I had wanted to try this wine when I was home last year. There is a bit of Welsh blood in my family and so I thought it would be fun to try a wine produced in Wales, however I ran out of time on my last visit. So yesterday, whilst out shopping in Marks & Spencer, I purchased a bottle of Tintern Parva, 2014 Bacchus (WQW or Welsh Quality Wine) to go with dinner this evening. I have never had a wine from Wales before, this was to be a first. At £13.00 (about $20.00) this bottle of wine wasn't exactly value priced (as compared to an imported Soave, for example), but for me the price was worth it for the novelty value.
The Wye Valley has always been one of my very favourite places on the planet and I have visited there a butt load (technical term) of times. Of course I haven't been there for many years, but the memories I have of roaming around Tintern Abbey, (trying) to fish in the River Wye and just generally enjoying the bucolic landscape are simply magical. And now wine is grown there. Perfect.
Tintern is a village in the Wye Valley famous for its 12th century Cistercian abbey. It is thought that the Romans may have practised viticulture at Tintern during the period that Blighty was under the governance of Rome. Hmmm. It seems more likely that the monks at Tintern Abbey farmed grapevines for the purpose of sacramental wine, but I suppose the Roman connection makes for a good tale. Tintern Parva (parva, the opposite of magna, means small or little) is a small hamlet where Parva Farm's vineyard, a mix of several grape varieties, is planted on a south facing slope.
And the wine? I have had wines made from the Bacchus grape, a hybrid, before and usually find them to be a little lacking in the acid-department. However, this wine was perfectly palatable, the acidity good enough for pairing with food and the bottle was soon emptied. I probably wouldn't buy this wine again, I've tried it now, but it was rather nice. Neis iawn.
