Kerry Vale Vineyard the only gold in regional wine competition

Kerry Vale Vineyard is celebrating after winning multiple trophies and awards, including the only gold, at a prestigious regional competition.

Following four national awards this summer, the vineyard just outside Montgomery celebrating again, having won a three trophies and seven more awards for their wines at the Mercian Vineyard Association’s esteemed competition.

The vineyard won trophies for its ‘Shropshire Lady’ dry white wine: the Renishaw Trophy for Best White, the Tanners Trophy for Best 2015 Vintage and the Attingham Trophy for Wine of the Year. ‘Shropshire Lady’ also won the only gold awarded in the whole competition.

To top this off, the vineyard achieved two silver awards, one for its Sparkling White Wine and one for ‘Red Denarii’ red wine, a bronze award for its Sparkling Rose wine and three highly commended for its ‘Summer Days’ medium dry white wine, Kerry Rose medium rose wine and ‘Red Kite’, a lightly oaked red wine.

Mercian Vineyard Association (MVA) is open to both commercial and private vineyards with a total of 56 vineyard members. It encompasses vineyards from a huge region covering the Scottish and Welsh Borders to the north and west and Staffordshire and Lincolnshire to the south and east.

The MVA’s annual wine challenge took place this year at Hothorpe Hall in Leicestershire on September 4. There were seven categories from dry white to sparkling. Wines were judged by five judges, led by head judge, Master of Wine Mr David Bird.

Owner June Ferguson said: “This has been a fantastic year for us and we are thrilled to have picked up all of these awards – taking us up to 11 so far this year!  This is great news for English and Welsh wines too. There has been a revival of interest over the last few years and the quality is greatly improved and much more consistent – consumers are now recognising the high standards of the world-class produce the UK has to offer."

She described their award-winning, best seller ‘Shropshire Lady’, which is available in the vineyard shop and a number of local restaurants, as "dry and light with a beautiful crisp acidity". She added: “The cool climate gives a fresh and light style to our wines that sets them apart from their International counterparts, as more delicate grapes mean the wines retain a more subtle, fruity flavour which is often lost in rival countries offerings”.

Kerry Vale’s award winning wine may be sampled at the vineyard’s shop and wine café or during a tour from next spring, when visitors will be able to find out how the vines are grown and maintained to achieve the best quality grapes.  Hampers are also now available for Christmas. Visit www.kerryvalevineyard.co.uk

Picture caption:

Geoff and June Ferguson with some of the awards won by Kerry Vale Vineyard.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

About Kerry Vale Vineyard
Kerry Vale Vineyard is a small, family run, English vineyard situated on the Welsh / English border of rural Shropshire. Planted in 2010 and covering six acres of farmland, the vineyard resides at the eastern tip of the Kerry Vale - an area of outstanding natural beauty and just 3 miles south of the charming village of Montgomery.

Our Vines
Kerry Vale Vineyard is home to 6,000 vines.  We have three varieties - Rondo, Pheonix & Solaris, all ideally suited for our English climate. Spaced at 1.2m in rows 2.3m apart - there are 62 rows with a combined length from the first vine to the last of just under 13 kilometres or approximately 8 miles!

High Quality Wines
We are dedicated to producing wines of only the highest quality, utilising time honoured viticulture practices in the vineyard to produce the best possible fruit. We have selected disease resistant varieties which keep spraying to a minimum and we pay a great deal of attention to canopy management, maximising air flow through the canopy and sun and light exposure to suit the season. Our grapes produce red, white and rosé still wines and sparkling wine.