Today we were honoured to be visited by Laura Farris, MP for Newbury and her Parliamentary Office Manager, Amanda Buttimore.
The weather was stunning and the vineyards in great shape for the visit. Like so many others, few know about the beauty of All Angels vineyards tucked away just 5 minutes outside Newbury, so it was great to be able to show Laura and Amanda round and talk about our history, our wine, the English wine industry in general and our challenges - though without any “ear-bending” as politicians get enough of that as it is!
While constituency duties meant Laura and Amanda couldn’t sample the wines – it was 10.30am and the days of Churchill style drinking while governing have rightly gone – both went away with bottles for future enjoyment.
Say what you may about politicians, it has been encouraging to know that this was not just a passing trip: Laura has since been in touch to remind us that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published a consultation in May on Wine Reforms and were keen for producers to contribute. Impressive to be remembered with all the troubles going on elsewhere in the world.