Time for a taste of Devon wines!

Following a fine summer for growing grapes in the UK, Devon vineyards have a lot to celebrate and an Exeter city centre food store is promoting their success. A range of locally produced Devon wines is being launched at the Real Food Store on Tuesday 19 November with a special wine tasting evening between 6pm and 8pm.

Three vineyards, all within 12 miles of the city, are supplying wine to the community owned store which opened in March 2011. Pebblebed, at Clyst St George, Yearlstone, at Bickleigh, and Manstree based at Shillingford St George.

Jo Hawkins, one of the directors of the Real Food Store, is delighted to introduce the range: “English wines have a justified reputation for quality and, with their freshness and light styles, are a delight to drink with or without food. What could be better than serving a Devon wine with a locally-sourced meal or celebrating with a sparkling champagne method rosé?”

Geoff Bowen of Pebbebed said: "2013 has been our biggest harvest ever and after an amazing effort by all our helpers, we've picked 45 tonnes of grapes which equates to about 40,000 bottles, more than double our best year to date.’ He added that, ‘We could not have done this without the wonderful support and help from all over our community. In total we must have had about 500 people help us pick the grapes over the four week harvest period."

Customers can sample the wines at the tasting evening and meet the local wine producers.

This is the first wine tasting evening to be held at the Real Food Store and coincides with the opening of a new exhibition of linocut prints by Cathy King and Jeremy Speck.

The store’s popular iconic pink cow regularly changes to mark the seasons. Come and see what’s she’ll be wearing for the wine tasting celebrations.

The Real Food Store, Bakery and Café is at 11-13 Paris Street, Exeter EX1 2JB and is open Monday to Saturday.
Visit: www.realfoodstoreexeter.co.uk for more information.