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Wine lovers and foodies should book a romantic weekend at The Vineyard hotel, a haven in rural Berkshire advises JANE SLADE

Regular as clockwork a buttercup-yellow Ferrari zooms into the car park. The Italian owner, who has a classic car for each season and even a model for rainy days, never misses Sunday lunch at The Vineyard, a food and wine haven near Newbury.

Fortunately, despite its five-star luxury status, you don’t have to own a Ferrari to afford a meal or a stay here.

The Vineyard is a modern yet understated emporium for discerning types. Think contemporary styled hotel with traditional low-tech elements.Wine-cellar

All the drama and focus is reserved for the wine and food. Nothing is allowed to detract from that and everything’s purpose is to enhance what you eat and drink. Even the prestigious art collection evokes names reminiscent of alcoholic drinks.

There are several works by the Russian watercolourist Boris Smirnoff for example, including a display of cork screws.

The spacious bar area with comfy sofas round the fireplace is tasteful and classy. The focus is on the twinkly-lit bar resembling a little theatre set of exotic perfume bottles rather than racks of booze.

The owner’s love of theatre is obvious in his artistic taste of scenes painted by set designer Doris Zinkeisen, British painter Charles Hardaker and French modern artist Paul Collomb.

There is wit and fun everywhere if you look for it from the amuses bouches on your plate to the Red Grape shampoo in your room.

Reception-area-and-vaultThe hotel’s wow factor hits you the moment you walk into the foyer where a dramatic transparent floor almost engulfs you, looking down into the wine cellar – home to 30,000 bottles, 3,000 bins and 100 wines by the glass. If you weren’t sure about the hotel’s USP before you will as soon as your arrive.

The owner of the Vineyard is Sir Peter Michael, founder and chairman of Classic FM, and also owner of Donnington Valley Hotel & Spa in Newbury and the Peter Michael Winery in California. Many wines are from his estate in America but you don’t have to be a wine expert to drink here.

Our lovely French sommelier didn’t look disdainful when I mistook a delicious French dessert wine for a sweet Californian but then I prefer drinking it than learning about it.

No fewer than six sommeliers wandered the dining room while we had dinner so there was no shortage of expert guidance when we needed it. Our seven-course meal was out of this world. My husband is a real foodie and declared that the only time he had dined as well had been in a three Michelin star restaurant.

The Chef at the Vineyard is Daniel Galmiche, a regular on the BBC food programme Saturday Kitchen and author of several cookery books.Loin-of-lamb-confit-aubergine

Our  menu comprised: parsley root veloute, guinea fowl terrine, Lime Bay skate wing, brill, duck breast, concluding with dark chocolate with green tea and passion fruit and mulled wine sorbet. We drank 12 wines (six pairing wines) from France and America. We had such fun deciding which ones we preferred and were amazed how different each tasted with the food.

There were plenty of menu choices depending on your budget; but our tasting one was designed for gastronomes rather than faddy types.

The menus are constantly changing and this summer there is a mouth-watering, seven-course tasting menu priced at £89.

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We had a spacious suite decorated in soft greens and beiges with views onto the golf course.

We also had two televisions and even two loos and woke to birdsong from robins, blue tits, chaffinches and goldfinches.

Just over an hour from the centre of London, the Vineyard makes a wonderful escape for an indulgent weekend. And when you’ve reached your gastronomic peak you can relax in the spa which has an indoor pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room.The-Vineyard-Spa

It’s simply bliss in summer when the floor-to-ceiling windows are thrown back so you can gaze on the sheep grazing in the fields. I also had a much-needed Enviro-recovery facial to set me up for the week ahead.

You can easily while away the hours at the Vineyard ignoring the world outside. And if you forget to bring a book you can just read the wine list; it will keep you engaged for days!

A night at The Vineyard is priced from £235.00 for a luxury double room for two guests sharing including breakfast.

www.the-vineyard.co.uk /01635 528770

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