The Botanical Gardens

I feel very lucky to now live next door to the Botanical Gardens, I walked through them the other Sunday on a wonderful autumnal day. These glorious gardens cover 19 acres first opened in 1836, originally designed by Robert Marnock in the Gardenesque style. The site now has 15 different gardens with plants from all over the world many of which are in the restored curvilinear glass pavilion, There's even a fossilised tree within the grounds.

With all the culture I needed a glass of wine so I walked down Eccy Road and headed to La Tasca for some Vino Blanco, sat on the outside terrace in the lovely Autumn sun this refreshing glass of Viura the white grape of Rioja I thought we ought to be that little more adventurous when choosing wine so here are a few varieties worth trying!

Albarino – Fabulous white from Galacia Spain
Fiano – Cultivated in Italy for over 2000 years, grown on the Volcanic hillside of Avellino east of Naples, look out for his one!
Gruner Veltliner – Austrias most famous pale green, hints of grapefruit a skiing wine…
Pedro Ximenez – the sweetest of Sherries
Picpoul – from the Languedoc packed with mineral and nutty overtones
Torrontes – Great Argentinian lots of potential, look out for this one!
Verdelho – Maderian Noble Grape
Vernaccia – Vernacchia di san Gimignano from Tuscany an almond style wine.
Viogner – I thought this would be the new chardonnay 10 years ago but it's a little fickle
Carmenera – Originally from Bordeaux but after the evils of Phylloxera it was uprooted & replaced with merlot, however it was introduced in Chile and produces very happy red wines
Cabernet Franc – Widely planted in Bordeaux but blended with Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot, its big in the Loire
Primitivo – Southern Italy's leading red grape, known as zinfandel in the USA
Sangiovese – Simply the grape of Chianti!