Ancre Hill Estates' rose wins gold at Welsh Wine Awards
The newly created Welsh Vineyards Association has revealed the winners of its wine awards, launched to raise the profile of Welsh wine.
Ancre Hill Estates' Sparkling Rose 2009 won the gold, while the vineyard's Pinot Noir also scooped silver.
Two varieties from Parva Farm Vineyard, one white and one rosé, each took a silver, while a Rondo 2012 from White Castle Vineyard took home a bronze. Three other varieties from Parva Farm Vineyard also managed bronze awards.
The awards ceremony was held at Llanerch Vineyard and Hotel near Cardiff, which has a cookery school, restaurant and bistro, along with its own Cariad wine collection. Its 2011 sparkling variety won bronze.
Judges were Roger Jones (Harrow at Little Bedwyn), Bill Gunn MW (former managing director of champagne producer Pol Roger) and Julie Bell (general manager of Bib Gourmand pub-with-rooms Felin Fach Griffin).
The Welsh Vineyards Association helps promote the growing wine industry in Wales, whose vineyards across the country produce around 100,000 bottles a year from 20 grape varieties.
It is said that Wales's first vineyard was planted by Scottish industrialist Lord Bute in 1875. Since then, the biodynamic Ancre Hill Estates has emerged as a particularly promising Welsh producer, with its sparkling wine being voted the best in the world at the Bollicine del Mondo International Competition in Italy in 2012.
