A North Yorkshire vineyard is to host its first food and wine fair this weekend.
Dunesforde Vineyard is a six-acre site in Upper Dunsforth, four miles from Boroughbridge. The vineyard produces cool climate wines in one of the most northerly locations in the UK.
The fair will take place on Saturday (April 20) from 12pm to 6pm. The event is free to attend and will see local artisan food businesses showcasing their products, alongside the vineyard’s wine.
The site was established in 2016 and is owned and managed by the Townsend family. A total of 6,000 vines across four different grape varieties are grown at Dunesforde.
Dunesforde’s head of wine development, Peter Townsend, will host talks throughout the afternoon where visitors can learn about the vineyard and sample wine.
He said:
“Our wines pair excellently with a wide range of foods and it will be fantastic to bring them together with the very best in local artisan food.”
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The vineyard’s first harvest wines were released in 2019.
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Vineyard mural celebrates Aldborough’s rich Roman history
The owner of a vineyard near Aldborough has commissioned an 18-square metre mural that recreates how the village looked 1,800 years ago in Roman times.
Aldborough, which is near Boroughbridge, was the administrative centre of the Roman empire in northern Britain, with a population of 3,000, which was similar to York at the time.
Archaeologists found a tablet in the Roman fort of Vindolanda at Hadrian’s Wall, which referred to wine in production at Aldborough.
It inspired Ian Townsend, the owner of Dunesforde Vineyard, to commission what he believes to be the first-ever painting of what Roman Aldborough is thought to have looked like.
Dunesforde Vineyard, which was created in 2016, produces 3,500 bottles of white, rose and sparkling wines a year.
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Working in acrylics, Leyburn artist Lynn Ward took six months to complete the work, which spreads across six boards.
It features almost 1,400 people, 86 horses, 18 dogs, a tiger fighting a gladiator in the amphitheatre and a vineyard.
Mr Townsend hopes the artwork will attract visitors to the vineyard all-year round.
“Everyone involved has worked hard to ensure that this portrayal is as accurate as possible.
“Attracting visitors to your vineyard is relatively easy during the summer. But tempting people at other times of the year can be more of a challenge. We hope this wonderful work of art, along with our other wine-related artefacts, will help attract people all year round.
“Aldborough, or Isurium Brigantum, to give it its Latin name, was an incredible place. It had an amphitheatre, a forum, heated baths, a temple and we have reason to believe there was a vineyard there too.”
According to Mr Townsend, Roman wine was very different to what is produced today.
He added:
“They added a lot of honey so the wine was sweet, and some would water it down. Drinking wine instead of untreated water meant there was less chance of becoming ill. Modern technology would suggest that today’s wines would be superior in quality.”