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It definitely feels like summer once you start to see English cherries for sale in roadside kiosks and farmers markets across our sunnier counties. Who can resist those shiny, plump pops of sweet juice? Even the scent of a punnet of sun-warmed cherries is enough to get our tastebuds tingling.
With National Cherry Day celebrated on July 16th to raise awareness about the need to maintain our traditional orchards, we thought we’d mix up a cocktail to celebrate – not that we ever need an excuse to come up with a new drink, that is.
Introducing the Lyme Cherry Lime. To start, you’ll need half a dozen tall glasses and a chilled bottle of our Lyme Bay Cherry Wine – a full flavoured sweet wine with an aroma of real cherries and a hint of almond. Share the Cherry Wine out between the glasses, add a generous squeeze of fresh lime juice to each, and top up with sparkling water – or your favourite sparkling wine, if you prefer.
Fruit in season in July
Cherries are not the only fruits in season right now. Apricots, blackberries, blackcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries, loganberries, peaches, raspberries, redcurrants, rhubarb and strawberries are all at their fresh best, not to mention elderflowers.
We use many of these in our award-winning range of Fruit Wines, made with immense care and attention by our dedicated team to bring out the best in the ingredients.
Any of these delicious drinks is perfect served on its own or as the base for longer drinks with your favourite mixer to complement the flavours. And if you would usually be jetting off to sunnier climates for your summer holiday, here are some ideas to help you bring the buzz of the beach bar into your very own back yard.
Summer Berry Sangria
An explosion of refreshing fruit flavours, our Lyme Bay Summer Berry Wine is the perfect companion to outdoor feasting with friends and family.
A tantalising mix of blackcurrants and wild strawberries with a ripe berry finish, it’s delicious served chilled over ice, and makes a superb substitute for red wine in a Summer Berry Sangria.
Add strawberries, slices of orange and apple, and a tablespoonful of sugar to a large pitcher and muddle for a minute. Pour in 300ml of orange juice and 100ml of brandy and stir gently to combine. Next, add a bottle of chilled Lyme Bay Summer Berry Wine and serve over ice, with a slice of lime if you wish.
Just as with traditional Sangria, this pairs perfectly with the seafood flavours of scallop, crab and lobster dishes, as well as grilled white fish or a seared tuna salad.
Respect your elders
Sourcing local ingredients is at the heart of many of the fruit wines that we make here at Lyme Bay, and sunny summer afternoons see our team heading out to scour the hedgerows for elderflowers.
We use these to make our light, crisp and beautifully refreshing Elderflower Wine – an off-dry wine with a floral bouquet, that makes a great chilled picnic or lunchtime drink.
And then there’s our Gooseberry and Elderflower Wine. Served chilled as an alternative to white wine, it’s the perfect accompaniment to salads, fish dishes and even spicy food.
Elderflower Wine Collins
Either of these makes a brilliant base for mixing up an Elderflower Wine Collins. Mix one part Elderflower Wine with three parts tonic for a light, crisp and beautifully refreshing long drink with a floral-citrus kick. Serve over ice with a sprig of mint.
Wine offer of the month
To celebrate the bounty of our orchard and hedgerows we are offering 10% off our entire range of Fruit Wines, in all bottle sizes, until midnight on July 31st. The discount is automatic for the large bottles and just use the code COUNTRYWINE10 at checkout for the 375ml size.
And remember: buy six or more bottles of the same Fruit Wine and save a further 10% on your order.
Order online for delivery
Our wonderful Winery shop has now reopened for socially distanced shopping on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 am-4.30 pm.
If you can’t make it in you can also buy all our products online for home delivery (free when you spend £20 or more), as well as emailing our friendly team on [email protected] or calling us on 01297 551355 if you’d like to order by phone.
In the meantime, do keep sending us your drinks discoveries, wine wisdom, and serving suggestions via our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages.
