Michael Caines
Sylvain Peltier, left, and Michael Caines outside Café Patisserie Glacerie.
- Credit: Matt Round Photography
Unfortunately, we were unable to celebrate Lympstone Manor’s fourth birthday this month but I did raise a glass for a different reason.
For last week I was privileged to taste the fruits of our labours - literally.
Myself, our operations director Steve Edwards and a journalist were able to sample the wine that has been fermented from the first crop harvested from our vineyard.
Our Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier grapes will be blended by Lyme Bay Winery to create a high quality English Lympstone Manor Cuvée.
A Cottonworth-based winery has claimed top prize for its sparkling wine in a national awards ceremony. Black Chalk Wines, based at The Old Dairy on the Fullerton Estate, picked up the award for best UK sparkling wine in the People’s Choice Drinks Awards for its Black Chalk Classic 2016. It beat off competition from a two-time winner of the awards, Lyme Bay Winery’s Sparkling Rosé. The prizes were handed out in a virtual awards ceremony at Manchester’s Zymurgorium distillery on Monday, February 8. The sparkling wine category of the People’s Choice Drinks Awards was hotly contested, with four finalists, including Lyme Bay Winery, The Wine Society, Dalwood Vineyard and Hillcrest Wines, which owns Black Chalk.
Itâs the coldest night of the year and Iâm forgoing the warm, downy embrace of a hotel bed to sleep in a shepherdâs hut. Who needs central heating, double glazing and lashings of hot water anyway? Me, it turns out, as I huddle under blankets on my bed and stare out at the sun setting over the Exe estuary.
This isnât any old shepherdâs hut, to be fair. This tastefully painted wooden contraption-on-wheels is probably the loveliest shepherdâs hut in England. And a quick phone call fixes the cold. A chirpy young woman from reception comes and sorts out the wood-burning stove; a quick fiddle with the heating and all is toasty warm. On closer inspection, the windows are double glazed. Has lockdown made me soft?
No matter how you like your rum, these quality tipples won t do you wrong Looking for the best rum to sip neat or enjoy in a cocktail? Then you ve come to the right place because we ve searched high and low to find some of the most delicious and unique tasting rums available right now.
What was once seen as the unrefined tipple of salty sailors is now one of the UK s most-loved spirits. Whether you take it neat, on the rocks or mixed in a cocktail, there are plenty of sexy, swashbuckling rums to pick from – ranging from light and crisp white rums (for the perfect mojito) right through to rich, dark and spicy numbers.
This has been a year like no other, so I am sure you are looking forward to enjoying Christmas and hoping that next year will be less stressful.
There are several stunning, inexpensive wines among my collection, but this is also a time for splashing out, so there are tempting bottles at all prices for you to reward your palate and those of your friends.
As always, as soon as my list is printed there is a rush to buy the wines, so don’t delay.
While some of the merchants might not be local to you, they all deliver nationwide and if you take advantage of case prices and other deals noted here, you can save plenty of cash.