A strange trip, visiting an English vineyard in Yorkshire at the start of December but a pleasant one none the less.
I was a bit surprised the first time I heard about a vineyard in Yorkshire from a colleague at work. I naively thought it wouldn’t be possible to have a vineyard this far north in the UK. However once I was aware I needed to visit as we live close by in Cheshire, just a quick trip across the Pennines.
The vineyard is called “Sheveling Wine Estate at Holmfirth Vineyard” and as the name suggests is located in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. They have accommodation, a restaurant, sell wine and can host events such as weddings.
We are lucky enough to have some friends who live in the area so a trip at the beginning of December was arranged.
Our initial plan was to go on the vineyard tour which is a reasonable £8.49. Which consisted of a tour of the vineyard with an expert, understanding the wine making process, followed by tasting of their red, white and a rose.
Unfortunately we were a little later in arriving in at our friends so the plans were changed and drinks and a late lunch was our new plan!
When arriving at the vineyard the first thing that stands out is the incredible views looking out on to the hills and Holmfirth. The car park was busy for the time of year and there was a tour underway.
We arrived at the reception and were given a warm welcome by the staff and opted to sit in the “conservatory” area as we didn’t want to miss out on then views, even though we told it was cold in that part and advised to sit inside.
We ordered our lunch, I decided to go with a steak sandwich with a butternut squash soup. The food was really nice and arrived quite quickly which was good.
To drink we decided to go with their own Sheveling medium dry white wine!
They brought the bottle and glasses to the table and we tried the wine. After trying it I as expecting the waiter to pour out the rest of the glasses for everyone else but disappointingly this was left to ourselves. A little thing I know, but this is what you would expect in a restaurant and so I think a vineyard should definitely do this.
The white was fresh and crisp, tasted a little of apples and was quite low in alcohol (10.5%) as you would expect in the climate. All four of us enjoyed the white and it went down very well.
As we were all still thirsty….. We decided it would be a good idea to try their red. I mean it would be rude not to…… Unfortunately I had to go back through to the bar to order another as the waiters seem to have forgotten about us.
The red was OK, if not a little underwhelming. It was light in taste and alcohol at 11%. I know it’s difficult to make red in the UK. I have tried a couple but they are just not to my tastes.
We paid up (after moving back into the warm area) and they helpfully ordered us a taxi so we could get back. “Back” being the summer wine brewery tap, which is worth a visit!
All in all it was a very good experience visiting the Sheveling Wine Estate at Holmfirth Vineyard. With a couple of tweaks here and there it could be amazing. I would still recommend a visit though. It was a fun day out.
I think we will have a second trip in summer of 2018 and do the vineyard tour. Probably a better time of year to tour rather than December.
About the Grape 