Earlier this week, I visited the Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery for a tour and tasting of various wines, ales/beers, and liqueurs. The winery and brewery is located in the Chilterns near Henley-on-Thames, which is just west of London. The tour started off with a short history of the winery, a short tour and talk around the site to understand the different processes of wine-making and brewery, tastings of various drinks, and finished with a visit to the shop.
The history of Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery started off in 1980 when the owner decided to buy a home outside of London and came across a hog farm known as Old Luxters. The farm needed some care, and the new owner sold the hogs and discovered that the land (roughly a couple of acres) could be used for growing grapes. Two years later, the vines were planted and wine-making took off with the first harvest a couple of years later. The owner got interested in installing a micro-brewery and also creating liqueurs due to interest. The barn was also refurbished and holds tastings, the micro-brewery, and weddings.
The tour continued with a walk to the small vineyard next to the barn and cottage. The grapes had just been harvested in the morning. We were told about the two different varieties of grapes grown in the vineyard.
After visiting the vineyard, we visited the building where the bottling happens. The machine will bottle wine and beer bottles and then handle all of the mechanics required for corking or sealing the bottles. Further down the conveyor belt on the machine was the mechanism for the labels and then the packaging. After visiting this room, we made our way outside where we were shown a machine that crushes the juice from the grapes.
The next part of the tour finished in the barn where we were shown the micro-brewery and the ale/beer-making process.
Once the tour was complete, we made our way to where the tastings would take place. We were given a selection of wines, beers/ales, and liqueurs to taste.
The first wine tried was the 'Dry', described as a fresh and fruity wine. I liked this one, but some of the others on the tour found it to be too dry. Next up, we had the 'Bacchus' wine. This wine was less dry and had a tropical and fruity flavour that is similar to elderflower. The third wine tried was the 'Special Cuvee', which was described as a blended wine made with two or more varieties of grape. This was an easy-drinking wine with a slight spice flavour. The third and final wine tasted was the 'English Sparkling' wine, and it was also an easy-going and crisp wine.
We then moved on to the beers/ales. I will warn that I am not a beer/ale drinker and dislike it, so this was my least enjoyable part of the visit. I know others enjoy it and probably found it the best part. We tried the Luxtor's Gold first, which was a sweeter and not a strong flavour and is a golden colour. We then moved on to 'Dark Roast', which is a very dark colour and had a bitter taste (the bloke described it similar to Guinness). The last one that we tried was 'I.P.A.', which was a very strong and bitter ale.
The last tasting involved different liqueurs. We tried the sloe gin first, and we were told that it was the first liqueur that the company experimented with. It was a nice sloe gin. We were then given the raspberry liqueur to try. I found this too strong, and it reminded me of taking flavoured cough syrup, so this wasn't a win with me. We were then given the blood orange liqueur to try, and this was a festive orange flavour that I thought would go well with Prosecco. Irish cream was the next flavour to try, and it had a creamy and caramel taste that was pleasant. One of the other visitors asked to try the damson liqueur, and that was ok. I asked to try the peach liqueur, and I really enjoyed it. It is a very sweet flavour, so it would work well as a dessert drink or on top of ice cream.
We came home with a bottle of 'Dry', a bottle of 'Sparking English', a bottle of peach liqueur, a bottle of blood orange liqueur, and a bottle of Irish Cream. So, this will tell you our favourites.
This winery and brewery tour and tasting was a gift that I purchased last year. I was previously familiar with this winery as it is not too far from where I live, and have wanted to visit it. I recommend a visit to Chiltern Valley Winery as the tour was detailed, and visitors are offered a large selection of different products to try. If you are not a wine-drinker, you can try the ales or liqueurs.
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