Looe Valley Vineyard — Attraction in St. Keyne and Trewidland

I had a "Tour & Tasting" voucher from my daughter in law, for my birthday. Also came with a bottle of wine, which was nice. It took me eight months to finally book the tour. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, although it did mention we'd get another bottle of wine as part of the deal, so it had to be worth it. When we arrived, we were first there, and it was nice to meet Charlie first and introduce ourselves, especially as my partner, Oksana, has some mobility and hearing issues, so we were able to discuss these and Charlie put us at ease about this, although Sue had already mentioned via email that they are well versed in catering for people with varying abilities. They have small groups, 10 in ours altogether, so it's quite intimate. Charlie, the wine maker, introduces himself and tells us a bit about the vineyard, then passes around a plethora of tools to most of the participants with no explanation. We are then taken down to the vines, where we receive such an interesting insight into what it takes to grow grapes to make good wine in this country. And we get to use the tools! We then go back for the tasting element, which completely surpassed my expectations. We were served some of the amazing Looe Valley wines after being schooled in the art of wine tasting and then invited to offer our newly found expertise on them. A Great British business, making a living out of something that is quite difficult in our climate, but they manage it anyway. This place is well worth a visit, even if you're not paeticular a wine lover. The science behind it is interesting enough and well delivered by Charlie ( it doesn't hurt that he used to be a teacher). Also, I would say that we should be supporting small businesses like this. We'll done to Looe Valley Vineyard. A little...

Best vineyard tour I've ever been on. Very informative, with just the right level of detail. Hands-on without being too much, you're free to get as involved as you want to. Charlie and Sue have a very inspiring story and are so lovely and accommodating, we didn't want to leave. Great wine tasting after the tour which was again educational but fun - and the wines were delicious, with some interesting and unusual varieties. Wine was very reasonably priced, especially considering it's organic/biodynamic and everything is done by hand. If you let Charlie know what you have in mind for your visit I'm sure he will endeavour to make it happen! Their daughter put on a delicious spread of vegan scones for us and they set out croquet for us to play on the lawn above the vines....

We visited as part of an organised tour, lunch and tasting and can honestly say having visited many vineyards this to date has been the most informative and interesting. Charles the owner has a truly "hands on" approach and encouraged us to get involved with practical use of winemakers equipment. This is a small artisan winery and as such is fairly labour intensive and therefore gives a great insight into the "real" vine growing and winemaking process. Charles's ethos is to be as natural as possible in his winemaking and his passion and enthusiasm shined throughout our time with him. If you have an interest in wine, a visit to Looe Valley Vineyard...