I was delighted to discover that Majestic Guildford were holding their Old World Showcase on the Friday evening, It's always good to start a weekend with wine! Our hotel, Holiday Inn, was just outside the town centre which was easy to get to by bus, something we don't take very often.
Guildford town centre is a mixture of old and new, But Friday night there wasn't much time to look around .... long enough though to see High Street was on a steep hill! Our choice for dinner was All-Bar-One, a popular place with a retirement party upstairs and a cocktail masterclass in the bar.
We had a lovely meal and as we were going to a wine tasting I started the evening with a Seedlip Garden cocktail. Seedlip make the world's first non-alcoholic spirits. My drink, Seedlip with Fever Tree tonic, was delicious, quite herby and very refreshing.
It was quite a walk to Majestic, the furthest I have been since my accident, good job I had my walking stick. It was a very warm welcome when we arrived, quite a few people there and plenty of Majestic staff to help and advise.
Bollinger special cuvee was our first tasting and what a delicious tasting it was, lovely fine bubbles floating to the surface with a clean citrusy flavour. A very very nice glass of champagne.
There were two white wines: Vaux St George Touraine and Passimento Bianco. It will be no surprise that I favoured the Touraine although the Passimento was very refreshing.
The two reds on offer were Matsu El Picaro and Loron Beaujolais. It was no surprise either that Hubby preferred the Matsu and I the Beaujolais.
The final two wines were both fine wines: Vaucoupin Chablis and Chateau Musar 2006. These were superb, the Chablis so elegant with a richness of peaches with a hint of minerality, and the Chateau Musar just needed a sofa to be scooped up in; plums, licorice, spice .... mmmmm execptionally nice!
Silent Pool Distillers are a Surrey based company specialising in gin, eau de vie and alcoholic cordials; they were also at Majestic for the evening. There are many new gin distillers in the UK with each one having a totally different flavour, Silent Pool was too. I really liked its strong juniper flavour, nice neat but better with tonic. I also tried their alcoholic Strawberry and Gin Cordial .... ohhh just add ice-cream!
Friday night at Majestic was where we first met Jeremy from Surrey Wine School, it was a pleasure to meet him again at Love Wine on Saturday. At Majestic he had four blind tasting and we're always up for a challenge. The first white I knew, definitely German/Alsace but not Gerwurstraminer as there was no Turkish Delight so must be Gruner Veltliner ..... and it was.
After a slightly wrong guess Hubby sussed the second white ... Chenin Blanc. The first red was unmistakably Malbec and being lighter we correctly decided the fourth wine was Pinot Noir. All the wines were in Majestic's Definition range and all very good.
Thank you Jeremy for a great blind tasting, and thank you Majestic Guildford for a lovely evening - hopefully we'll meet again.
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| Surrey Wine School's blind tastings |
Saturday morning, after a very enjoyable breakfast at the hotel, we again took the bus into Guildford town centre. As I said it is on a hill so lots of steep walking. We wandered around the Castle Gardens, one of the overlooking houses is where Lewis Caroll wrote Alice in Wonderland and there are many reference to Alice and the White Rabbit in the town.
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| Town Gate |
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| Guildford Castle up on high |
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| I loved all the layers of different stone used in the castle wall |
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| Town walls |
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| Castle Gardens |
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| 'I'm late, I'm late for a very important date' |
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| Hospital of the Blessed Trinity |
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| The Almshouse in the inner courtyard |
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| Such history |
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