Summer wine survival kit

I do hope that writing about wines for summer weather will not put the kybosh on any sightings of the sun from now until September.

Now and next time I’ll provide you with a handy list of wines that should see you through summer for all sorts of occasions. Use that wine rack attachment in the fridge for its intended purpose and you’ll be ready for anything. This week: pinks to quench your thirst.

Think pink

Nothing says summer like rosé and, thanks to our enthusiasm for the style there is now a wider choice to buy than ever. Cheap rosés are in plentiful supply, but some guidance on the more pricey ones might be appreciated. I had the chance to taste (blind) some rosés ranging in price from £12 to £100 and these were some of my favourites.

Whispering Angel 2014 - £16.99 from The Wine Reserve, Cobham and other independents

A lot to pay for a bottle of rosé? Somehow we seem to think that rosés can never scale the heights of truly fine wine in the same way as white and red wines. Is rosé just too frivolous? Well try this and see what you think. This Provence rosé is pale and pretty, a blend of Grenache, Rolle (aka Vermentino, a white grape) and rosé specialist red grape Cinsault. I found it to be herbal and delicate, but with presence and length.

I also rated Château Léoube, Rosé de Léoube 2014 - £14.50 from organic specialists Vintage Roots; £14.95 from slurp.co.uk; also independent merchants. It typifies the “don’t try too hard” charm of Provençal rosés and has enough depth of flavour combined with freshness to make for great balance. 

Albury Silent Pool Rosé 2014 - £15 or thereabouts for stockists including Taurus Wines, Bramley and The Wine Reserve Cobham, see www.alburyvineyard.com

Made on the south-facing chalk slopes of the Downs near Guildford, 2014 is the best vintage yet of this organic wine. Made from classic Champagne varieties Pinots Noir and Meunier, it has lovely red fruit characters, citrussy acidity and real depth of flavour.

Williams Chase Rosé 2014 – £14-15 from The Good Wine Shop, Corks Out and Harvey Nichols, £13.50 from Tanners – also look out for magnums

This beautifully packaged rosé sounds English, but is very definitely French, from the Lubéron (Peter Mayle country for those old enough to remember him). I found a beguiling mix of asparagus and rose petal aromas with lovely freshness on the palate.

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.