Good Beer Festivals should have good wine!

Next Saturday the 14th Charlbury Beer Festival – solely existing to raise monies for the Charlbury Community and Overseas Projects Charity – in North Oxfordshire, will be featuring 50 Ales including Blue Monkey BG Sips, Grafters All English, Great Oakley Gobble, alongside more household names like Timothy Taylor, Batemans and St Austell. Of course there will be a great choice and diversity on offer not only on the beer front but cider, food and wine too! Invariably the request for a decent glass of vino at a real ale festival results in a plastic glass of boxed wine from under the counter. OK, so some boxed wines are fine, but the unwillingness to provide any decent offering of vino is clear. Organisers, you are missing an opportunity because some people are happy to try a couple of beers or ciders but they then want a decent Sauvignon Blanc or Rioja! This year at The Charlbury Beer Festival we will have a dozen wines on offer by the glass or bottle, featuring Denbies and Chapel Down from England, Jacob’s Creek Chardonnay/Pinot Noir Sparkling which sold out in 2010, a smart Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc from Southbank Estate, Chateau d’Angles from La Clape, Paternina Rioja Rose and the high quality Quinta da Lagoalva Reserva red from Tejo in Portugal.
This is the third year that Louise and I have organised the wine stand at The Charlbury Beer Festival and we have a growing fan club of grape lovers demanding a glass of quality wine. In 2010, we raised over £1,200 for charity, which was a 50% increase on our first year. So remember, particularly with village and town beer festivals, there is an opportunity to raise monies and satisfy an audience of grape lovers.
Also, as a first, The Charlbury Beer Festival will be staging The World Aunt Sally Open Singles Championship. Aunt Sally is a pub game still played extensively in Oxfordshire.
The Charlbury Beer Festival on 9th July starts at midday and finishes at 11pm. Held at the local cricket club, two minutes from the train station, it is easy to find. Check out First Great Western for times from Paddington, Oxford, Worcester and Hereford.