God Save the Sparkling...!!!
You will be probably surprised but Great Britain not only produces great whiskies and amazing beers!! Not only!!... GB produces wine as well.
Never has English wine been so widely discussed.
Many vineyards are planted in the UK. The climate and the soil allow English winemakers to produce great white wines. They produce some red too but the quality is not also renowned as for the whites.
English wine is officially a hot topic. Does the quality justify all this recent publicity? In the case of the sparkling wines, yes.
The main vineyards of sparkling wine are close to South-East coast, in the Kent, Sussex, and Surrey. The soil is chalk and limestone, so it’s really similar to that of Champagne. That allows English sparkling wines to be real competitors to Champagne.
Sparkling is, without doubt, the style that will dominate the new era for English making.
In 2009, 50% of the total production was for sparkling wine. English producers are planting Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. These grape varieties will take a much higher percentage in the near future.
An English sparkling won the 1st Prize of an International Competition in front of Champagne Bollinger and Louis Roederer.
The Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvee 2003 was the leader of this blind tasting, organised by an Italian magazine: Euposia.
Coates & Seely, producers of sparkling in Hampshire (South England), added the designation “Britagne” on their bottles (contraction of Britain and Champagne). They hope that in 10, 20 or 100 years, the customer will ask naturally a glass of Britagne to the barman.
With all this publicity about English sparkling and the proof of their high quality, English sparkling seems to be the best which rivals Champagne in style, quality and price.
It’s time to raise our glass to their success!!!!