Louis Pommery, Brut, Sparkling Wine, England, UK
The French of started to taking English vineyard seriously and Louis Pommery has started to make wine in Hampshire and it’s pretty good stuff. Its dry, fresh, but classy with more citrus fruit than toasty notes in French Champagne. I’ve you like the new style of sparkling or a good cremant sparkling wine then this is for you.
At £25 a bottle it’s good value for champagne although a cremant is usually much cheaper at £10.
Made in the traditional, just like Champagne this New Hall, Brut Rose is a classic easy drinking sparkling wine from central Essex. There’s hints of strawberries and raspberry. It’s got a good hit of acidity and pretty dry but very drinkable. At a bit over £20 its decent value.
Chet Valley, Jubilee Blanc de Blanc 2020, Norfolk, UK
Chet Valley, Jubilee Blanc de Blanc 2020 from Norfolk was made with the Queen’s 70th jubilee celebrations in mind. It’s easy to dismiss this as all marketing, but this is truly an excellent sparkling wine. Made with 100% chardonnay it has many characteristics of champagne but is that little bit lighter with slightly less toasty notes and more fruit driven.
It’s got to be one of the best English sparkling wines I tried in a long time. It’s a shame that it’s £30 a bottle because it would put people off, but that’s the cost of champagne beating wine from the UK.
Denbies make a lot of wine, sparkling and still and do it well. This is made from Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, your traditional grapes for Champagne. Dry and crisp with medium acidity and clean tasting with aromas and flavours of lemon, green apple and vanilla. Yes there’s yeasty notes but there’s more to it and its refreshing, bringing you back for glass after glass, unless your wife says stop!
Its at a similar price at Champagne its a better bet for me.
Denbies, Cubitt Reserve, 2010, UK
Denbies, Cubitt Reserve, 2010, UK
Chapel Down make approx 1 million bottle of wine a year and this offering of sparkling Bacchus shows that a big(ish) UK wine maker can make decent wine.
With this dry white wine you get aromas and flavours of gooseberry, elderflower, pineapple and citrus with an undertone of grapefruit nodding its way through. Sure there are places like Hambledon or Camel Valley that make better but they also cost more and at £18 a bottle this is great alternative.
Chapel Down, Bacchus Sparkling, 2019, England