Our Platinum Street Party got most of Peppard’s 1600 population out feasting together again on Top Common, luckily in the sun. Then singing around the beacon after dark. Way more than we expected and a slight problem for Barbara, who had brought enough chilled bottles to pour about 300 chilled glasses of her sparkling Wyfold Brut English Sparkling for a toast to Her Majesty. Not enough! Not nearly.
Many villagers didn’t seem to know there was a vineyard right in their midst and that it makes great wine. Great even in plastic glasses in the pitch dark. She has – I have to mention – just won the International Wine Challenge Trophy for English Sparkling Rosé. That took 20 years of hard graft on her two hectares. Worth it, she says; it keeps her fit. It would finish me off. The paperwork alone is a killer. Anyone who thinks English Sparkling is too pricey just needs to put in time doing the endless manual vineyard work, whilst pouring in shedloads of money and fighting off the wildlife and the bureaucracy.
So … it’s a pity the local paper announced this morning that our villagers were served Prosecco! Got our names wrong too!
