Food & Drink
Food
After first popping up at Castlewood in 2019, Habibi’s is a now a festival staple with its mix of Lebanese and Greek cuisine. Returning again for the first time in 5 years we look forward to trying the delights of this firm festival favourite before it moves onto Isle of Wight and Glastonbury later in the month.
Tom's Lyme Regis is a refined multi award winning restaurant dedicated to showcasing stunning seafood and great local produce.
‘On Tour’ Tom’s will be bringing the freshest most sumptuous lobster, crab and hand dived scallops to Castlewood.
They say what’s grown together eats together. Given we’re just a stone’s throw from the coast, our wines pair so wonderfully with Lyme Bay’s latest catch!
There’s a saying in Devon that ‘if you stick your finger in the ground it will grow’. The Pig-at Combe is nestled in the Otter Valley near Honiton. A secluded mellow, honey-coloured Elizabethan gem is set in 3500 acres of lush Devonshire countryside.
The Pig will be bringing their ‘pop up’, serving a selection of their ‘Pinch of Salt’ home-grown cured meats and ‘Piggy Bits’ selection. Plus some luscious Mocktails to for all those abstaining from the booze!
As always, we will be BBQing ‘to order’ succulent pork & apple burgers and traditional hot dogs made from our very own ‘milk fed’ pigs from the farm.
Culminating in the infamous Castlewood log fired hog roast for that bedtime bap!
Glebe House is an old Georgian Vicarage situated on a hilltop in East Devon. Good friends of Castlewood, Hugo, Olive, Maisy & Sam pride themselves in their farm-to-table Restaurant and Guest House. Sourcing ingredients from their own small-holding and from friends and farming in the surrounding valleys.
Glebe will be bringing a selection of their baked culinary delights and seasonal treats from their larder and kitchen garden.
These boys know how to cook pizza! Local and good friends of Castlewood Wine Festival, the Rebel Town Pizza boys used to bring their pizza oven to the festival on a JCB! They now have a more transportable version, designed and built with festivals in mind. Their authentic home-made clay oven reaches temperatures in excess of 800degrees, enabling them to cook a pizza in less than 90seconds. The extreme heat produces a crispy base but with a light fluffy texture on the inside.
Rebel Town Pizza produce all their own dough, hand stretching and throwing each individual base to create a traditional thin crust pizza. Carefully selecting only the finest of ingredients for homemade pizza sauces that are simply irresistible. Looking forward to seeing them in action!
Based in Colyton and boasting the best coffee in the area, Finn Coffee will be bringing their converted horse box to the campsite on Sunday morning. Serving freshly ground locally roasted coffee and pastries to all those weary heads!
A female-founded, Westcountry based speciality coffee van, in a converted Landrover Defender 110, founded by a determination that seeking what we enjoy the most shouldn’t compromise on taste or our health or wellbeing and a belief that coffee can be so much more than a morning pick-up or a caffeine fix
Wavi Coffee was an idea brewed by the sea, by two Devon based food & drink content and marketing pro’s, with a shared love of the beach, ocean, yoga & surfing coupled with a heart-led passion for great tasting ethical coffee & sustainable, quality Southwest food.
DRINK
This year we will be drinking Castlewood from an array of vintages.
Our classic Brut Reserve is predominantly ’20, ‘21 vintages. Using reserve wines from these vastly differing vintages helps build complexity to the blend and a subtlety that only age can bring.
Vintage sparkling wines include our 2020 Blanc de Blanc and 2021 Rose Brut.
Still wines include 2021 Rose, 2022 Devon Minnow and the long awaited release of Artefact 2022.
2020 was a beautiful summer of record breaking growing degree days. Yields were just above average which lead to very balanced fruit in terms of sugar content and acidity. A great year for Chardonnay, which allowed us to develop an age-worthy Blanc de Blanc in barrel prior to bottling for secondary fermentation.
2021 started cold with budburst taking place towards the end of April. Yields were modest, which we were thankful of as ripening would have been tricky with more fruit on the vine. Harvest started at the beginning of October, just prior to the Atlantic lows really taking hold. Resultant wines are crisp, and very true to their cool climate varietal characteristics.
2022 was a drought year, early April budburst and consistent warm dry weather throughout. Powdery Mildew pressure was high but open canopies, low yields and small bunches helped keep the disease away. Very high sugars and low yields ensued resulting in incredibly concentrated ripe grapes and very exciting wines.
Sandridge Barton’s history stretches back over 40 years, being one of the earliest pioneers of the English wine industry. Formerly Sharpham Wine, a new vineyard was planted just 3km down river in 2008.
The vineyard boasts breath-taking views across the Dart Valley, benefitting from the warming influence of the tidal river. In 2020 a state of the art winery was purpose built. Proudly employing both modern and traditional approaches, they are now fermenting nearly all their wines with indigenous yeast.
Charlie from the team will be joining us on stage for a guided tasting, we can’t wait to taste their latest release.
While most UK estates look to Reims and Epernay for inspiration Danbury directed its focus towards grower wines and smaller domaines.
Regarded as one of the best wine producers in the UK we are so fortunate to have secured an allocation of their 2021 Chardonnay for this year’s festival.
Danbury Ridge, located in the Crouch Valley, Essex is bottling wines that critics have already favourably compared to some of the finest addresses in the world.
Located in the heart of the beautiful Yeo Valley in Somerset, Ingrid grows both Regent and Seyval Blanc grape varieties. We’ll be pouring her still Rose, each vintage celebrates Bristol’s vibrant music scene by showcasing artists on the labels. There is even a piece of music written to pair with each wine!
Offbeat Wines was established with a simple aim – to produce pure, unadulterated and enjoyable English wines.
Based in Salisbury, Daniel Ham works with small growers who take a considerate approach in the vineyard, avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals and doing the majority of work by hand. The journey from grape to glass is also kept as simple as possible, employing age-old winemaking techniques and minimising inputs. All wines are fermented spontaneously, never fined or filtered.
Blackbook is the first solo project from winemaker, Sergio Verrillo, and his wife Lynsey. They are both passionate Londoners and passionate oenophiles who have long held the dream of starting an urban winery in London which can stand alongside many of the great wineries around the globe.
They are an urban winery located in a railway arch in Battersea, a stone's throw from Battersea Park in south London. The grapes are sourced from growers within hours of the city, carefully selected for their well-located vineyards and high quality grapes. Their ethos embraces a single fundamental goal: to make bloody good wine.
The Blackbook range is small batch and dependent on availability, we look forward to showcasing their current vintages.
Relentlessly driven by the potential of what our industry can achieve, Lyme Bay strive to make the best wine, from the best grapes, from the best growers. Grapes are selected from growers from across the country. The wines they craft reflect a natural affinity to the south west’s renowned fish dishes and coastal vistas, both in style and character. The result; a range of still and sparkling English Wines that have captured the imagination of many and achieved incredible international award success. A full selection of Lyme Bay’s wines will be available both by the glass and bottle.
Good friends of Castlewood Vineyard, Dalwood Vineyard are just a stone’s throw away, in a neighbouring village. Growing a selection of both still and sparkling wine varieties, Dalwood Vineyard are in their 13th year of production. Comprising of a group of 4 friends, all brimming with community spirit. Dalwood vineyard will be showcasing their newly released 2023 still wine.
Swanaford Estate is a small, family vineyard hand-crafting superb sparkling and still wines on south east-facing slopes of the Teign Valley, six miles to the south west of Exeter. We’ll be showcasing their Estate White, a crisp, fresh and fruity wine, aromatic and dry. Made from a blend of Siegerrebe and Schonberger grapes, it has hints of lychee, passion fruit and peaches.
Four mates with an overwhelming desire to brew great craft beer right here on the Jurassic Coast. Lyme Regis Brewery are creating exciting beers made from locally sourced ingredients their lager will be available on tap in the main stage area and we’ll be pouring their draft beers next to the Brewery Stage
Otter Brewery sits up high in the Blackdown Hills. Their thatched farmhouse at the heart of the brewery dates back to 1806 and the water used for brewing is drawn directly from the head springs of the River Otter. We’ll be serving a selection of their cask ales, including the ever popular Otter Amber.
Polly Hilton of Find & Foster’s aim is to reveal the quality potential of old orchards that we foster in Devon, while cultivating, nurturing and encouraging them to thrive. At Find & Foster they work with farmers to help breathe life back into moribund orchards on their farms; to prevent further decline and the extinction of important local apple varieties.
There will be a selection of Find & Foster’s current releases of both Methode Traditionelle and Pet Nat ciders available buy the bottle.
Harry’s cider farm is situated right in the heart of Somerset cider country. There’ll be a range of their bottled cider including Harry’s Original, Dabinett & Applemoor.
Cider has been made at Burrow Hill for over 300 years and their Cider Brandy for over 30 years.
The Temperley family’s vision long term is to be sustainable and small, protecting their farm’s unique and bio diverse environment through regenerative farming. Both Burrow Hill and Cider Bus sparkling ciders will be available.