King Richard III and Yalumba

Quite a mix and actually other sides of our our amazing globe but they are linked - tenuously but its there :-)

Yesterday we had a lovely day at the King Richard III's visitor centre in Leicester. It's a really amazing exhibition about how they found him, all the DNA testing, other dating work and reconstruction work is so clever. It was a lot of dedicated by a group of very talented and clever people.

Beautiful wooden carved chair as the centre piece
to the opening informative film

King Richard III's portrait

King Richard III's reconstructed face

The history behind his reign, The Battle of Bosworth and Shakespeare's play was explained so well. Plenty of time to look at all the information, and interactive exhibits to add to the fun of learning. The battlefield is just a few miels from us and we have walked around it many many times. Over the last few years we've watched the 'body in the car park' story come to life with King Richard III finally being laid to rest in the Cathedral.

My stepdad was invited to the Cathedral for the occassion, a special day for him as it was also his birthday. Yesterday was my Mum's birthday so this year both their birthdays have been King Richard III focussed.

I hadn't realised how close the car park where he was found was so close to the Cathedral. It was actually the grounds of a priary at the time and the Cathedral was a parish church. Hopefully in these three pictures you can see the geographical link.

He was found in the square roofed building
 the other side of the wall

He was found just over my right shoulder and that's the
Cathedral spire over my left shoulder

The roof of the Visitor Centre looking
towards the Cathedral.

Although the carpark is not part of the Visitor Centre's actual grounds (you can see the wall in the first picture) they have been 'given' the area. It really is amazing how close he was but as I said this site was once a priary. His resting place is as they exposed it and is now under protective glass. There is a laser light that shows how he lay.

King Richard III's grave

Photo from the Visitor Centre web page 

Unfortunately because we visited on a Sunday the Cathedral was closed for a service, we'll ave to visit another day to see his final resting place. There was a plaque in the Cathedral previously and this is now in the Visitor Centre.

Previously in the Cathedral

Outside is a statue of King Richard III - more like the Shakespeare interpretation I think. I used to teach Shakespeare and one thing we focused on was context and looking at how the plays reflected the time. Shakespeare wrote many of his plays to please the Queen as that meant he was kept in favour, this being said he was always going to put King Richard III in a negative light and praise Henry who was Elizabeth's family. It's always good to think about the time a book/play was written and did that effect it's views.

King Richard III and Leicester Cathedral

I found it amazing that using DNA descendants could be traced - what an amazing thing to happen.

PHOTO: Australian-born Wendy Duldig (centre), along with Michael Ibsen (left) and Jeff Ibsen (right),lay flowers on King Richard III's coffin before a procession through Leicestershire  (Reuters: Suzanne Plunkett)

Did you spot the tenuous link? Wendy is from Australia and so is Yalumba Wine. They are one of my favourite winemakers - we first discovered Yalumba at a Mathew Jukes' 100 Best Australian Wine Tasting with SH Jones.

I have been a member of Tesco Wine Community for a few years and have enjoyed being on their taste panel for many wines, but I was especially delighted to be chosen to review two of Yalumba's red wines.

With the Bank Holiday and a weekend away it was a balancing act to get both tastings in on time but here are my reviews as posted on TWC:

As we're away for the BH weekend and having limited time this week I have only been able to review the Old Bush Vine Grenache. We chose to open this bottle as we are huge fans of Yalumba and have tasted many in the Y series: this Grenache was new to us. 

But it won't be new again .... absolutely beautiful. 

The label with it's set type print gives the air of age and quality which is matched by its dazzling redness in the glass. Its high ABV and depth of flavour is a real surprise and delight, quite unxpected from its light strawberry red appearance.

The wine's fruity nose with a light background of spice leads perfectly to a mouth full of ripe red fruit, with smooth caramel, chocolate notes and a lightly tannic and spicy finish. It's one of those wines that just melts your inside and puts a huge comfy smile on your face. 

Hubby, son (new to wine appreciation) and I shared the bottle last night, hopefully next time my glass will have the biggest share as this wine is superb.


Y Series Shiraz Viognier 

Such great labels that make the Y series look so inviting and this bottle's label is no exception with it's rising horse matching the rising fruits within its nose. Blackberries, cherries and plums all dance around matching the dancing highlights within the cherry redness in the glass. 

And the dancing continues with more deep fruit, swirls of vanilla and a little tease of spice making this wine so exciting and almost new with every sip. 

Yalumba wines are certainly Australian highlights: both the Y series Shiraz Viognier and the Old Bush Vine Grenache are two to be enjoyed and savoured, pure delight in both bottles. 



I was stunned and delighted to discover that my reviews have been chosen by Yalumba as one of the winners for their pop up dinner in Chester with their winemaker Louisa Rose. This is the first dinner prize I have won with Tesco, and it couldn't be better. I am so so excited and will of course be blogging all about the event.

Thank you Tesco and Yalumba.