Spring and Summer 2013

Summer started in enjoyable fashion with a visit to Beech Hill Hotel on Windermere which put on a special Taste of Cumbria dinner featuring our fruit wines. We were impressed by the high standard of food and cooking and so are planning a repeat visit next year. We recommend you do too, but don’t forget to ask for special deals for the night! If in doubt the following menu should tempt you:

The past few weeks has seen a lot of activity at the winery. All of our 2011 wines have sold out (except elderberry wine which is matured for two years before releasing) and we have started labelling our 2012 wines for the shelves.

We have started this year’s wine production with fermentation of elderflower, rhubarb, gooseberry, blackcurrant and raspberry wines. The rhubarb produced large quantities of stems earlier in the year and the recent hot weather saw a bumper display of elderflowers.

Elderflowers being destemmed and deleafed on the winery floor!

Part harvest of rhubarb from a local Appleby supply.

The end of July saw the start of our summer art exhibition, this year opened by the Appleby Mayor, Andy Connell, and Mayoress, Caron Baines. Nineteen local, mainly professional, artists have their work on display at the winery on the theme of the Eden Valley. A list of the artists is available on our website.

Opening of Art at the Winery 2013. Photo by Karen Morley.

The renovation of our large barn continues slowly. We are attempting, in the first part of the barn, to include insulation and air tightness to near passivhaus standards. This has thrown up some interesting problems for which we hope we have found solutions. We can go into this in more detail if anyone is interested.

Earlier in the year we had to deter nesting jackdaws by sealing off all openings with temporary sheets of plywood. It was difficult as jackdaws will enter through surprisingly small gaps. However, we finally triumphed. At the same time we have managed to provide nesting places for this year’s visiting swallows and house martins.  We have decided to brighten up the appearance of the barn by allowing interested family and friends to paint some of the visible sheets of plywood. The first two sheets are finished. Daughter Deborah and grandchildren Lily-Rose and Theo painted three owls in the moonlight, while friend and artist Margaret Brown painted the winery with glass and carafe of wine in the foreground. The two works look fabulous. We are now hoping more friends and family will take up the challenge of painting the other doors and small windows.

 

Murals (dorals? portals?)

Visitors to the winery will have seen our collection of amusing wine related cards and cartoons. A recent addition is this one which recently appeared in a trade magazine:

Catch up - Early 2013

The fine weather in recent days has at last persuaded people to venture out to enjoy the countryside - and some have even visited the winery! Here we have good supplies of most wines, although our damson wine will be in short supply this year. This is due to the failure of the damson harvest in 2012, which meant we were forced to buy expensive frozen damsons from the Lyth Valley to enable us to make just a third of our normal quantity. For this reason we have had to increase the price of this wine at the winery to £8.50 per bottle.

Our elderberry wine is near the end of fermentation and has reached an alcohol content of 15%. We have halted the fermentation here as to go further would mean we would have to charge at a higher duty rate - £2.53 instead of £1.90 per bottle!

Visitors on Monday 24th February would have experienced an easterly wind – a Helm Wind – blowing off the Pennines. When the wind is from exactly the correct bearing, a cloud formation known as the Helm Bar forms parallel to the fellside. The Helm Bar seen on Monday was one of the best for a couple of years.

The Helm Bar - seen from the winery on 24th February, 2013 

Last Saturday was the annual High Cup Nick Fell Race. This year the fell race attracted 141 competitors, slightly fewer than last year due to snow blanketing the northeast and preventing some from arriving. During the race runners had to fight through a sudden snow flurry and three runners were forced to retire.

The race was won by Ricky Lightfoot of Ellenborough AC in 1hr 1min 56sec, just 45 seconds off the course record. Second was Stuart Bond of Dark Peak Club  in 1.04.02 and third was Jim Davies of Cliburn in 1.05.56.  The women's race was won by Edie Hemstock of Pennine FR in 1.23.55, followed by Rachel Hill of Wharfedale in 1.24.01. 

There have been many favourable comments from runners who have praised the organisation of previous events, the marshalling and the welcome they receive from the village. The event raises necessary funds for the Village Hall. Thanks go to Morgan and Lucy Donnelly for organising the whole event so brilliantly. And, of course, the Village Hall thanks all who contribute soup for the runners and cakes for the cake stall.

High Cup Winery sponsors a prize (wine!) for the winning women's team.

Runners approaching the winery - Dufton Pike in the background and snow just starting.