Birthday Outing at Chapel Down Winery

It's that time of the year when I am super-ready to be spoilt rotten by my husband & loved ones. Yep, you guessed it right, it's my birthday...it's my birthday yipeee!!

Every year I make sure that I take the day off on my birthday! Am sure you all agree with me that no matter how lovely our jobs are it's always nice to take the day off from all responsibilities and just chill! Who wouldn't want to be the queen/king for a day with no chores or pending issues to worry about? :D

Anyways this year, it was super special as my hubby gifted me a very unique experience - "Wineyard tour & wine tasting". On the day we were up quite early as we had a lovely drive through the countryside to look forward to & ofcourse not to mention the wine tasting LOL

After a quick breakfast of fresh flaky croissants & large shot of americano (thanks to Nespresso, another gift from hubby - I will review that on a different post), we set off to our destination - The Chapel Down Winery.

If you din't already know we had the "Beast from the East" the week before & we could still find snow clad farms as we drove to the wineyard.

After about an hour's drive from our house, we reached the winery which offers good parking space. The winery shop was under refurbishment but that did not affect us as the tour was outdoors. We were introduced the rest of the group & our guide who gave us a detailed explanation of the Bacchus wines, sparkling wines & red wines - all of which are made locally. It was interesting to learn about the wine making processes - different for each type of wine.

After about an hour, the tour ended and we were directed to head to "The Wine Sanctuary". I couldn't have possibly thought of a better name to that room!

Here we were introduced to the basics or the 5 steps of wine tasting - colour, swirl, smell, taste & savour.

We had the wonderful opportunity to taste 3 still white wines (for which they have won many awards), 2 sparkling wines (similar to Champagne) & 2 red wines. The Bacchus white wine which is similar to Sauvignon Blanc was my favourite followed by Chardonnay. The Pinot Noir though is my ever preferred red wine, did not live up to my expectations.

After a 45 minutes of indulging ourselves in great wines, we both were quite hammered to jump into our car & drive off. That's when the Swan restaurant came to our rescue. We ordered 3 course lunch to help us soak up the alcohol LOL. The food was excellent as was the service.

After resting in the wineyard, soaking up the rare sunshine in March we headed back home with a big smile on our faces.

For those interested in wine tasting & knowing more of wines, I definitely recommend this lovely wineyard which is tucked in the green countryside.

Until then Ciao
Raks x