The growing success of Wales as a wine producing country was celebrated at the Welsh Vineyards Association’s (WVA) annual wine competition.
Held at Llanerch Vineyard at Hensol in the Vale of Glamorgan, the competition saw 42 wines entered by nine vineyards ranging from north to south Wales.
Split into five classes ten Bronze and five Silver awards were made, with the best wine in each class also receiving a trophy. Shropshire based Kerry Vale Vineyard’s Shropshire Lady/Solaris 2014 was named as overall Wine of the Competition and received the ‘The Thomas Davies Memorial Trophy’. To top this off they also won the Halfpenny Green Salver and achieved a Bronze Award for their Lightly Oaked Red wine called ‘Red Kite’ (named after the kites that fly over the vineyard.
The expert judging panel were: Linda Johnson-Bell wine critic, author and climate change analyst; Michael Harrison international wine judge and Bibendum Fine Wine manager; and David Cowderoy wine maker and owner of Bevtec.
This year saw a change in format with the WVA’s first trade and press wine tasting session, giving them an opportunity to meet some of individual vineyard owners and taste their wines.
The climax of the competition was the awards dinner – which was televised on S4C – and attended by the event’s sponsors and representatives from the Welsh Government’s Food Division.
WVA Chairman, Robb Merchant commented, “The interest in Welsh Wines is growing as the quality improves, presently Welsh vineyards produce around a 100,000 bottles a year and this is set to double by 2020. The awards this year have been judged to international standards and those vineyards who have won awards can very proud of their achievement. I would also like to thank the sponsors and organising team who have work hard to raise the profile of Welsh Wines.”
With these recent wins, Shropshire business Kerry Vale Vineyard is celebrating seventeen awards and trophies this summer alone.
The Welsh Vineyards Association was formed in 2013, and is the newest region within United Kingdom Vineyard Association. As a collective group they produced approximately 100,000 bottles of wine in 2015 and there are approximately 34 hectares of vines planted in Wales (2000 ha in the UK). 2016 has seen further plantings of 8 hectares and this is set to double in 2017.
Owner of Kerry Vale Vineyard June Ferguson said: “Although we are not in Wales we are only a stones throw away from the border which qualifies us to be a part of the association and the Welsh Wine trail”. She went on to say “This has been a fantastic year for us and we are thrilled to have picked up all of these awards – we work really hard to maintain our vineyard to a very high standard so we are producing the best possible quality grapes, which is really paying off. Our customers are recognising the high standard of wine we are producing and demanding more and more!”
June described their award-winning – best seller ‘Shropshire Lady’ (available in their shop and a number of local restaurants) as “dry and light with a beautiful crisp acidity”. She went on to say “the cool English climate gives a fresh and light style to our wines that sets them apart from their International counterparts, as more delicate grapes mean the wines retain a more subtle, fruity flavour which is often lost in rival countries offerings”.
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