I have just received an email from the Beechwood Hotel in Aylsham Norfolk saying that on the 5th May they will be having a wine tasting at the hotel of Mellasat wines.
I have used this hotel on several occasions, it is rated on TA as the best hotel in Norfolk, their restaurant figures heavily on SA wines but I had no idea they actually owned this one.
I will try to get to the tasting as they are good people who trun this place, family, and deserve the support, but I have no knowledge of the winery ‘home of the white Pinotage’ ? perhaps Peter M can throw some light on it as it is within his sphere of wine knowledge.
Well, Mellasat was created and owned, and wine made by Stephen Richardson, a Norfolk farmer and the odd name is an anagram of the first two letters of each of his family members names. I didn’t know that it had been sold.
Mellasat wasn’t the first to make a white Pinotage, but they were the first to have the energy to argue and win the case with the Wine & Spirit Board that allowed white Pinotage to be sold as a varietal. Thus they were the first to sell a white Pinotage; their version a barrel fermented and very serious. (Although they couldn’t originally put ‘White Pinotage’ on the label as it wasn’t a variety name so they used E for Enigma, but soon had to call it Sigma as there was a copyright issue with Enigma.)
I served it at my 65th birthday celebration lunch and guests took it for a white Burgundy.
They make a good range of wines, and are one of very few to grow and make Tempranillo.
For details and pictures of my visit to Mellasat see here
I found the tasting on the hotel website, went to another page and now cannot find the tasting advertised. Do you have a link?
Thanks for that info Peter, as I said I had no idea they owned a vineyard, though they naturally served a lot of SA wines, there is no charge for this tasting as it is part of a food weekend in the town.
For some reason the link does not transfer’unable to generate graph’ comes up under copy and paste, so this is a copy of the email…
Same problems loading page as you had I think.
Coronation Bank Holiday weekend
Bank holiday weekend in Norfolk
Check in on Friday 5th May with a Complimentary cream tea on arrival
The Coronation will be celebrated in North Walsham with the Coronation broadcast in St Nicholas Church from 10am until 1pm. There is a Street Feast in the newly refurbished Market Place from 12 noon until 8pm with over 20 food stalls and live music
Wine Tasting Mellasat Wines
From 3pm until 4pm on Sunday 7th May we will be hosting a wine tasting event in the garden (in case of inclement weather we will move indoors). It will be an opportunity to sample our full selection of Red, White, Rosé and Sparkling wines from Beechwood Hotel owned Mellasat vineyard, Paarl, South Africa
01438 741177
