A weekend in Tenby

A wet November is the perfect time to look back at our holiday in Wesst Wales, although earky October it wasn't sunny when we arrived,, in fact it was a very stormy, with dy day. 

We have been to Tenby many years ago, before we were married and again when our children were young on a holiday with my Dad, so it was great to revisit. Tenby is a walled town, the medieval walls are Grade I listed and were built in the late 1200s by Llewelyn ap Gruffyydd to protect the town.

There are four gates giving access to the town and taxes charged helped maintain this impressive and important structure. The taxes provided enough income to also build a five arched entrance at the West Gate. In the late 1500s the walls were repaired with the lower sections strengthened, the walls raised by five feet and a parapet walkway added.

In the late 1700s there was less need for defences and much of the wall was dismantled leaving just the West Gate. The walls are now protected and the five way arch is an impressive entrance to the lively town that has a variety of small independent shops as well as some high street stores. 

 

Tenby has an outcrop of rock which geographically helps provide Tenby's harbour and was the perfect location for Tenby Castle. All that remains of the 12th century fortification is a tower; it's quite an exposed position with great views, the perfect position to protect the town.

In the middle of Tenby is the Merchant House, now a National Trust property this house and it's inhabitants played a key part in the  town's trading with the harbour bringing goods from all around the world. Now surrounded by other properties when built the house would have been dominant in the skyline and clearly visable from incoming boats, and with the house having a perfect view of the harbour the merchants knew exactly when a ship arrived.

Tenby is full of history and evidence of how the town has changed over centuries. There was a super Victorian post box, a rare sight and made me think about how many postcards have been sent via this red box over the decades it has stood here.

Castle Hill outcrop is also the location of Tenby RNLI's new lifeboat station, the old station is still there too. Tenby is in the far West of Wales on the Pembrokeshire peninsula and on the north coast of the Bristol Channel with Cornwall to the south. The RNLI station's location is vital for providing sea rescue on this busy channel as it leads out to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Our second day was much brighter and certainly less windy. We had previously walked into Tenby via the road but with the tide being out we enjoyed a Sunday morning stroll along the beach into the town and then along the harbour.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants in Tenby, it's a popular place for stag and hen weekends. We visited Harbwr Brewery which is located near the Merchant House. It had stopped raining and with the brewery being in one of the old alleyways it was sheltered enough to enjoy a drink outside.

We also visited Tap and Tan, this was our favourite brewery who do have a Tap Room next to the caravan site but unfortunately closed the weekend before we arrived for the winter season. There is a Tap and Tan pub restaurant in the food quarter in the town and is where we enjoyed a flight of beer, also outside as it was still dry and in a sheltered courtyard. 

Our other Tenby experience was a pot of prawns fresh from the fishmonger by the harbour. They were so fresh and far tastier than the prawns we buy in stores at home.

We had a great stay in Tenby, very different weather as you can see from our Saturday v Sunday photo. It is a place we would visit again but being the far West of Wales it's a long journey from home, however we can always have a stopover at our daughter's on the way. 

Spanish Wine Tasting

Last week we visited our friends who live near London, they love Spanish wine and food with both their families originating from Spain. Dave loves wine, which is how we met many years ago, and on Friday hosted a wine tasting evening for a few friends. Agnes provided a lovely variety of foods to accompany our tasting, it was a lovely evening and nice to meet everyone. 

Our evening began with a Cava Gran Reserva 2021 from The Wine Society. From their Exhibition range this wine had an abundance of bubbles with a yeasty, biscuity flavour along with a lovely citrus finish. Having spent 30 months on its lees gives this bottle of bubbly a delicious complexity which was enjoyed by all. 

The three whites we tasted were all from The Wine Society but they were from different regions of Spain: Terra Alta Barcelona, Galicia and Rioja. Our first white was a Garnacha wine, Far del Sud Garnatxa Blanca 2024. This was my favourite white, not surprising as it's Grenache Blanc if grown in France. It had plenty of apply flavours and not being oaked was delicious for me. 

The history about Far del Sud on the back of the bottle was fascinating, I love learning about how wines get their names - ' The old Boda Lighthouse, located in the heart of the Elbro Delta where we find the island that gives it its name, was built in 1864 and presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. Known as the Eiffel Tower in the Delta, was practically destroyed during the Civil War and toppled by a storm on 24 December 1961. The new lighthouse, built in 1983, watches over the old one buried under the sea "surrounded by the opulence of the Buddha landscape where the water is smooth and the rice is green" 

Pazo do Mar Blanco Ribeiro 2024, our second white, was a blend of four grapes: Treixadura, Torrontes, Albarino and Godello. I have tasted Ribeiro wine before and really enjoy their crispness which comes from being a region on the Atlantic coast. Giving floral aromas and crisp fruity flavours that had a depth of complexity this white would be a great pairing with seafood, my thoughts were instantly of pairing this with a hot steaming bowl of mussels. 

Our final white was liked by many but not for me, I do struggle with wines both white and red from Rioja. Navajas Bianco 2021 is a Crianza, young, wine made predominantly from Viura that are harvested towards the end of September and fermented in stainless steel tanks. It spends six months in new American or French oak barrels giving a vanilla edge to its flavour. It was quite a bright wine with strong fruity flavours that produced a long finish. 

Our first red was also from the Rioja region, Cune Rioja Crianza, purchased from Sainsbury's. CVNE, Compania Vinicola del Norte de Espana, is a wine brand we have tasted at a few wine events with Heather Dougherty DipWSET. I have enjoyed their sparkling wines but still struggle with the Rioja reds. 

Cune brand came about simply due to a typo in the late 1800s, the acronym C.V.N.E. being mis-read and the V change to make the word Cune, a name the Bodegas have stayed with ever since. This young red wine made from Tempranillo, Granacha and Mazuelo grapes is matured in American and French oak barrels for a minimum of 12 months. It is Spain's top seller with plenty of flavours of dark berries, a touch of liquorice and vanilla notes leading to a hint of spice on its finish. I will always take a sip of a wine, even if I think it's not for me: this wine had great flavours but still not my style of red. 

The Wine Society's Parcelas Ecologico Monestrall 2023 was next in our red tasting, I really enjoyed this wine made from the Monastrell grape known as Mourvedre in France. This wine was produced in the warmer climate of Southern Spain, inland and at a higher altitude to benefit from the Mediterranean warm breezes. A rich dark red in colour with aromas of dark fruit this wine had plenty of texture with its berry flavour and peppery notes, a really delicious red that paired really well with the Red Fox cheese provided by Agnes. 

Our final red was one Hubby and I have enjoyed many times, Papa Luna 2022 from The Wine Society. From Calatayud Zaragoza region, inland from Barcelona, this Garancha, Syrah, Mazuelo wine is made from old vines and was the full-bodied wine of the evening with many layers of dark fruits giving a mouth full of deep flavours. It is a wine that calls out for a cosy winter night, a roaring fire and comfy sofa, although I have previously enjoyed it in the summer with the rich flavours of a bbq. 

After three great whites and three super red wines our evening finished with two sherry tastings: Palo Cortado produced exclusively for Waitrose and a small bottle of Very Rare Oloroso.

I know very little about sherry, a trip to Jerez is on our to visit list. A light orange colour the Palo Cortado sherry had plenty of flavours of orange with a nutty background whereas the Oloroso was much darker in colour and had more of a spirit finish probably due to it being blended with brandy. 

It was a really good evening hosted by Dave and Agnes, great to meet new wine appreciative friends and try a variety of wines from Spain - thanks to everyone for a great night. 

Our Welsh journeys

It was quite a journey from home to West Wales sop it was lovely to breakfast our journey with an overnight stay at our daughter and son-in-law's in South Waales. Our journey took us through the lower part of the Brecon Beacons, beautiful scenery including this waterfall at the roadside.

We haven't driven the Brecon to Llandovery road before, it was beautiful. Our reason for taking this route was to visit Dinefwr, a National Trust property near Llandeilo. 

For over 2000 years this area of Wales has been important for many reasons; an Iron Age hillfort, a Roman military fort, a monastery at St Teilo's and part of the Bishop of St David's estate.

In the 1100s Dinefwr Castle was part of the kingdom of Deheubarth; The Lord Rhys fought against the Norman Conquest. In Tudor times the first mansion on the site was built by Sir Rhys ap Thomas who fought along side Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth. Newton House, named this as it was the new town built by the English, became the home of the Lord Dynevors who were significant families in South Wales. 

After hundreds of years being passed down through the family the huge park became owned by the National Trust in the late 1980s and Newton House a few years later. Dinefwr Castle is a ruined castle which stands high above the house, it is owned and looked after by Cadw. 

Because of time and the very wet weather we only visited the house which was very interesting although the furniture was not original to the property, only the blue clock belonged to the family.

  

After a super weekend in Tenby we journeyed on to New Quay on the west coast of Wales. Our journey took us through Narbeth where we had a coffee stop along side the river, it was so peaceful.

Narbeth castle is also now a ruin with the history of being the place where the last dragon in Wales was killed. There was a very impressive dragon above the gateway.

We had a lovely time exploring the west of Wales including a trip to Cardigan where there was a cardigan hanging in the market hall. It was made by local people in 2010 with support from the Heritage Fund. 

 

We had a great time travelling through Wales as well as our two short breaks: Tenby and West Quay. I'll be blogging about our times in each location soon. 

White Castle Winery

Our first visit to White Castle Vineyard was a few years ago when our daughter and (now) son-in-law adopted a vine for us following our discovery of this superb wine by winning a couple of bottles in a raffle. We were delighted as you can see in my blog post in 2021

We have revisited Robb and Nicola a few times since, in particular to purchase Welsh Sparkling Wine to celebrate our daughter's engagement to her Welsh love and for a super tour & tasting with our wine friends. 

The White Castle dream was to have a winery at the Vineyard making their wine pure Welsh from ground to bottle. 

The dream came true in 2024 with the opening of Y Gwindy, a superb purpose build winery with a row of impressive stainless steel vats and all the necessary wine making equipment including a bottling machine. 

White Castle wine is now grown, nurtured, harvested and produced on site making every drop 100% Welsh.

It's been a great growing year for the vines producing an abundance of grapes with riping happening earlier than previous years. When we visited Siegerrebe and Pinot Noir Précoce had already been harvested, pressed and were happily fermenting in the vats. 

We tasted both and although cloudy and still developing they were delicious, especially the Pinot Noir Précoce with a deep red colour and evidence of complex flavours maturing.

Robb and Nicola's hard work is evident all around the winery, as is their passion for what they are producing. Everything is in place and ready for the next harvesting which was happening just a few days after our visit. 

Y Gwindy had a wine smell that just made me smile, a smell I have appreciated in many wineries across Europe. One fragrance in particular means wine; that for me is wood, in particular oak, and filled the air from the White Castle branded barrels sitting ready for their next fill.

There are still a few finishing touches to happen in the winery, mostly finding the easiest working place for equipment, this is a discovery that will happen over the next few months as Y Gwindy is in full swing with this year's bumper crops.

One item to find its permanent place is the lovely board Robb and Nicola have had made to thank those who helped crowd fund their dream.

White Castle now produce a sparkling Cabernet Franc Rosé, a great addition to their range and one that came home with us along with Regent, our Christmas Day red. 

A sparkling Cabernet Franc is a new discovery for me that I'm keen to taste but I'll be opening it for something special with time to savour, as yet who know why or when that will be but hopefully soon.

Thank you Robb & Nicola for such a warm welcome, it was a real pleasure to visit Y Gwindy, your pride and enthusiasm is a delight to see. We'll certainly be calling by again on one of our travels to Wales, diolch.