SOME OF THE WORLD’S BEST WINE IS PRODUCED … IN THE COTSWOLDS

It’s o cial. A wine produced in the Cotswolds is among the best in the world.

Earlier this year Woodchester Valley Vineyard won a top international award for its 2021 wine at the Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters.

It is the first English still wine to have won a Master medal at the awards, and an astonishing achievement for such a young vineyard.

Established in 2007 by Fiona and Niall Shiner, Woodchester Valley is a vineyard and winery near Stroud. It now produces white, rosé, red and sparkling wines from 58 acres.

Siobhan Turner, one of the Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters judges, and a Master of Wine, said: “We were very pleased to find delights at every end of the price spectrum.

“It is also particularly pleasing that both wines awarded Master medals are under £23.

One, unsurprisingly, hails from Marlborough (New

Zealand), and has a true sense of place and lovely elegance.

“The other, to all our astonishment, was from England – Gloucestershire to be precise. Engaging and utterly enjoyable, the Woodchester Valley was the wine of the tasting for me.”

Woodchester Valley won the top prize for its 2021 vintage in the £20-£30 price category.

In 2021 the UK wine industry was worth $22.5 billion and that growth shows no sign of stopping, with retailer Majestic Wines reporting English sparkling wine as of its top sellers over Christmas 2022, and sales as a whole up 19 per cent.

Fiona Shiner said: “In spring 2015 we planted 2,000 Sauvignon Blanc vines. The young vines thrived and in 2017 we harvested a small crop (under a tonne) for our first vintage vines. The young vines thrived and wine.

“In 2016, Jeremy Mount, our wine-maker joined the team from working at the Matua Winery in Marlborough, New Zealand.

Picking up awards has since become a bit of a habit for Woodchester Valley.

“Under Jeremy’s guidance, our 2016 wines won a clutch of medals in competition,” said Fiona.

Fiona and Niall took on Niall’s parents’ property at Amberley after returning to the UK from Hong Kong. While Niall continued with his career, Fiona decided to plant vines following a comment by her mother-in-law that the Romans could have grown vines there.

With the first acre of vines planted, Fiona threw herself into studying viticulture. Despite a disastrously wet first summer, the vineyard thrived and Fiona bought a farm on the hill opposite, planting more vines for still and sparkling wines.

“The vibrancy of the fruit was

“The vibrancy of the fruit was impressive. Even at the pressing stage the aromas were classic Sauvignon Blanc – gooseberry, cut grass, bell pepper.

In 2016 a former farm building was converted into a winery and press area and a third vineyard site at Stonehouse was acquired, bringing the total area under vine to 58 acres.

Milton Park to launch UK’s first fully electric, autonomous bus service

Milton Park near Abingdon will host the UK’s first fully electric, autonomous public bus service.

The Mi-Link project, a 16-seat, single decker minibus, uses Bristol-based Fusion Processing’s automated drive system that combines radar, LiDAR and optical cameras with artificial intelligence to control the vehicle’s steering, acceleration and braking without the need for human intervention.

The project is funded by commercial and private partnerships as well as the Department for Transport’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV).

Led by First Bus, the consortium comprises Fusion Processing Ltd, Oxfordshire County Council, the University of the West of England and Leamington Spa-based Zipabout, which develops personalised travel information.

The bus service o ers passengers a free and green mode of travel from the Park’s workspace, the Bee House to its Milton Feast street food market area and back. But it’s not quite human-free yet – a qualified safety driver will be on board to take control of the vehicle if required.

Zipabout’s journey planner will provide real-time updates on the service’s operation times between 7am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday, running as often as every 15 minutes.

Milton Park , the UK’s largest single ownership business community, is an ideal test-bed site for the Mi-Link project and followed the success of recent pioneering drone delivery trials at the park last summer.

The Mi-Link project, which also includes a fleet of free electric hire bikes, aims to reduce by half the volume of car trips at Milton Park

Philip Campbell, Commercial Director at MEPC Milton Park, said: “Given the array of innovative companies based at the Park from pioneers in battery technology to green energy, it’s fitting that the next generation of passenger transport is taking shape here.

“While the trials are of national significance, they are also an important step in encouraging people across Milton Park, Didcot and South Oxfordshire to travel in a more sustainable way.”

Eurest helps Heathrow deliver free food scheme

Heathrow has launched a free meal scheme for all those working at the airport, thanks to catering partner Eurest, based at Rednal near Bromsgrove.

The airport wanted to o er every worker on site access to a free daily meal and hot drink.

As the on-site contract caterer for Heathrow, Eurest managed to turn around the entire operation in only four weeks.

That was despite huge logistical challenges, including having to re-open workplace restaurants closed since the pandemic, ready for increased demand.

Tom Bonner, Contract Director at Eurest, said: “We’re proud to say that, thanks to the hard work of so many people, we rose to the challenge.

“Any solution was never going to be simple. We have more than 100 di erent clients across the airport and needed to reach them all while maintaining speed of service. But we developed an app-based voucher which has proved hugely popular.”

Heathrow’s 6,000 sta can now access two daily vouchers on their app, one for food and one for a hot drink, which can be used at any time during their shift.