Chapel Down, Rosé, 2022, England
It’s summer, the sun is out and Rosé is on the table and this Rosé from Chapel Down is just the one to show what England can produce. Dry with decent acidity and lots of red fruit flavours, it has good length and is easy drinking, perfect for the summer. At £14 a bottle it’s not cheap but its a cut above your usual Provence stuff.
New Hall Estate, Single Estate, Pinot Noir, 2021, Essex, UK
New Hall Estate in Essex can produce so excellent Lines but this single Estate Pinot Noir is outstanding. It’s one of the best Rosé wines I’ve tasted in a long time. There is a classiness about it, it’s subtle with redcurrent, strawberry, hint of creaminess and minerality on the finish.
At £16 a bottle it’s not cheap but its fantastic wine.
Tuffon Hall, Beatrice, Rosé, 2022, Essex, UK
We know that Essex is one of the best places in England for why and this Rose from Tuffon Hall really does show some classic English, easy drinking Summer Wine. It’s very much like a Provence which isn’t a bad thing there are hints of strawberry and a touch of red fruit it’s got greater acidity and a firm crispness which is refreshing when sitting at the bottom of the garden watching the sunset. Unfortunately at £16 a bottle it is a little bit on the pricey side, but it is a quality wine.
Grape Passions, Coastal Reach, Pinot Noir, Rosé, 2021, England
English Pinot Noir is pretty good but when it’s rose it’s even better. Grape Passions is a wind merchant just douth of Colchester znd this is their own brand wine. It’s fresh and crisp with plenty of flavour and good length. You have strawberry and raspberry with red fruit hints all the way through. At about £15 a bottle is not cheap but its pretty good.
Shawsgate, Rosé, 2016, Suffolk, UK
Shawsgate is based in Suffolk, in the UK and does a rather good red wine, but this time I’m trying Rosé which is actually really very good, not just for English Rosé but in general. This is fine stuff at £10 a bottle excellent value.
It has redcurrant and raspberry on the nose and this follows through in a taste with stone fruit and a ziggingness that is fresh, slightly on the sweetest side but it’s more of an undertone sweetness that makes this ready excellent summer drinking. If this was the only rosé I had all summer I would not be disappointed. It’s probably the best rosé I’ve had in 2021.
Copdock Hall, Rose, Suffolk, England
English Rose wine has come a long way in recent years and this one from Copdock Hall in Suffolk shows it it’s pretty good stuff. It’s not your light rosé in colour and this gives you a heads up on the flavour.
You get a real hit or strawberries and raspberries with this rose much more than you would a Provence. Its actually a nice change, I’m not sure I’d want a drink this all summer long but a few bottles in the storeroom sounds great.
England produces alot rosé and some are light with little taste and some are full of flavour like this one from Chet and Waveney in Norfolk. Made from the Regent grape, this 2017 vintage has smells of strawberries, redcurrant and hints of cream soda, it’s delightful. Theres a lot of flavour in this and good flavours. On taste front you get what you smell with a bit of raspberry. Well balanced and very smooth this is an outstanding rosé from any country. With or without food this is wonderful. The Redwing line is the latest Regent which I think retails at about £12 a bottle and is very good value, one of my top 5 rosé wines.
Chet and Waveney, Regent, dry rosé, 2017, England
Dornfelder grapes
Norfolk produces a surprisingly excellent range of wines, Winbirri vineyard took home a Decanter World Wine Awards Trophy in 2017. Then theres Flint Vineyard producing small batch wines for its club members that are excellent, their main wines are pretty good too.
Chet and Waveney Vineyard is another that produce great wines. It uses more Germanic grape verities to produce excellent drink now wine. Their 2 sparkling wines are easy drinking types.
Siskin 2018 – Solaris grape
This still white wine is light in colour, pale lemon and very dry. There are aromas of Lemon, lychee, grapefruit, lime and a little floral. Flavours of green apple, grass, blossom and a hint of honey. Great with salad or fish.
Redwing 2081 – Regent grape
A dry rose, Salmon in colour with Raspberry, strawberry and rose aromas. Fruity with citrus overertones. Place with fish or chicken.
Swift – Schonburger grape
Pale lemon in colour with a hint of pink. Aromas of lemon sherbet and tropical fruit that feeds into the flavours. Theres less acidity than the Siskin and long lasting flavours that the other wines tried. Just drink it.
Skylark Sparkling – Phoenix and Seyval Blanc grapes
2017 Brut. This is made using the Charmat method – Second fermented in the vat and bottled under pressure, like Prosecco. It has a light fruit aroma and light fruit flavours.
2018 version has the grape Regent in it and is more intense with a pinky look. It has aromatic and redcurrant aromas. Those longer flavours reminds more fevertree aromatic tonic water that’s got extra sparkle. Thats not a criticism, its really refreshing and just a little different, and for the better.
2018 Demi sec version. Light salmon in colour, aromas of sweetness and redcurrant. Flavours of redcurrant, not really to my taste, it’s a demi-sec thing with me.
2016 Horatio – Phoenix, Seyval Blanc and Regent grapes,
This is made with the champagne method to give a dry rose sparkling thats fresh and fruity, excellent. Great on its own or with shell fish.
Chet and Waveney wines
Each year Framingham in Suffolk host a sausage festival. In a good year about 10,000 people are expected to be there. This year the co-op hosted a VIP wine tasting with host Alison from www.wineathome.co.uk and Jane and Peter from Toppesfield Vineyard. There were 6 wines, a Cava, a prosecco, an English white a rose, an Australia Cab Sav and a Chilian Carmenere.
All the wines were good examples. The Cava was light with subtle tropical fruit flavours and breast notes. The prosecco was, well prosecco. I preferred to drink the Cava as it had more depth and flavours. The Toppesfield English Bacchus was truly excellent, it gets more flavours and refined each month I try it. The Shawsgate rose was pretty good, decent red fruit aromas and not as over powering on the taste buds as the colour might suggest. I’m a big Provence rose fan and the darker roses are usually my glass of wine. The 2 reds were a surprise. Carmenere was fruity, a bit of spice and vanilla thrown in, very happy I was. The Cab Sav was a JC moment, possibly the best was served last and one of the best reds I’ve tasted in a long time. Great black and red fruit aromas and flavours, firm but not over powering tannins, long finish and at £9 a bottle very reasonable.
Alison from www.wineathome.co.uk talking about sparkling wine
Co-op wines tried at the Framingham Sausage Festival
This is a blend of Dornfelder, Schönburger & Müller-Thurgau grapes, not your typical varieties. Let’s get away from the main grapes and embrace the others out there. This wine is dry with aromas of strawberry and redcurrant and follows on with extra flavours of vanilla and hints of “fruit salad” sweets, the ones you had when you were a child, and get when the wife’s not around.
This is never going to be a massive seller of hundreds of thousands of bottles but it’s a really good rose, decent amount of flavour but easy drinking, excellent to watch the sunset in the garden. At £14 it’s pricey but the reality is that English wine is that price, the vineyards also sell all their wines so people think it’s worth it.
Chilford Hall Blush Rose – English wine