HEFF, Heart of England Fine Foods, arranged a splendid two-day food for the trade at the end of February.

The venue was the Birmingham Hippodrome and I was invited to put on what was in fact an impromptu wine tasting, selecting bottles from those on show for my half-hour slot.

All three wines that we tasted were made by Martin Fowke and his team at Three Choirs in Newent. The first of the trio was an excellent food-friendly pink, Paunton Rose (£5.95), from David Longman's Frome Valley Vineyard at Bishops Frome. A combination of Syeval Blanc (60 per cent), Triumph d'Alsace (2 per cent) and Pinot Noir (15per cent), it would drink remarkably well with some of the Wenlock Edge Italian-style salami.

Lulham Court's just-off-dry Muller Thurgau 2003 had all the aromas and flavours of box hedge and elderflower (£6.75). Perhaps still a shade too crisp and young, it burst into life when accompanied by a slither of Herefordshire goats' cheese.

But the star of the tasting was undoubtedly Lulham Court's outstanding fizz made from 100 per cent Seyval Blance, an English Blanc de Blancs of some real distinction at £12.95.

The base wine was made without any malolactic conversion from grapes harvested during the 2001 harvest, with a second fermentation in the bottle where it aged for 30 months.

The result was a crisp refreshing sparkler with more than just a hint of those alluring autolysis aromas, from the dead yeast, that are a sure sign of quality champagnes.

However, some of the tasters round the table found it just a shade too dry, so we added a few drops of Pinks Farm Muscat Syrup, made from a Mrs Beeton recipe, to create a delicious and very English Kir Royal. The syrup, one of a range without any additives from Pinks Farm at Henley-in-Arden, is made not from Muscat grapes but from 72 per cent gooseberry juice and natural elderflower concentrate.

Why not get out and about among our local vineyards. They are always pleased to see you and offer you a taste of two of their quintessentially English wines. but best telephone before you go.

Frome Valley Vineyard, Paunton Court, Bishops Frome, Herefordshire, 01885 490735.

Lulham Court, Madley, Herefordshire, 01981 251107.