Following their visit to Bluestone earlier on Friday (February 7), local AM Angela Burns and Welsh Conservative leader Paul Davies stopped off at the Velfrey Vineyard, near Lampeter Velfrey.

There they met Andy, Fiona and Ryan Mounsey who all run the business in the garden lodge which overlooks the vineyard.

The building which was built by Polar Lodges in Pembroke Dock was installed in September 2019.

Once the business is up and running, the garden lodge will be used as a place to sell the wine to the general public.

Members from the Welsh Assembly heard from owner Mr. Mounsey that the business came about in 2016 after they first tried to run a sheep business.

Unfortunately, this didn’t work out, but the land that was acquired was perfect to build a vineyard.

“We found that the site that we bought with sheep in mind was ideally suited to vineyards and ticked all the boxes,” explained Andy Mounsey.

“Not being too far above sea level, but not too close to the coast, south facing, sloping with a shelter.

“The only trouble we had was drainage hadn’t been sorted, but drainage is all the things that needs to be right about the site.”

After sub-soiling and ploughing, the site was fertilised, with the business planting its first vines in May 2017.

Then in October 2019, Velfrey Vineyard invited 40 people from the local community where they harvested over half-a-ton of grapes.

Last January, the enterprise took another giant leap forward when they tasted their very own white wine for the first time.

Following another harvest due in October 2020, the wine will hopefully be on sale towards the end of 2021.

Speaking after the visit, Welsh Conservative Assembly Member for South Pembrokeshire and West Carmarthenshire, Angela Burns, said: “This is a fabulous two-acre vineyard, beautifully planted, beautifully presented with a really dedicated family behind it.

“I just couldn’t believe it to be honest with you, you’re driving along, then in this fold of land is something that looks like it has stepped out of France or Italy.

“In just over a year we will have the first of the bottles running off the production line.

“It goes to show that you can have a dream and follow it, this place is an example of just that.

“What an achievement for this brand new enterprise.”

Paul Davies AM added: “I’m so delighted that a business like this has actually been established here in Lampeter Velfrey.

“This is a fantastic business from what they’ve been telling me, they’ve established this business by chance effectively.

“They’re growing their business and it’s great to see a business like this based here in Pembrokeshire.

“Not only is this business contributing to the local economy, it’s actually bringing the community together as well.”

Velfrey Vineyard owner, Andy Mounsey, said: “It was nice to have people on site and having a look at what we’ve done giving us feedback.

“They (the AMs) seemed very impressed, which is always good to hear, especially nice to hear their thoughts about the involvement of the community as well, which is really pleasing.”

As mentioned previously, the business looked for help from the local community.

Doing this undoubtedly brought the community together, in fact after sending the invites through Facebook and a local circular email, Mr. Mousey said they almost had to turn people away due to the sheer number of people who were interested.

On this, Ms. Burns AM, said: “ I think there’s so much that’s been used to divide us, things like this pull us back together and remind us that we are all people, we’re all together, we lend a helping hand. You’re my next door neighbour, you need help, I’m going to help you.

“The local community rode in behind them so much when it came to harvest, they (the family) had a harvest supper to thank them and people are saying next year they want to be part of it.

“It’s like an old-fashioned getting together of the community and they all got together on a great day to pick those grapes.

“It really does hark back to a time when people were community orientated and wanted to see success in their local community.”

Mr. Mounsey, said: “We’ve had a lot of support and interest, the harvest was the first time that we’ve had such a number of people all coming in together.

“With it being our first time, we didn’t really know exactly the response that we could get.

"On the day they all showed up and what a fabulous occasion it was, they had such a lovely time.

“Not only were the people picking at the vineyard, we had one lady who was helping with the food that we put on and she works locally in the cafe in Whitland.

“She brought along her son who in his twenties who has Aspergers Syndrome and he was involved in the picking and he came up and he sat here and had his sandwiches with all the others and she (the mother) was so emotional to see her son having conversations with other people.

“It’s kind of unexpected things that we could never have anticipated, it’s all about bringing people together.