Fizz for sparkling Christmas parties

Your guide to the best wines for the festive season begins here.

If you’re planning on a Christmas drinks party, then bubbles have to be part of the picture. Here are some of my sure fire hits that won’t have your guests looking for the nearest pot plant to empty their drinks into – but which won’t be overly demanding on the pocket either.

I’ve also included some more expensive recommendations that might be a stretch for a party budget, but that I would certainly be happy to sip or to serve on any occasion over Christmas.

Sparkling Chardonnay Crémant du Jura - £7.49, Aldi

This has to be one of the best sparkling wine bargains around – and the fact that is has been included by the Association of Wine Educators as one of their 100 AWEsome Wines 2016 (see http://www.wineeducators.com/100-awesome-wines/ for the full downloadable list) tells you that it punches well above its weight. Light, fresh, fine sparkling wine made in the same way as Champagne from the little-known Jura region in eastern France.

Franciacorta Brut - £8.99, Lidl

This is part of Lidl’s Christmas collection, one of their “when it’s gone it’s gone” selections. It has lovely creamy mousse and appley fruit, a touch riper than Champagne, coming as it does from northern Italy.

Calvet Crémant de Bordeaux Brut Rosé - £11.99, Ocado

Pink bubbles certainly help to make everything more festive and this bottle, made from Cabernet Franc, has a lovely creamy mousse and a refreshing leafy edge to the fruit.

Montes Sparking Angel Brut NV - £15.50, Oddbins

This is a blend of two of the traditional Chamapagne varieties, Pinor Noir and Chardonnay, and is made in the same way as Champagne. But the warmer Chilean climate makes for riper fruit flavours, along with toasty, nutty almond and even a hint of marmalade.

Definition Blanc de Blancs Champagne NV - £19.99 (mix six price), Majestic

I love the pure Chardonnay fruit, mineral finish, and the classic Blanc de Blancs profile of this Majestic own label Champagne. But I really don’t care for the actual label, so this is perhaps best kept in the ice bucket when not being poured.

Greyfriars Rosé Reserve 2013 - £21 from greyfriarsvineyard.co.uk

Keep it local with this award winning traditional method English fizz, made from vines grown on the Hog’s Back south of Guildford. Finely structured with poise and precision.

Furleigh Estate Dorset Coast Special Reserve NV - £22.50, Waitrose

Another English sparkler, this time from Dorset. Aromas of shortbread, peaches and cream lead onto a lively, fruity palate.

Waitrose Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut NV - £22.99, Waitrose

Good depth of flavour, nice linearity and an underlying minerality mean that this Champagne tastes much more expensive than it is.

Champagne Oudinot Brut 2008 - £30, M&S

Like all its wines, this Champagne is exclusive to M&S and delivers rich, savoury, egg-custard and baked apple fruit. The full flavours make this one for the table rather than an aperitif.

Champagne Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs 2007 Grand Cru - £33.99, Waitrose

Really lovely stuff, with pretty fruit, length and elegance, along with those bready, yeasty flavours that denote lengthy ageing on the lees.

The state of the (English wine) nation

Every year London hosts the English Wine Producers’ tasting, featuring hundreds of English - and Welsh - wine, though no Scottish wine (yet) that I’m aware of. I manage to get along to the tasting most years and there is no denying that the overall quality of the wines on show is getting better and better as the years pass.

Proof, if any were needed, that English sparkling wine is really coming of age, is that the Champenois have a bit of a bee in their bonnet about it. Last year, apparently, they were all abuzz about the threat of Prosecco; this year, it’s English fizz that is exercising them. And I’ve already written about Champagne Taittinger’s investment in vineyard land in a joint venture in Kent (see Surrey Advertiser 22 April edition or read it online here: http://yourliquidassets.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-irrestistible-rise-of-english-wines.html.

Some styles of wine are always going to be a challenge to produce in the UK: it’s just not possible to reliably make red wines in our cool climate. There are usually some red wines made, somewhere in England, every year. But it’s unusual for the same producer to be able to make a red wine, year in , year out.

New World winemakers often talk about some of their wines coming from cool climates, but it’s all relative. They should stand in an English vineyard on the North Downs in March if they want to know what cool climate really means.

Still white and rosé wines are a much safer bet in our climate, but it is, still, the sparkling wines that are England’s vinous crowning glory.

My thoughts following the English Wine Producers’ tasting this year:

• Red wines, even in the favourable conditions of 2014, are still a niche style (together red and rosé wines account for just 10% of total production).
• English still rosés do best when they do not try to copy other countries, but develop their own style, with the emphasis on delicate, red fruit, a tiny bit of sweetness to balance the crisp acidity and lowish alcohol.
• There remain too many still white wines that are rather lollyish and floral – a legacy of using Germanic hybrid grape varieties designed to withstand the cold weather.
• Sparkling wines are still the pinnacle of our national wine scene, witnessed by the huge medal haul achieved in international competition this year. Some of the best producers have been at it for a while (such as Nyetimber and Ridgeview), but there are some really exciting newcomers too, including Hattingley Valley and Exton Park.

Here is a smattering of some of my favourite wines from the tasting:

Greyfriars Pinot Gris 2014 - £13.50, available from the vineyard/online

Mike and Hilary Wagstaff took over this vineyard in 2010 and have been focused on growth and quality improvements ever since. This has lovely Pinot Gris juicy stone fruit with a touch of spice. It’s low in alcohol (11.5%) and pleasingly dry. Check out their sparkling Blanc de Blancs too.

Chapel Down English Rose 2015 - £10.49 from Majestic, £10.99 from Waitrose and elsewhere

I think the Rose – not Rosé – in the name is quite intentional. Chapel Down are a long-established name in the English wine scene and manage to make consistently good still wines, as well as sparkling. This Pinot Noir dominant blend makes for a lovely combination of strawberry fruit and a whiff of English hedgerows in Maytime.

Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2010 – widely available at around £33

One of the pioneers and still showing its class. I like the way they release their wines with a bit of age – the naturally high acidity in English wine means they benefit from the mellowing effect of more time maturing on the lees and in the cellar before drinking. This is a blend of the classic Champagne varieties of Pinot Noir (just over half the blend), with Chardonnay and a little Pinot Meunier. It’s a classically rich style with baked apple and bready flavours.

Where to find English wines

English wine lovers should get themselves to a branch of Waitrose or Marks & Spencer. Both have been supporters for a while, but are both in the process of radically increasing the number of English wines on their shelves.

English Wine Week

You can get up close and personal with English wines during English Wine Week, which takes place from Saturday 28^th May to Sunday 5^th June. Details of events, vineyard open days and more can be found here: http://www.englishwineproducers.co.uk/news/eww/

The irrestistible rise of English wines

Something happened a few months ago, back in the dark days of December, something that had been whispered about for years. If you aren’t a keen follower of UK wine trade news you might have missed it, but the fact is that a Champagne house has finally invested in English vineyard land.

Taittinger, one of the most well-respected family-owned Champagne houses, has purchased 69 hectares of land in Kent, which will be planted with the three classic Champagne varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, with the aim of eventually producing 300,000 bottles a year of sparkling wine to be marketed under the name Domaine Evremond. Taittinger is the largest investor in the project, which also involves Hatch Mansfield, their UK importer, as well as other investors.

While the launch of a new English vineyard dedicated to producing high quality sparkling wine is not exactly news nowadays, the fact that the money and expertise behind it comes from Champagne itself is highly significant. For English wine production to gain the seal of approval of a major Champagne name marks an important milestone for the industry.

Overseas investment by the Champenois is not new: Champagne houses have expanded their businesses and extended their brands by investing in the New World over the past decades. For example, Roederer Quartet is Champagne Louis Roederer’s Californian venture; Moët & Chandon has established Domaine Chandon in Australia and Chandon in California. Rumours have swirled around the English wine industry of interest from our friends across the Channel, but, until now, that’s all they have been.

As well as appreciating the boost that outside investment provides for our home-grown wines, we should also recognise the financial realities behind this decision to invest in English vineyards – it’s a pre-requisite that the investors have to believe in the potential to make a high quality product which will be worthy of the Champagne Taittinger name. But it is also true that expanding production via investment in this country is considerably easier and cheaper than it is back in Champagne. There, a hectare of land will cost in excess of 1 million Euros, up to 1.8 million Euros for the very best, Grand Cru, sites. Compare that with an average price here of around £25,000 (a little over 31,000 Euros). Though we don’t know how much Taittinger and the other investors paid for their particular patch of Kent apple orchard, and it is reported to amount to a multi million pound investment over ten years, it will still be many times cheaper than the equivalent in Champagne.

In addition, the currently approved land which is authorised to grow grapes for Champagne is in effect fully planted, so there is just not the same opportunity to buy vineyard land there in the first place. And when a Champagne grower wants to sell up, it’s a seller’s market, hence the stratospheric prices.

So Taittinger’s investment in old Blighty is in part a touching act of faith in the long term potential for English wine – but it is also a hard-headed, prudent way for a growing business to expand in a financially viable way.  As for the wine itself, it will be a decade or more before we get to taste the fruits of Domaine Evremond – sparkling wine is a game that requires both deep pockets and patience.

Sparkling English success stories

It’s no longer news that English wines are growing in stature with every passing year. Sparkling wines, especially, continue to set the pace and I was bowled over recently with the quality and consistency of the sparkling wines I tasted at the annual English Wine Producers’ event. But don’t just take my word for it - English wines have already scooped up plenty of medals at major competitions this year, with surely more to come.

Stories are circulating about a looming shortage of Prosecco, which I would take with a large pinch of salt, but if they do materialise, there is plenty of English fizz to fill the gap, with production up to 6.3 million bottles last year. And this figure will only rise, as more vineyards enter production.

Below are some old favourites and some new (to me at least) discoveries:

Hambledon Classic Cuvée NV – £29.95 from Berry Brothers

This Chardonnay dominated blend from Hampshire based Hambledon Vineyard combines complexity and linearity with delicious baked apple maturing Chardonnay character. It scooped a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge and that competition’s English Non Vintage trophy.

Hattingley Valley Classic Cuvée 2010 – £29.95 from slurp.co.uk and The Wine Reserve (Cobham)

Another Hampshire vineyard, and all of whose wines I rate, has done well on the medal front – this also scored Gold at the International Wine Challenge. It is 90% Chardonnay, has lovely, long-lasting flavour and is, according to my tasting note, “quite delicious”.

High Clandon The Succession Cuvée 2009 – not commercially available

This is a bittersweet success story for Surrey-based, tiny producers Bruce and Sibylla Tindale. Their 1-acre vineyard has produced a wine judged worthy of a Gold medal at the International Wine Challenge (as well as Bronze at the Decanter World Wine Awards and Gold at the Sommelier Wine Awards) – but sadly, they have none available to sell as their stock was stolen from its bonded warehouse earlier this year. You can, however, get a taste of High Clandon, as the Tindales will be launching their 2010 Magna Carta Cuvée this month.

Wines to match the season

English asparagus has hit the greengrocer’s shelves and Jersey Royal potatoes will soon be joined by mainland British new potatoes – the hungry gap is well and truly over and we can soon look forward to more delicious, fresh and local produce.

And to drink?

Fashionable it ain’t, but Muscadet is just right for the season – fresh, vibrant and with a slight tang that is redolent of the sea. Château du Cléray Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine sur lie 2013 (£9.99 or 8.49 from Majestic on their mix and match any two offer) is a classy example which goes well with asparagus, pan fried salmon and the like.

Gaillac Perlé is an interesting wine style created in the 20^th century in the Gaillac region of Southwest France. It’s lightly sparkling (but not enough to require a Champagne-style bottle or cork) which adds to the sensation of freshness. And at around 11-12% alcohol, this is a perfect lunchtime glass. These wines are pretty consistent, whichever one you come across, but The Wine Society lists Esprit de Labastide Gaillac Blanc Perlé 2104 for £5.95, which is clean as a whistle and does the job nicely.

More patriotic would be something English (or Welsh). These wines are going from strength to strength.

Surrey’s own Denbie’s estate produces a wide range of wines, including their Whitedowns Cuvée (£21.99 from Denbie’s online shop, £17.99 from Waitrose, also available elsewhere), a blend of Chardonnay, Seyval Blanc and Reichensteiner. It’s youthful, light and frothy with a delicious combination of creaminess, lemon sherbet acidity and a hint of spice – perfect for an outdoor afternoon tea. 

Chapel Down’s Vintage Reserve Brut (£20.99 at Majestic and elsewhere, £20.79 at Waitrose) is a classic blend of the Champagne varieties, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier – with just a dash of Reichensteiner. It has a floral aroma and is a youthful, light, fresh and vibrant palate. 

Valentine's Day dilemmas

Once over the age of about sixteen, it seems, a handmade card will no longer suffice to show our devotion to the object of our affections. No, now it has come to mean handing over something along with the card – a gift seems to be in order.

What to get your Valentine?

Handbag? As my husband is doubtless painfully aware, even I can’t find the perfect handbag for myself, despite putting years (and pounds) into the search. What, seriously, are the chances of you doing it, just like that? However, if you are confident that this is where your strengths lie, go right ahead – and please, get in touch with me, as I would love to glean some of your handbaggy wisdom.

Underwear? Fraught with dangers, this. It must strike the right balance between sexiness, sluttiness and wearability. Get it wrong and you could be facing the cold shoulder. And if you get the size wrong (and there are so many ways it can be wrong) – well, all sorts of troubles await. Best avoided in my opinion.

Jewellery? Can be a good solution, but potentially spendy if you want to avoid anything too High Street.

Eat out? The most painfully, quietly strained atmosphere prevails across restaurants on the night of the 14^th  February, as couples face each other across tables, over a variety of pink-themed plates of food, wondering why on earth they’re shelling out a small fortune for the privilege. I think you can see where I stand on this one.

Fancy box of chocs? Who doesn’t like to get a nice box of chocolates? This is a no brainer – tick.

Nice bottle of wine? Has to be the easy option doesn’t it? Any thoughts of Dry January are thankfully long past, it’s bound to be welcome, it can demonstrate your thoughtfulness - and you get to share it. Perfect, no?

Champagne

This is always going to be a classy choice and you will never be short of options that transmit the message you’re trying to send.

Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve NV, around £36-£42, is something of a wine trade secret. This full-flavoured but elegant Champagne can see you through from aperitif to main course. What it says: “I’ve been around long enough to know what’s what. You’re in good hands.”

Gosset Grande Réserve, around £50 has delicacy but depth of flavour and is always delicious; a good choice if you’re heading out afterwards, or will be a delight with lighter, seafoody dishes. What it says: “I’m serious about having fun.”

There is one luxury Champagne cuvée that is practically made for Valentine’s Day – Perrier-Jouët Belle Eqpoque, with its Art Nouveau inspired decorative bottle. At £130 for the 2006 vintage from Waitrose it’s not something to knock back casually, but such a beautiful object is surely worth keeping as a reminder of your romantic largesse (no sniggering at the back), so it shouldn’t be consigned to the recycling bin within days either. What it says: “I’m a hopeless (and now skint) romantic.”

Pink fizz

Drinking pink for Valentine’s Day may not count as startlingly original. But then Valentine’s Day itself is nothing if not a cliché, so now is not the time to worry about making a well-worn wine choice. Just go with the flow.

Rosé Champagne, by any objective measure, cannot justify its premium price tag, as it is in most cases just the regular cuvée with a little red wine blended into it. However, objectivity be damned, Champagne says special occasion, ergo pink Champagne says it, with knobs on.

I’m a fan of Bollinger Grande Année Rosé – 2004 is the current vintage and you can expect to pay in excess of £85 for a bottle, but check out www.wine-searcher.com for the best deals. What it says: “Purrrrr.”

Jacquart Brut Mosaïque Rosé NV, usually £30 from Sainsbury’s but down to £25 for Valentine’s, is a canny choice: a pretty pink and good quality fizz made by a switched-on co-operative with a dynamic winemaker. What it says: “I know a good thing when I see it.”

Nyetimber Rosé NV, £45 from Waitrose and elsewhere, is one of English wine’s brightest stars. Any self-respecting English rose or red-blooded Englishman would be charmed by it. What it says: “Ding dong!” (in best Leslie Phillips voice).

San Leo Rosato NV, on offer at £6.99 at Waitrose, is a fun and frothy Italian that puts a smile on the face of the cash-strapped and lovestruck. What it says: “I’m cheap but cheerful.”

It was a very good year...

Autumn may well and truly be upon us now: the horrors of Halloween are past and the final squib of Bonfire Night has squeaked its last.  Before all that, though, Surrey’s vineyards were enjoying what may well be remembered as an almost perfect year.

What made it so good? It’s all about the weather. You might recall that we had an early and warm Spring this year, which coaxed the vines into budburst and there were no late snap frosts to damage this early growth. We did have quite a lot of rain too, but it came at about the right time to provide water during vine development. The early Summer was warm and sunny and, despite August being rather grey and cool, the sun came out again in the critical ripening period of September into October. 

To quote Nick Wenman of Albury Vineyard “If you can’t make good wine this year, you never will.”

Chris White, General Manager at Denbies, Surrey’s best known vineyard and the largest single site vineyard in the country, has even been quoted as talking of 2014 as “one in a century”. I think that kind of speculative hyperbole is best left to the Bordelais, who seem to announce the “vintage of the century” about once a decade.

John Worontschak, Chief Winemaker at Litmus Wines, who actually make the wine at Denbies does, however, confirm that they have harvested a “massive crop”, their biggest ever, of high quality fruit. In fact, as I write, the harvest is not quite finished, as some botrytis-affected (that’s the right kind of rot) grapes will be picked next week to make a late harvest dessert wine. They will also be making some still red from Pinot Noir, the only noble black variety which tends to perform well in the UK – when conditions are right.

The picture is broadly similar across England, with many vineyards reporting record harvests of, crucially, ripe and healthy grapes. In our marginal climate, achieving full ripeness is rarely possible – hence our success with sparkling wines, which require lowish alcohol and high acid grapes. This year, however, could mark a new high point for still wines of all colours.

Mike Wagstaff, co-owner of Greyfriars Vineyard on the Hog’s Back southeast of Guildford, reports a harvest of over 90 tonnes, getting on for double last year’s total. This kind of increase is driven primarily by the nearly 45,000 new vines planted since Mike and his business partner took over ownership of the vineyard in 2010. As well as the volume of grapes picked, he’s particularly pleased to see much higher levels of ripeness than in 2013 and good grape health – ie little in the way of the various sorts of rot which can bedevil English growers.

From this year’s harvest, Greyfriars will be making a range of sparkling wines: rosé from Pinot Noir and a classic cuvée blend. There may also be some still wines, which we can look forward to tasting next year.

Nick Wenman at Albury Vineyard has the additional challenge of using organic methods, which limit, for example, the treatments available to treat vines against rot. Professional pickers were busy completing the harvest in the sunshine when I visited on 22^nd October and the quality of the bunches looked good. Nick will be producing organic Silent Pool still rosé and a range of organic sparkling wines: a classic cuvée blend, a rosé and a blanc de blancs made from Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc.

But Nick is nothing if not adventurous and curious wine drinkers may get the chance to taste a biodynamic “Petillant naturel” wine from Albury next year. This style of wine, called “pet nat” for short, is made by allowing fermentation to start naturally and bottling the wine before it finishes. In theory the continuing fermentation will result in the production of carbon dioxide, which will dissolve in the wine as it cannot escape, thereby making the wine lightly sparkling. This is far from an exact science, however. Too much carbon dioxide and the bottles can explode; too little and the wine can be disappointingly flat.

The harvest at probably Surrey’s smallest commercial vineyard, High Clandon, is a blink and you’ll miss it affair. This year it began on the morning of 9^th October and was all over by lunchtime. Bruce and Sibylla Tindale tend this tiny 1-acre vineyard with loving care and attention and this year harvested a total of 3.6 tonnes of grapes, which should produce around 2,600 bottles of sparkling wine. Patience is required for would be drinkers of the wine though – it won’t be available until sometime in 2019.

Contact details:

 

Denbies is a visitor-friendly vineyard, with tours and tastings running every day, plus a restaurant and shop. http://www.denbies.co.uk/

The other vineyards mentioned are open by appointment only:

Greyfriars vineyard: http://www.greyfriarsvineyard.co.uk/

Albury vineyard: http://www.alburyvineyard.com/

High Clandon: http://www.highclandon.co.uk/

A taste of the Surrey Hills

Time was, English (and Welsh) wine was something to try for its novelty value. You didn’t expect it to taste much like wine as you knew it – and much of the time, that expectation was fulfilled.

In recent years, however, quality levels have shot up and consistently enjoyable wines from England and Wales are no longer a novelty. In fact, at a recent event to mark the launch of the Surrey Hills Trust Fund, I was challenged to select wines only from the Surrey Hills.

Eating locally grown produce is something we are all familiar with. Is it now possible to think about drinking locally in the same way?

Winemaking in the UK has a long history, which may date back to the time of the Romans. It is tempting to imagine our Romano-British ancestors reclining on their couches and knocking back locally produced wine, as they while complain about the state of the weather, bemoan the performance of their team in the chariot racing and ask the servants to turn up the hypocaust.

Archaeological evidence certainly exists for wine drinking, in the form of amphorae and drinking cups; as well as for viticulture. However, no evidence has yet been found of actual winemaking in Roman Britain, in the form of winery equipment, presses and so on, so they may have been downing Cuvée Asterix from Gaul rather than Vin de Pays de Surrey. 

Wine was certainly made in Britain from the late Saxon period onwards, though colder periods like the Little Ice Age (from around 1350-1850) will have wiped out some, if not all vineyards. Modern English winemaking began after the Second World War and plantings really took off from the mid 1990s, when we found that sparkling wine was where our strength lay.

The Surrey Hills are home to quality-focused sparkling wine producers including Greyfriars and High Clandon.

High Clandon

Sibylla and Bruce Tindale have planted a 1-acre vineyard in Clandon, with stunning views of London up to the Wembley arch and the Shard. They look after the vines and the wine itself is made by multi award-winning winemaker Sam Linter at Bolney Estate in Sussex.

They have just released their 2009 Succession Cuvée, a blend of just over half Chardonnay, with the remainder divided between Pinots Noir and Meunier. Over four years on its lees have given finesse and elegance to the Chardonnay fruit, with a floral hint on the nose and generous apple and spice on the palate.

They also made around a third of their (admittedly small) production as Ultra Cuvée 2009, based on the same base wine and blend, but with a lower dosage at disgorgement. This makes for a drier wine, but also changes the feel of the wine in the mouth, with fine, minerally acidity and more precisely defined fruit.

Both cuvees are available for £29. To find out more and to buy the wine, go to http://www.highclandon.co.uk/.

Greyfriars Vineyard

Many of you will have driven past Greyfriars, on the Hog’s Back southwest of Guildford. For years I’ve thought what a fantastic spot this is for making wine – it has a southerly aspect and free draining chalk bedrock under a thin layer of soil. The original owners planted the first vines here in 1989, but Mike Wagstaff and his business partner took over in 2010 and have vastly expanded the plantings and are producing high quality wines which really do justice to the site.

They are shortly to release two wines:

Greyfriars Rosé Reserve 2012

A blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which has spent nine months on its lees, retaining delicious fresh flavours of cream, blossom and peach, with a twist of pink peppercorn.

Greyfriars Blanc de Blancs 2011

A 100% Chardonnay, some of which was fermented in old oak barrels, and which has spent 21 months on its lees. I found this delightfully fresh with a hint of fresh ginger and breadiness on the nose and with a light bodied elegance.  

http://www.greyfriarsvineyard.co.uk/

Sparkling wines are definitely the stars of the English wine scene, but Surrey man (or woman) cannot live by fizz alone, and there are high quality still wines to choose from.

Albury Organic Vineyard Silent Pool Rosé 2013

Nick Wenman’s master plan is to produce a high quality organic sparkling wine from his vineyard across the A25 from Albury, just above Silent Pool.

His first vintage of sparkling wine will, he hopes, be released by the end of this year. However, in the meantime, he has made a bit of a splash with his still rosé. Serendipitously, the inaugural vintage was selected to be served on the royal barge for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, whereafter it promptly sold out. The 2013 has just been released and is available at a number of retail outlets for around £14-15. It is a blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier with aromas and flavours of strawberries and cream and just a hint of fruit sweetness to balance the natural acidity.

http://www.alburyvineyard.com/

Element 20 2011

Denbies is a name familiar to most locals and is possibly the only English wine producer that most Surreyites would be able to name. They make a wide range of wines, including award-winning sparkling wines, many of which are available to buy on the High Street and in supermarkets.

Also made at Denbies, and made using at least some fruit from their vineyard, is this ambitious barrel-fermented blend of Chardonnay with a little Pinot Gris and Bacchus. A rich but dry style of wine with chalky minerality, spice and a long, elegant finish. This is an exciting wine, perhaps inspired by white Burgundy, but a uniquely English expression of the style. I love it, but am clearly not alone as it was awarded a Silver Medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards.

Available online and elsewhere for £20 a bottle: http://www.litmuswines.com/

So, can you now drink locally without sacrificing quality? I think that’s a yes.

"season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" may live up to its name

I can still see the 1970s TV advert in my mind’s eye:  dew spotted apples being harvested while the voiceover intoned “Autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.  The advert was promoting the “exceedingly good cakes” of Mr Kipling, so my adolescent brain made a connection between the line of verse and writer, poet and patriot Rudyard Kipling.  Did I also think he made cakes in his spare time?

Of course you all knew that the poem is by Keats, the opening line of his ode “To Autumn” and makes no mention of apple slices, fondant fancies or any other favourite of the cake magnate.

This year Autumn may live up to Keats’ breathless description as we are experiencing what naturalists call a “mast year”, where trees and other plants produce a bumper crop of fruit and seeds.  What exactly causes a mast year is not fully understood, but I can certainly vouch for the utterly ridiculous amount of acorns being deposited by the oak trees in our back garden; and I have already made a batch of bramble jelly and look forward to a good few blackberry and apple crumbles before the season is out.  Why, even our useless Egremont russet and pathetic pear have produced a crop this year.  Clearly something is afoot out in nature.

If you spent any time in this country in the summers of 2012 and 2011, you will appreciate that winemakers in England and Wales had a thin time of it in the past couple of years.  Cool, damp, grey summers do not make for large crops of healthy grapes.  Indeed last year Nyetimber, one of the foremost makers of English sparkling wine, decided to give up on a bad job and made no wine at all in 2012.  Growers desperately need a good year:  with the abundance of Mother Nature apparent all around us, will they get one?

 

Healthy, ripening grapes this week

Signs are good, so far.  Growers are reporting a potentially large harvest of healthy, ripe grapes.  Nick Wenman of Albury Organic Vineyard was able to show me Seyval Blanc, Pinots Noir and Meunier and Chardonnay all looking healthy and plentiful this week.  At the other end of the country, Bob Lindo of Camel Valley in Cornwall, one of the country’s largest commercial vineyards, reports a large crop of clean healthy grapes.  Sybilla Tindale of High Clandon Estate confirmed that her vineyard is full of healthy fat bunches of grapes.  All looks set for success.

 

Nick Wenman of Albury Organic Vineyard

Yet, at latitudes this far north, grapes are nowhere near fully ripe now.  We really need more warmth and sun in order to ripen the grapes and turn a potential harvest into vats of fermenting must in the winery.  Grape harvests here are likely to be towards the end of October – despite that lovely summer weather, which allowed the grapes to catch up a week or so after the setbacks of the long, cold spring and early summer, ripening is still 1-2 weeks behind schedule.  So now, as Sybilla Tindale says, the challenge will be to ripen those bunches.

"Bougies" - heaters ready in the vineyard just in case

Here are some wines to enjoy, while we wait:

Theale Vineyard Blanc de Blancs 2007 – made by Laithwaite’s, sadly not commercially available

I know, what a wind up – sorry! However, in case you should come across a bottle of this or another vintage, let nothing come between it and you.  This is a classy glass of fizz in anyone’s book.  Made from 100% Chardonnay and with plenty of textbook bottle aged character:  the nose is pure McVitie’s Digestive biscuit, with a hint of strawberry shortcake.  This leads onto a many-layered palate of appley fruit, fine and complex.   If someone gave me this and told me it was vintage Champagne, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid.

And what of Nick Wenman’s Albury Organic Vineyard?  The first commercial release of the estate’s sparkling wine is planned in time for Christmas 2014, so we have a while to wait to taste the fruits of his labour.  However, there should be (barring disaster in the next couple of weeks) some of his still wine, Silent Pool Rosé 2013 available from May 2014.  The entire vineyard is run organically, but Nick is also hoping to be able to produce a small proportion of biodynamic still rosé, an experiment that I would love to taste the results of.

High Clandon Queen’s Jubliee Cuvée 2008 - £29 from http://www.highclandon.co.uk

If you are big on sourcing locally then the sparkling wine from  this tiny property with just an acre of vines on a site facing north (and with fantastic views towards London), will be just up your street.  Owners Bruce and Sybilla Tindale are originally from South Africa and seemingly thought nothing of planting a vineyard in their grounds.  Their vineyard may be tiny but they’ve done things properly, studying wine-making at Plumpton College – and getting award-winning English winemaker Sam Linter (of Bolney Estate in Sussex) to make their wine.

The wine is a blend of the traditional three varieties used in Champagne:  Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.  The 2008, their first commercial release, spent nearly four years on the lees (ie ageing in the cellar post-fermentation), which is a key quality element for any traditional method sparkling wine.  The north-east facing site ensures marked citrus acidity in the wine, along with great length and persistence of flavour.

Sybilla is not a fan of the moniker “English sparkling wine” and favours Quintessence as a more evocative term which could be used instead.  Attempts have been made in the past to get winemakers to unite around names like Britagne (a non-starter if you ask me), but now that the Duchess of Cornwall herself has derided the term “English sparkling wine”, perhaps the time is ripe to make a change.

If you would like to suggest a new, more snappy name for English sparkling wine, please get in touch with me, heather@redwhiteandrose.co.uk.  It could be the start of something big.

In the meantime, it’s fingers crossed for fine, warm and dry weather for the next few weeks, so that in due course we can taste the sweet rewards of our mast year.