As part of the Ashdown Forest Food Festival, we headed off to Gravetye Manor for an 5 course organic lunch accompanied by organic wines.
We arrived slightly early, and so settled down in the lounge. We started with a glass of Richmond Plains, Nelson 2005, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc served with olives and radishes. This was probably my favourite of the wines, and is the only full glass I had, being the designated driver.
We were called into the dining room, and started with an espresso cup full of Cream of organic celeriac soup with italian truffle. This was a really flavoursome soup, and if it wasn’t going to be followed by an additional 4 courses, I could have imagined myself happily eating my way through a large bowl of it.
The next course was Seared fillet of organic salmon served over creamed leeks and tomato butter accompanied by a glass of Sauvignon Sur Lie 2005 Domaine St Paul, Vin de Pays d’oc. The salmon was lovely, and the tomato butter was amazing and very rich.
We then moved on to a glass of Coudoulet de Beaucastel 2003 Cotes de Rhones to accompany an amazing 3rd course of Roast Loin of Tablehurst farm pork served with fondant potato, Autumn savoy cabbage and apple sauce. The pork was incredibly flavoursome and the gravy was amazing. This wine was Richard’s favourite of the meal.
The penultimate course was Lightly poached pear with vanilla yoghurt ice cream and light San Zemo sabayon accompanied by a glass of San Zeno 2003 Riciota de Soave. The pear was wonderful, the wine was nice, but too sweet for my tastes.
Our final course was a tasting of three organic cheeses, my favorite was the Scottish Criffel which was a ripe semi-soft cows milk cheese. The other two were Perl Wen white rinded cows milk cheese from Wales and Mature Cheddar from Plaw Hatch Farm.
And to finish, coffee (or tea for those of us who don’t do the coffee thing). After this we managed a quick wander around the grounds before heading back to Brighton.
