English wine, pure and simple. And Welsh. Scottish, too, if there is such a thing. We're very much into the local product. We live in Sussex, in the deepest heart of the English wineland. We check out for interesting stories and new facts, and we do love a drop. If it's good, we'll glug
Actually that isn't such a surprise. There are loads of Brits nonchalantly cruising up and down Hollywood Boulevard, looking for their big break.
But an English wine is hard to come by round those parts, so this item from an LA Weekly wine blog caught the eye:
A gentle drop of Sussex in the wilds of Southern California
"At Bar Covell
I'd had advance word of an English wine they were pouring, and sought
it out. England is now home to more than 400 vineyards, many of which
are making sparkling wine in a climate that may be even more marginal
than Champagne. General Manager Matthew Kaner was able to track down a
few cases of the 2009 Cavendish bottling from Ridgeview Estate in Sussex
County from an East Coast purveyor.
"England is now home to more than 400 vineyards, but hardly any of
them are imported, and they're virtually unavailable now on the West
Coast -- so this was a debut, and a treat.
"The marginal climate on the south coastal reaches of the British Isle
guarantee a wine of bristling acidity, so much that it took a while for
my mouth to adjust; but when it did, I had in my glass a wine with one
of the more thrillingly racy textures I'd ever had, in any glass"
A man of decidely good taste, is drinks columnist Patrick Comiskey.
English wine - can it pass muster with the experts? A blind tasting was set up by Stephen Spurrier, the legendary wine expert who organized the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, which promoted the expansion of wine production in the new world.
In that remarkable tasting session the experts chose Californian wines in favour of French and caused an absolute uproar. This time, Mr Spurrier invited members of the influential Académie du Vin to Sussex, to blind test sparkling wines from local vinyards Nyetimber and Ridgeview.
Could they compete with their continental rivals? See for yourself what the experts said.
Good to know that one of our own from Chapel Down has found favour with the officials in charge of topping up the Government's wine cellars.
Chapel Down Bacchus 2010 – we'll have 2,400 bottles
They already have quite a few in store – around 38,000 bottles at last count, costing £857,000 when bought, but are now valued on the open market at £2,953,000.
French wines have proved to be most popular over the past year, Mark Simmonds, the Foreign Office minister said. However officials also bought 2,400 bottles of the English wine, Chapel Down Bacchus 2010.
In case there's any charge of favouritism for the home-grown product, the wine in the Government cellar is chosen through blind tasting by the Government Wine Committee, which is chaired by former diplomat Sir David Wright.
Chapel Down Bacchus Reserve 2010
"An aromatic kaleidoscope ranging from eldeflower to ginger by way of pear, passion fruit and plum." Bob Tyrer, The Sunday Times 30th October 2011.
Chapel Down Bacchus Reserve 2010
"Proof that England can do more than make excellent sparkling wines! A one trick pony we are not! With its mineralistic edge and well balanced acidity this is a very refreshing and impressive wine. Slight citrus and floral notes give it a playful edge. One of my guests even asked if this was a Chablis. Whilst this may equally be a reflection of his palate I’d prefer to see this as well deserved high praise for Chapel Down!" Richard Saxton, 'The Grapoed Crusader" 11 July 2011
Three Choirs Vineyard, near Newent, Gloucestershire
They say: A medium bodied red wine with a lovely ruby red
colour aromas of cherries and blackcurrant and just a hint of oak
Grapes used:Rondo and Regent - ‘we select varieties that we know will grow well
and give grapes of the highest possible quality’
The taster says:‘the aroma is quite subtle but very
pleasant, with notes of cranberry and raspberry. If you like a lighter style of
red this is a great choice, with a lovely blackberry, damson and elderberry
character’ Chris Larkin
Price: £9.15 a bottle; Discount 24 bottles - 10%; 36 bottles
- 15%; 48+ bottles - 20% from Three Choirs Vineyards, Newent, Glos
The peak year of English wine production in 2010 saw 4m
bottles produced. Sounds a lot, but is actually less wine than we consume each day in the UK. Some other figures:
Nyetimber produced 400,000 bottles of wine in its peak year
of 2009 on its 430 acre site
Vineyards cover 3,500 acres of English countryside: still
small in absolute terms – brussel sprouts occupy more than twice that – but
almost double the acreage of 2004.
The winemaker at the Furleigh Estate in Dorset named
Winemaker of the Year
– The Winemaker with the Highest Average Score for
Three Wines – at the English and Welsh Wine of the Year 2012 Competition, has 85 acres.
Furleigh Estate in Dorset: Winemaker of the Year 2012
Top 20 grape varieties planted in 2010 were:
Chardonnay 249.30 hectores 18.84%
of total
Pinot Noir 247.77
18.72
Bacchus 128.35
9.77
Seyval Blanc 92.99
7.02
Reichensteiner 85.38
6.45
Muller Thurgau 61.39
4.63
Pinot Meunier 52.58
3.97
Madeleine Angevine 47.03
3.55
Rondo (GM 6494/5) 44.91
3.39
Schonburger 42.03
3.17
Ortega 29.67
2.24
Pinot Blanc 21.34
1.61
Phoenix 21.19
1.60
Regent 19.49
1.47
Dornfelder 18.54
1.40
Fruhburgunder 18.39
1.39
Huxelrebe 17.44
1.32
Triomphe 15.04
1.13
Siegerrebe 12.79
0.97
Orion 10.76
0.81
Total Hectarage recorded (all varieties) 1323.51
The revenue of the Industry was £67 million, the annual growth
of the industry 08-13 3.2%; 1166 employed in 120 businesses
A contender for quote of the week in today's Independent: “My ambition is that in 15 years time you’ll walk into a bar and the barman will say, would you like a glass of champagne, or would you like a glass of Sussex?”
The ambitious speaker in Mark Driver, ex Something-in-the-City, now running a 400-acre farm on the South Downs. His Rathfinny Estate, near Alfriston, is the newest addition to a growing list of English vineyards.
Mark Driver: planning to produce a million bottles a year
“We’re still just a pimple in terms of production compared to champagne,” Driver says, standing in his wellies between his vines. Last year, Britain produced about three million bottles of wine, about 60 per cent of it sparkling. Champagne alone produces 385 million bottles a year, more than 100 times as much.
But, Driver adds: “the best quality sparkling wine in the world is now being made in England.”
Driver planted his first 75,0000 vines in March 2012 on about 50 acres of the land he bought for almost £4m in 2010. That's him in the You Tube video at the time, before last year's summer turned rotten.
If all goes to plan, Driver says he’ll eventually produce a million bottles a year, making Rathfinny England’s largest vineyard.
He’ll have stiff competition. A bubble beltway stretching across southern England includes at least half a dozen serious vineyards with a growing focus on sparkling wine. More than 80 British wines won prizes at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, with two sparklings, from Camel Valley in Cornwall and the Hush Heath Estate in Kent, claiming coveted gold medals.
After giving up his life in the City, Driver enrolled on a wine course at Plumpton College near Lewes in East Sussex, where demand is booming among would-be wine growers and makers. He was already looking for land during a two-year foundation course.
To make his wine, Driver recruited Jonathan Médard, who was born in Champagne and trained at some of its top houses. The Frenchman says he revels in the freedom of English vineyards, away from the tradition and rules that govern champagne. But, he says: “I’m not allowed back in France!” He’s only half-joking. Driver recalls a visit to Epernay, Médard’s home town, where the men were looking at wine presses. “We walked into this bar and were greeted with open arms by the owner, who remembered Jonathan. ‘Where have you been?’ he asked. Jonathan said, ‘Well, I’m now making wine in England.’ This chap said, ‘Shame on you,’ turned and walked off. It was just fantastic.”
