A toast to keeping it local
Jun 4th, 2007 by Katie
Sometimes the world works in funny ways.
According to a recent article in The Guardian, thanks to global warming, the quality of English grapes is improving which means that brides and grooms trying to keep their wedding breakfast local no longer have to joke: ‘apart from the wine of course!‘
At the prestigious International Wine Challenge, Denbies, England’s largest vineyard won a gold award for its sparkling wine, Greenfields 2003, with another 20 silver or bronze awards also going to English wines - unheard of in the history of these awards!
The English eco wedding is getting more exciting with the explosion of excellent English wines around the country. Wherever you’re getting married, why not see if you can find a vineyard local to you…and have fun with a tasting session before the big day - well, you’ve got to know what you’re serving your guests!
You could even consider getting married in a vineyard, from the Chapel Down Winery in Kent, to the gold award winner, Denbies in Surrey, to Setley Ridge Vineyard in Hampshire.
And don’t forget you can get local and organic too - Sedlescombe in Sussex is stupendous (one of our favourites!) or try a drop from Davenport Vineyards in East Sussex & Kent (available through purveyors of ethical beverages, Festival Wines), or Avalon Vineyard in Somerset (they also offer organic cider of course!)
Let us know what you’re drinking at your wedding - are you raising a glass to local producers or going further afield with fair trade? Whatever your tipple, here’s a toast to the happy couple. Cheers!
Katie
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This is great. Any ideas where I might find a wholesaler who will supply local wines to wedding venues that run their own bar? My wedding is to be in a catered hall with a pay bar… and at the moment I am trying to convince them to buy local foods and Fairtrade foods for our wedding breakfast. I am on a search for wholesalers as I figure I will be best able to convince the chef if I can find a reasonable price and a supplier he can use again! Perhaps the bar would consider stocking local wines as well.
Hi Jenny,
It might be worth getting in touch with Festival Wines - they have a Trade Customers section: http://www.festivalwines.co.uk/trade.php
Or give Ethical Fine Wines a call on 01454 313 300
Also, have you checked whether there is a vineyard local to you? If so, you could have a chat with them and see who distributes their wine…http://www.englishwineproducers.com/
Hope this helps - let us know how you get on!
Katie