Tour de FRANCE… Tour des VINS
The Tour de France, one of the biggest global sporting events, is coming to Winearray and Park Leisure’s part of the world in early July. In what is referred to as the Grand Départ 2014, the first stage passes through Ripon ending in Harrogate.
The second day’s stage starts in York with the peloton whizzing
along the A59 back to Harrogate, again, on its way to Sheffield. Both of these sections are just 10 minutes away from Winearray and locally over the weekend of July 5th and 6th there’ll be a whirlwind of activities to celebrate the occasion. All the good folk at Park Leisure are even closer to the action as the likes of Cavendish, Wiggins and Froome propel themselves along the road just a couple of minutes’ walk away from the Head Office in York.
In the spirit of the Tour we’ll be taking our own journey of wines looking at some of the vineyards along the 21 stage route - starting in Yorkshire.
The first is Yorkshire Heart Vineyard reached shortly after the claxon is sounded for the departure from York Racecourse. Located on a well drained, sloping piece of land close to the Medieval village of Nun Monkton with its attractive village square complete with maypole, duck pond and grazing cattle on the green, the vineyard was established by husband and wife team, Gillian and Chris Spakouskas. Vines were planted in 2006 and the first commercial wines were bottled in 2009. When you establish a vineyard with North Yorkshire’s climate it’s important to select grape varieties that ripen over a longer period and are resistant to damper, less sunny conditions. You won’t see any Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc planted here, apart from some experimental trials, more the likes of Ortega and Seyval Blanc for whites and Rondo and Dornfelder for reds.
Holmfirth
Holmfirth in West Yorkshire is our next wine destination on the second stage, where the riders will be able to soak up the fine Pennine views and admire nice, neat rows of vines. The town has a longstanding connection with wine, best known for having BBC’s Last of the Summer Wine centered around the town. It’s fair to say that conditions here are slightly more challenging than Nun Monkton.
Altitude is advantageous for vineyards in Last of the Summer Wine 72
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very hot climates, when night-time brings about a lowering of temperature and introduces cool breezes to refresh the vine and its grape bunches from the heat of the day - but not 1000 feet up in the Pennines just south of Huddersfield! Undeterred, husband and wife team, Becky and Ian Sheveling, planted 7 acres (must be something about 7 acres?) of vines on a hill above Holmfirth in 2007. They’ve also built a very attractive winery, restaurant and visitor centre, blending harmoniously into its surroundings with stunning views. Grape varieties are similar to Yorkshire Heart with Rondo providing the grape for the red and rose wines and Seyval Blanc for the white.
The Yorkshire Stages
It takes a lot of determination, dedication and finger crossing to make wine this far north but with true Yorkshire grit the riders will be passing two vineyards, both on the second stage.
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