for the logo of the vineyard.
The red wine was the last. While at the first taste I wasn’t sure about it, I liked it so much that I bought a bottle. The slight smoky taste due to fact that it is aged in oak barrels, won me over.
Risotto was made especially for us. I was very happy that they offered a second vegan alternative, as they changed the dish below to make it vegan. They could have easily said that they can do only a dish and that would have been fine for us. At the same time, this service is the reason I would like to go back and it’s very likely we will visit them again.
Jerusalem artichoke tarte tatin had a wonderful hash brown and the red wine sauce was beautiful.
We’ve had a wonderful time and I would love to visit them again. Everything was perfect.
This looks like something I would love to do. It would be fun to try Brit wines. And boy, that restaurant is well named! That iS a view! And it looks lovely and with good food, too. I’m saving this in case we ever get into that part of the UK again.
That looks like a wonderful day out – kudos to your husband for planning such a thoughtful outing. I’m sure I read that the Romans used to grow vines and make wine quite far north in the UK (not that it was the UK back then) so this wasn’t as much of a surprise as it could have been to me. 🙂
That is a wonderful outing – you have a keeper!
I read recently that wine varieties that can be grown are subject to the whims of fashion and climate, so some of the wines we drink with impunity today will not necessarily be available in years to come in the same abundance.
Unfortunately II can no longer drink to anywhere near abundance, so its neither here nor there to me. Just interesting.
The food – and view – look very delightful.
Yes, new varieties of grapes will be used as the old ones might ripen too soon or suffer from the heat.
This sounds like a delightful place and how nice that they were so accommodating. I love seeing the “logo” tree!
Most folks think of California when asked about US wines, but Arkansas has a number of wineries. I certainly never thought of the UK having any.
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There are a few vineyards in UK, in the south. The British sparking wine wins prizes because it is made in the same soil as the one in France, using the same varieties of grapes. The difference is that now in France is hotter and the grapes are too sweet, so British sparkling can be better.
This one is unusual because it’s so far up north, about 1 hour and a half south from us, compared to 5-6 hours south as the others are. Who knows, in 10-15 years might be vineyards north from us.
Well done your husband on booking such a lovely day out. It sounds like you had a great time and what gorgeous views. How interesting to learn about all the wines and how they are grown.
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