White Castle Winery

Our first visit to White Castle Vineyard was a few years ago when our daughter and (now) son-in-law adopted a vine for us following our discovery of this superb wine by winning a couple of bottles in a raffle. We were delighted as you can see in my blog post in 2021

We have revisited Robb and Nicola a few times since, in particular to purchase Welsh Sparkling Wine to celebrate our daughter's engagement to her Welsh love and for a super tour & tasting with our wine friends. 

The White Castle dream was to have a winery at the Vineyard making their wine pure Welsh from ground to bottle. 

The dream came true in 2024 with the opening of Y Gwindy, a superb purpose build winery with a row of impressive stainless steel vats and all the necessary wine making equipment including a bottling machine. 

White Castle wine is now grown, nurtured, harvested and produced on site making every drop 100% Welsh.

It's been a great growing year for the vines producing an abundance of grapes with riping happening earlier than previous years. When we visited Siegerrebe and Pinot Noir Précoce had already been harvested, pressed and were happily fermenting in the vats. 

We tasted both and although cloudy and still developing they were delicious, especially the Pinot Noir Précoce with a deep red colour and evidence of complex flavours maturing.

Robb and Nicola's hard work is evident all around the winery, as is their passion for what they are producing. Everything is in place and ready for the next harvesting which was happening just a few days after our visit. 

Y Gwindy had a wine smell that just made me smile, a smell I have appreciated in many wineries across Europe. One fragrance in particular means wine; that for me is wood, in particular oak, and filled the air from the White Castle branded barrels sitting ready for their next fill.

There are still a few finishing touches to happen in the winery, mostly finding the easiest working place for equipment, this is a discovery that will happen over the next few months as Y Gwindy is in full swing with this year's bumper crops.

One item to find its permanent place is the lovely board Robb and Nicola have had made to thank those who helped crowd fund their dream.

White Castle now produce a sparkling Cabernet Franc Rosé, a great addition to their range and one that came home with us along with Regent, our Christmas Day red. 

A sparkling Cabernet Franc is a new discovery for me that I'm keen to taste but I'll be opening it for something special with time to savour, as yet who know why or when that will be but hopefully soon.

Thank you Robb & Nicola for such a warm welcome, it was a real pleasure to visit Y Gwindy, your pride and enthusiasm is a delight to see. We'll certainly be calling by again on one of our travels to Wales, diolch.

Guinness Storehouse

Our other experience in Dublin was a visit to the Guinness Storehouse for an amazing tour through the world of this delicious dark brew that we both enjoy especially when used to make Guinness cake!

As we approached the Storehouse through old streets surrounded by brewing buildings the excitement atmosphere was building. There were tourists chatting full of anticipation, coaches dropping tours off and horse drawn carriages waiting for visitors wanting a ride back into the city centre.

Once inside we were lined up with our fellow 12noon tourers not quite sure what to expect. It was amazing, we were ushered through into a massive 7 floor open plan storehouse with activity and noise on every floor. Our host guide explained that if we looked down we see we were standing on a huge circle and if we looked up to the topmost glass ceiling we'd realise we were actually standing on the largest glass of Guinness in the world. It was incredible design and construction and really did give that impression.

From then on our tour was self guided, each section leading to the next progressing up and up the building explaining in great detail about how Guinness is made and it's history.

 

Starting with fields of barley my photos will reveal all that goes into each pint of creamy smooth Guinness.

And there it is ... pure Guinness. The interactive displays were so good, the water was actual water falling in a sequence. 

Our tour then carried on upwards after going into the tasting room, jet black inside where we all had a tiny tasting glass of smooth black beer.

After the tasting room we wandered through exhibitions and advertising characters, including the fish on a bike, the hanging harp was so effective.

It was an amazing experience over 7 floors packed with interactive displays, knowledge and so much fun. 

Our tour ended in the high up Gravity Bar overlooking Dublin where we happily spent a couple of hours enjoying a pint or two chatting with visitors from America and Germany.

 

 

A few souvenirs to remember our amazing day in a very large glass of Guinness.

Hanwell Vineyard

My lovely sister-in-law and her hubby gifted us a Vineyard Tour with Lunch for my birthday. There were a few to choose from but we chose Hanwell Wine Estate as it was driveable so no need to stay over although there is a camping site for touring caravans and motorhomes.

The venue was lovely, with a greatbar area and seating outside. Our tour began in the big barn and was set up ready for us, it was a lovely space and very inviting.

Our wine host was very knowledgeable and once everyone had arrived she explained how the Wine Estate had begun in the 1960s when Tony and Veronica discovered a neglected Vineyard in a greenhouse. In 1975 they planted the first Vineyard at Eglantine, not far away. In 2012 Helenka had taken over the vineyard and planted vines at Hanwell. The soil being similar to the Champagne region the vines planted were Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, perfect for making English Sparkling Wine.

After sharing the history of the estate we all wandered down to the vines. We were so lucky to visit when the grapes were perfectly ripe and harvest was taking place, although not the day we visited. The grapes looked amazing, it was certainly the best time to visit.

Back in the barn our wine host explained about each of the six wines we were tasting, some from Hanwell and some from Eglantine. The selection included two sparkling wines, a rose, a red, a dessert wine and a cherry wine.

Hanwell 'Classic' Dry Sparkling Wine 2018 - made from Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay using the traditional method this wine had great aromas of pear drops and elderflower. It had plenty of bubbles with quite a sharp citrus flavours of apples with a lemony finish.

Eglantine Dry White Sparkling - made from Madeleine Angevine and Seyval this wine had a lighter nose with plenty of apple flavours.

Hanwell 'Romance' Dry Rose 2021 - made from Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier with its blush colour coming from the grape skins. A light wine at 9.5% it had flavours of cranberries and apples with a dry finish.

Eglantine 'R & R' Red - made with Regent and Rondo grapes this red had a slight spice on the nose. A light red at 12.5% with plenty of hedgerow fruit flavours, damson, sloe and bramble.

Eglantine North Star Dessert Wine - ice wine is made by leaving the grapes on the vine until frosted but as this isn't possible in the climate the grapes are picked then frozen. This wine was served at The Ritz banquet for the King's Coronation. It was full of sweet flavours including apricot, mango and marmalade.

Eglantine Cherry still wine - full of morello cherry flavours with a sweet edge this wine had a slightly smokey finish.

After our lovely tasting we settled in the barn for lunch. Hubby ordered the cheese platter and I chose the Mediterranean platter but we shared both. It was so nice relaxing with a glass of wine enjoying the fresh food, the cheese was really good.

It was a super afternoon discovering a new vineyard and new wines. Thank you Deb & Erik for such a great gift, we really enjoyed our wine treat.