Century-old Cardiff Castle winery could be revived

Cardiff Castle could once again produce its own wine after more than 100 years of dormancy with the help of winemakers in Stuttgart.

Cardiff Castle

One of Wales’ most popular tourism attractions, the third Marquess of Bute – the world’s richest man in the 19th century – cultivated grapes within its grounds to produce wine more than 100 years ago.

Built underground, the winery was only discovered in the past decade, having lain dormant since the First World War. Production at the winery is believed to have ceased in 1914 because of sugar shortages.

Conservationist’s discovered the winery prior to a major restoration project at the castle, reopening it to the public in 2005.

Now the leader of Cardiff Council, Phil Bale, wants to plant a vineyard in its grounds and bring the century-old winery back into use, with the help of winemakers in Stuttgart, Cardiff’s twinned city.

As reported by WalesOnline.co.uk, the city of Stuttgart produces thousands of bottles of wine a year from a publicly-owned vineyard, a model Cardiff Council is hoping to replicate.

A delegation is to visit Cardiff tomorrow in order to discuss the proposals to mark the 60th anniversary of a twinning arrangement between the two cities. If successful, Cardiff Castle could once again start producing wine again after more than a century. Any wine produced would of course be on a small production run, but could serve as a useful marketing too for the city.