New Forest hotel serves up Italian treats with online wine tasting

FOREIGN holidays may be off the agenda but the team at Lime Wood Hotel in Lyndhurst are hoping to share a small slice of Italy during a series of online wine-tasting evenings led by TV chef Angela Hartnett MBE and cooking partner Luke Holder.

The first evening, billed as a celebration of the Italian pre-meal aperitivo, will take place on the evening of Thursday 18th March and will include live and interactive tasting over Zoom, notes on the flavours, and recipes for nibbles to enjoy during the event.

Angela, who runs the Italian-inspired Hartnett Holder & Co (HH&Co) restaurant with Luke at Lime Wood, is currently one of the judges on BBC2’s Best Home Cook, alongside TV favourite Mary Berry, challenging celebrities to show off their non-professional kitchen skills.

She and Luke will be turning their expertise, with a little help from an Italian winemaker, towards a series of specially created lockdown events.

The first £96 wine-tasting ticket includes delivery of a case of four wines from the HH&Co collection comprising one white, one rose and two bottles of red, a bottle of Tenuta Fertuna Single Estate Tuscan olive oil and a bottle of Italian olive oil.

The event will be at 7pm-8.15pm – timed to celebrate the traditonal Italian aperitivo which marks the end of the working day and the chance to relax over a glass of wine or a light cocktail.

Angela and Luke have chosen this as the inspiration for the first of Lime Wood’s virtual wine-tasting series, alongside the HH&Co team.

The pair will be joined by hotel sommeliers Chris and Dan, restaurant manager James, and Paulo Rivella, the winemaker from Tenuta Fertuna winery which collaborates with the hotel to produce a special range of HH&Co wines.

Lime Wood spokesperson Amelia Bird said: “Angela’s Italian heritage and Luke’s time spent cooking in Italy have always influenced the menus at HH&Co, so it would only be right to venture onto Italian soil to bring their own red, white and rosé wine to life.

“This small secluded region in the south of Tuscany, the Maremma, is just one-and-a-half hours from Rome – an area with great wine-making potential that is fast becoming known for its high-quality wines.

“Separated by thick forests of chestnuts and sprawling green fields of olive groves and vineyards that stretch to the sea, the Maremma’s towns are immersed in a unique and rich history and culture, where everyone knows everyone and peace, quiet and good homemade food and wine are king.

“Fertuna Vineyard is located in the heart of the magnificent Maremma.”

Before the pandemic, Angela and Luke visited the Fertuna vineyard where they worked with manager and winemaker Mr Rivella to blend the special wines which will be sampled during the evening.

Amelia added: “About 5.5 hectares of the vineyard is also dedicated to another great Tuscan symbol, the olive tree; crafted from Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino olives.

“Angela and Luke were so impressed with the olive oil produced on the estate, without chemical manipulation or filtration, that they bottled some of that to bring home too.”

To book a place at the online wine tasting evening visit www.limewoodhotel.co.uk