International Sauvignon Blanc Day

I don't need a reason or excuse to open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, it's my favourite wine. However it is not all the same, this grape offers do many different aromas and flavours depending on where it is grown.

Today is International Sauvignon Blanc Day but to my surprise I only have three in our cellar, all very different. 

The most recent bottle I bought was 19 Crimes Sauv Block, it was a wine included in the wine tasting I hosted last weekend (more about that in a later post). I quite like the quirkiness of 19 Crimes, it's fun to see the 'convicts' come to life using the Living Wi e Labels app. 

From South Eastern Australia this wine is lighter in aroma than neighbouring New Zealand Sauvignons but still has a lovely nose of gooseberry and grapefruit. It's also light in the mouth but gives great flavour of the said gooseberry with added passion fruit. It has a medium length crisp finish. I really enjoyed this at the wine tasting, everyone agreed it would be super on a sunny afternoon in the garden.  

One of my wines is a newbie to me, The Black Stump Sauvignon Blanc from Laithwaites. Hubby and I have enjoyed The Black Stump Durif Shiraz but we have yet to try the new addition to this super range from winemaker Alan Kennett.

Also from Australia but slightly lower in alcohol the tasting notes for The Black Stump Sauvignon Blanc suggest grapefruit and passion fruit with aromas of lemongrass and lime. I'm very much looking forward to this, it will be interesting to see if it is Old World or New World style. 

My final Sauvignon Blanc is also from Laithwaites; Abbesse a French wine from the Loire Valley. My preferred Sauvignon is French, I prefer the softer but still full aromas and deep but lighter flavours. Abbesse has a really lovely lengthy finish and is one of my favourites. 

I do have one other Sauvignon Blanc, a bottle of Sancerre but not one I will be opening. It was a birthday gift a few years ago from a very talented lady. The decoration is amazing, all my favourite things on a bottle of my favourite wine ... a real treasure. 

Hee hee I actually have four bottles of Sauvignon Blanc to choose from. Hubby popped out earlier and on his return surprised me with a bottle of Val de Loire Sauvignon Blanc. It's not a wine I have had before or seen, it will be interesting to try this. 

Happy Sauvignon Blanc Day - enjoy your wine be it from Down Under, France or elsewhere.... a votre sante! 

The Battle of Hastings and Battle Abbey

1066 - Battle of Hastings - William the Conqueror.... most people were taught at school about this moment in English history. 

Hubby and I took the train for a day out in Battle to discover more about the French Invasion. Battle Abbey is an English Heritage site including the Battlefield, although parts of it are now a private school. 

With our audio guides, and headphones, we set off to walk the battlefield. In brief William had landed at Pevensey and his troops advanced inland. Harold was on the higher ground but his troops were fatigued as they had just fought off the northern invasion at Stamford Bridge.

Harold's view looking down the hill 

William's view looking up the hill although there were no buildings there in 1066.

It was a lovely path around the site, some question whether this is the actual field but it was certainly in this area. 

The audio guide was very good, each panel added to the drama of the battle. In great detail we listened to how each army had different weapons and fighting styles. We also heard about the various tactics used by William and how Harold was eventually killed, supposedly by an arrow in his eye.

All along the path were amazing wooden carved soldiers with various armour. They looked so real, super craftsmanship. 

So many lost their lives that day, it's easy to think of historic battles as adventurous, exciting, even thrilling, but those soliders had families just as we do today... I found it quite sad in many ways. 

We have visited Bayeux in France and marveled at the tapestry depicting the battle, we hope to visit again later this year which will have added interest now as we have seen where the battle took place. 

There was a bit of a fracas about how William took the throne of England, even though he insisted Edward had promised it to him, swearing on a relic he wore around his neck. The Pope at the time was displeased, and insisted William build an Abbey in honour of Harold. 

It is now a ruin but would have been quite a building standing high on the hill. The outline of the church has a huge stone laid on the spot where Harold was killed. The undercroft is amazing and shows the 1000 year old construction methods.

The gatehouse stands proud above the small town of Battle. It is the entrance to the school so has limited access, English Heritage visitors have their own entrance. This photo was taken from inside the grounds, you can climb to the top of the towers which Hubby did whilst I stayed on terra firma, can you see him? 

The school has markings of the previous buildings when the Abbey covered quite a large area. It's an impressive building that is now the home of Battle Abbey School, a coeducational day and boarding school for second salary aged pupils. 

We had a super day exploring both the battlefield and the abbey with our headphones and audio guides; another great day out with English Heritage. 

Pevensey Castle and Bodiam Castle

Hubby and I are members of National Trust and English Heritage. It is about the same price as a good wine each month for our joint memberships and we certainly find it value for money. 

Every holiday we look for National Trust or English Heritage properties to visit, Sussex and Kent have plenty so we had a fab time exploring. 

English Heritage have audio guides which really add to each visit. It is tiring holding the device to your ear, it gets warm too and for me means I have to stand still to listen due to my mobility. I spotted a port hole in the audio device when at Kenilworth Castle so this holiday we took headphones; such a difference. I could walk along listening as my hands were free to grab step railings or a wall if I wobbled a bit. 

We visited two castles during our stay in the South East, Pevensey Castle and Bodiam Castle. They looked simillar but were quite different in their history.

Pevensey Castle was a Roman Saxon Shore fort as early as the 4th century, and was where William the Conqueror landed in 1066. The sea was much further inland then, covering what is now Pevensey Bay; all along the coast we saw high sea defenses and noted how the land was flat and would have been sea.

As a Roman fort the castle would have had wooden structures, over time as the Castle was held by Anglo-Saxons and later Normans before being destroyed during the Battle of Lewes in Henry III's reign. 

There is evidence of each era, the audio guide explained about the dungeons, keep, cannonballs and the machine gun pill-boxes built during WWII.

Hubby bravely went down the narrow spiral staircase to the dungeon. I'm not good on stairs and dungeons are not my favourite psrts if a castle. 

We had a super time st Pevensey Castle. Standing in a prime position overlooking the English Channel to defend our lands its history is amazing. 

Bodiam Castle is the typical romantic vision of a castle with a moat, it's the one we'd all draw if asked. It was built in the late 1300s by Sir Edward Dallingbridge and his wife Elizabeth. It was a castle for living in rather than fighting and as such it's exterior walls are complete.

The interior is however in ruins, the castle has been lived in over time but has decayed with no full record of its life. From the windows and the fireplaces you can image where rooms were and the National Trust are discovering more as their restoration work continues. 

One feature of our visit made us stop and watch for ages ... fish! The moat was full of very large carp, obviously used to being fed by visitors as they appear en mass if a shadow fell over the water. The Trust do have signs asking visitors nit to feed the ducks or fish but such z romantic castle in extensive grounds is an ideal day out for families and feeding the wildlife is so tempting.

We had a super time wandering around such an idyllic setting on a glorious spring day. 

Two more properties visited, as I said before we really do find our memberships great value. We visited some lovely houses too, my next post will tell more.

Carr Taylor

Sunday saw us up bright and early for a mid morning tour at Carr Taylor vineyard. Situated north of Hastings, protected from the sea mist and winds, Carr Taylor were the first vineyard to produce English sparkling wine. 

They grow a variety of wines although we only a few varieties saw on our walk. It was very interesting to see the older vines, the Reichensteiner are nearly 50 years old, planted using the Geneva curtain style. However the other vines such as Bacchus, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir are planted in the French row style. It all depends on how much land is allocated for each variety, Carr Taylor find the Geneva curtain planting gives good yeild even if needing more land.

The vines looked quite forlorn standing in the fields all bare but the buds were beginning to grow and I'm sure by the summer the vineyard will look very different. 

Carr Taylor believe in tradition and as such their sparkling wine is still degorged and capped by hand with a machine purchased in the 1980s. It is certainly nothing like I have seen before either in the UK or in France. 

Unusually the vats were made of fibre glass, again a new concept to me. It was very interesting to see where and how Carr Taylor made their still and sparkling wine.

After our tour we enjoyed a wine tasting; four sparkling wines and a still wine. All the sparkling wines had plenty of bubbles but with quite different flavours.

Carr Taylor Rosé gains its light colouring from the Pinot Noir skins. There were plenty of rasberry and redcurrant flavours. 

Carr Taylor Brut was plentiful in crisp apple flavour with a slight biscuity aroma.

Carr Taylor Demi-sec was slightly sweeter with a peachy nose and an apple flavour with hints of vanilla.

The vineyard will be focusing on their sparkling wine in the future, especially Carr Taylor White Pinot. This sparkling wine has crispness from Pinot Blanc and fruitiness from Pinot Noir. 

We did try two still wines: Cannonball and 1066. The first was a light wine with hints of elderflower and lemon, the second was similar but a little weightier with added notes of lime and apple and was a good accompaniment to our ploughman's lunch.

Sunday's are made for days out, especially vineyard tours and tastings. It is always nice to discover more about wine and wine producers.