England's biggest Vineyard, Denbies, what you see on the indoor tour

Denbies tour starts with a film. 

Then you walk along the production wine seeing where the grapes arrived and the barrels.

I liked seeing this old wooden rack and hearing how the bottles used to be turned by hand to shake  the sediment which gradually sank to the top of the upside down bottle.

The guide explained everything so clearly.

Here are some barrels carved decoratively using the old English oak trees which blew down in the storm. English oak is great for building boats and carving. But not much good for storing wines and imparting great flavours, which is why the guides on wine tours make such a fuss about the oak they use (except those wineries which use stainless steel barrels - and say it ames no difference).  Some winemakers want to add a heavy smoky oaky flavour. But light perfumed wines might be better unclouded by the addition of stronger smoky flavours.

Finally, the tasting and testing of the resulting wines. We get to taste three. Three is quite enough. If you are driving you will have to locate a spittoon and spit. If not you can indulge, as I did. I recall the joke, "One more drink and I'll be under the host."

Photos by Trevor Sharot. Copyright Trevor Sharot.

Here I am in the middle, looking distinctly merry.  And very red - I mean my dress.

But the other two ladies look equally happy. Our guide is on the right. (The visitor on the left has a distinctive lopsided hairstyle which I want to copy, if I can summon up the courage.)

I should not have been overwhelmed by alcohol. The wines are relatively low alcohol. 

I loved the wines. The first wine was white called Flint Valley. White with a distinctive aroma. 

The next one was Surrey Gold. Another distinctively perfumed wine. Go back for a sip of the previous wine. Everybody's perception changes. Depending on whether you like very dry or dry wine. Some now think they prefer the previous wine, which they had not enjoyed so much first time round. Others find that the first wine which seemed rather sharp, is now extremely pleasant, just right.

Finally onto the rose wine. Rose Hill rose wine. What a delightful name.

A little dry for me, but I always like rose wine on principle.  Year ago I worked in advertising and wrote copy for Hague Whisky. Their slogan was Don't be vague, ask for Hague. They did research and discovered that after the first glass, drinkers neither knew nor cared what brand or strength was in the second glass. That applied to me when I reached my third small glass of wine.

I think the rose is from the black grape, dornfelder, which you can see pictured in my earlier post. We stopped for another look at the vines on our way home.

Now we can look for the wines in our local supermarkets. Sometimes you will see an own brand wine, with the name Denbies on it. The retail price for the bottles of these wines is £8.99. 

If you want to take the Denbies wine tour, or find out more, go to their website.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186389-d2446652-Reviews-Denbies_Wine_Estate-Dorking_Surrey_England.

Denbies Wine Estate, 
London Road, 
Dorking 
Surrey RH5 6AA 

http://www.denbies.co.uk/visit-us/

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