I thought I’d take a break from crafty posts for a moment, to go back to an important choice we had to make for the big day. What wines would we have with the reception BBQ?! We wanted wines which linked in with the values we were trying to instil throughout the wedding, and there is lots of advice on how to source ‘ethical wine’ on ethicalwine.com. And actually, given that ‘being ethical’ can often seem a little difficult, this was one of the easiest decisions we’ve had to make! Probably helped by the fact we got to legitimately drink lots of wine 😉
The white
I really wanted to support local producers at the wedding, hence a locally sourced barbecue, cutting down those carbon food miles. Given that I know we have some good vineyards nearby, it seemed logical to first see what wine we could get here before travelling further afield. And we hit a winner straight away. Avonleigh Vineyard in Bradford on Avon produces the best English white I have ever tasted. It was a clear favourite, and when tried out on the family got a resounding thumbs up. One slight problem. I emailed Di, who runs Avonleigh, and she’d decided to sell up! She gave me details of the new owner, but try as I might I could not get hold of him.
Disaster loomed. OK, so it wasn’t quite that bad. We tried out a few Fairtrade wines as a back up option and found a gorgeous on in Sainsbury’s (a Chenin Blanc if you want to try it yourself). In a final effort, I emailed Di and begged. Did she have any left over herself she could sell me? She rummaged around and found 10 – we were saved! Guests, be aware – this might be your only chance to try this – savour it!
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