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NEWS

Shop to Close for Winter - Except for Christmas Shopping Weekend

There is just one more chance for customers to buy gifts and celebratory drinks for the Festive Season.  We will be open on Saturday and Sunday 10 and 11 December 2011 from 10 - 5pm.  We have good stocks of all our white and red wines, but the Halcyon Days (Sparkling) is nearly sold out.  We have also stocked for this season - beautifully illustrated gift vouchers, wine bags, wine related Simon Drew products and of course our bags and tee shirts.

Cake and coffee day for Children in Need

Homemade cakes and coffee/tea was served in Bothy Vineyard all Saturday 18 Nov - and raised £73.50!

Bothy Shop Re-opens After Successful Harvest

Finally after having had to close the shop on Saturdays during harvest, the Bothy Shop is open again.  Harvest was spread over 5 days during which some 90 volunteers helped bring in the grapes over an unusually mild and dry autumn. 8 tonnes of grapes were harvested and processed on site.  Despite the unseasonal weather earlier this year (wet during flowering and very cold in August), this long dry spell has meant clean grapes and high sugars, with bags of flavour.  At the moment, Richard Liwicki is still making the wine and it looks like we would be able to bring out our full range (whites, rosé, red and sparkling) in 2012, although the stocks of Halcyon Days are rapidly diminishing.  A big "thank you" to all our volunteers.

Boutique Vineyard Scoops clutch of Awards in National Competition (Summer 2011)

Bothy Vineyard, Oxfordshire’s oldest vineyard, picked up four silver awards in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year Competition earlier this week.  As a boutique vineyard and winery Bothy prides itself in handcrafting its own wines on site in Frilford Heath.  This dedication to detail and quality has paid off as all of the 2010 wines which were  entered – Oxford Dry, Oxford Pink, Renaissance and The Doctor’s Bacchus – were given prizes at the UK industry’s own competition.  For more information click Bothy wins 4 silvers in National Comp June 2011

English Wine Week

This year English Wine Week EWW) will run between 29 May and 6 June.  This is a national event where numerous vineyards and wineries open their doors to the public, organise extra events and work very closely with local restaurants and other food outlets.  To find out more visit www.englishwineweek.co.uk

Open Days - Bothy Vineyard, Frilford Heath, will be celebrating EWW by opening its grounds to the public on all the weekend days – ie Saturday 28, Sunday 29 and Monday 30 May, as well as Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 June.  The gates open at 10 am and shut at 4.30 pm, and we will run a free 1 hour tour at 11 am on each of these days.  Tutored tastings of our new vintage will be available free of charge all day with cheese and biscuits. 

On these days visitors are also welcome to picnic in the vineyard. Children and dogs (both kept under control) are welcome, all at your own risk: vineyards are active farms with all the attendant hazards from farm equipment to rabbit holes.
 

Cherwell Boathouse celebrates EWW. The Cherwell Boathouse will be serving a selection of Bothy wines by the glass all week along the banks of the Cherwell River.  Enjoy a chilled glass of English wine as you watch the punts in this most quintessentially English of settings in early summer – 28 May to 5 June. 

Cherwell Boathouse was voted the “Best Fine Wine List of the Year” by Imbibe Magazine this year.  For more information email info@cherwellboathouse.co.uk, or ring 01865 552 746  To locate Cherwell Boathouse visit www.cherwellboathouse.co.uk

Book signing and wine tasting at Mostly Books

2 JUNE 7.30 pm. Book signing with Rosalind Cooper and her new book the The Wine Year, accompanied by Bothy Wines.  Contact Mostly Books to book tickets :36 Stert Street, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, OX14 3JP, UK
Tel: +44 1235 525 880; Mob: 0776 990 5637  email: mark@mostly-books.co.uk www.mostly-books.co.uk

Other Regular Events

Tours

Each year we organize tours for parties of 12-30, and this year we have had visits from WI groups, gardening societies, wine groups, corporate entertaining parties and even well behaved stag and hen parties (although we understand that they were not quite so well behaved at later venues). Groups were shown round the vineyard and now that the winery is up and running again, we were also able to describe our wine-making activities. The tours rounded off with nibbles and a tutored wine tasting.  Pictured below is the Slow Living Club on their visit to our winery.  Tours are not organised in October as this is harvest time.

If you would like to organize such a party do contact us soon as our diaries fill up very early. There is a small charge for these tours depending on requirements. For more information Contact Us.

ARCHIVE

Bothy Wins National Trophy in 2008

Bothy Vineyard has made national news by snatching a Trophy at the English and Welsh Wine of the Year Competition.; Sian and Richard Liwicki received their prize from Lord Montagu of Beaulieu at the House of Lords on Tuesday 22 July in front of an audience that included 8 Masters of Wine and the likes of other top names such as RidgeView, Nyetimber and Camel Valley vineyards.

left:  Richard and Sian on the Terrace at the House of Lords Right:  Receiving the Trophy from Lord Montagu of Beaulieu

Bothy Vineyard, Oxford’s closest vineyard, submitted just two wines into the competition in July and they both won silver awards.; This was no surprise but when their new wine The Paradox 2007 took the Berwick Trophy, this was a first for this medium sized, long established vineyard.

Richard Liwicki, winemaker and tender of vines said, “Many of our customers are local and they have recognised the quality of our wines and supported us over the years.  However, winning a trophy has definitely put us on the national map. “The Paradox came about because the very heavy summer rains of 2007 caused some of our vines to set tiny, seedless berries which, paradoxically, ripened beautifully to produce an intense juice, full of sugar and flavour.”

Anniversary Celebrations

Each year we hold a thank you party for all our gallant pickers and helpers.....

2008 marked the 30^th Anniversary of the vineyard.