A Vineyard in North Wales? Its Not Warm Enough!: The Story of the Origin of Red Wharf Bay Vineyard

The original plan was to establish a small commercial vineyard in Andalucia in southern Spain but a combination of circumstances dictated that it finished up being fifteen hundred miles away on an island off the North Wales coast. The first few vines had actually been planted on a gardening whim in our field in Anglesey a few years before but they were totally mismanaged and eventually produced a small amount of unremarkable wine. Despite this somewhat insipid achievement the idea for the Andalucian project was spawned (surely it would be easier in a better climate!). Well, the climate in Spain is definitely better suited to producing grapes but the regulations weren't! Undaunted by the disappointments there and now more determined, I learned a bit more about this delightful, infuriating profession and then thought that I could, in fact, probably do it properly in Anglesey. So Red Wharf Bay Vineyard became unexpectedly into existence. You would have to say that it's a bit of an unlikely tale, indeed it became a bit of a saga. Then I thought I wanted to tell people about it because I think there's a story worth telling and I like telling stories, because I have enjoyed it (am enjoying it) and because I think it's a good story (but you must be the judge of that). Here you are then, the tale of how it all unfolded.