The Vine at Turlough

Very impressive

Yesterday we took part in an event where we harvested grapes from the vine at Turlough that attendees could take home. Andrew gave a short talk on the vine's history and restoration, and Barry, the owner of House of Plates restaurant in Castlebar, provided recipes and tastings of grape jam and chutney. Delicious. He also introduced us to an unbelievably delicious blue cheese called Mike's Fancy Cheese Young Buck. 

When we arrived at 11 am, the glass house was full of giant bunches of grapes. They weren't quite ripe yet, but they were being harvested on the day for cooking. Some were left behind for show and tasting when ripe. At 12 pm, the event started in the courtyard room. They later took people in to see the vines in small groups. 

Tomorrow I will make chutney from the 5 kg of grapes we brought home. We could have had three times as much. It took me 2.5 hours to destem and crush them this morning. (I also processed 2 kg of broad beans. Never again.)

On Wednesday, we are giving a talk on the development of our gardens and vineyard to the Westport Gardening Club. I built a large PowerPoint presentation for it. Hopefully, it will be of interest. 

Perfection. Foster's seedling. Two reds made a white. 

A teinturier Andrew brought in for tasting.
It was very red inside and out.

John with a monster bunch

Beautiful

Well curated

A wild herb Barry added to chutney