We have been championing the excellent sparkling wines made on these shores for some time now. The combination of soil, know-how, grapes and let’s admit it, climate change, has all led to these wines becoming so much more than something “local” bought for their novelty factor.
The modern era of UK viticulture dates to the 1950s, when a few brave souls looked at the land and our climate and imagined making wines here. Well, it took a while, but they have proved their doubters wrong! The wines initially produced were fresh, had high acidity and yields were low, so it was not a huge step for some to look at what others were doing in similar climates and land on Champagne as something of a role-model. Champagne, that region of northern France that so successfully made itself the go-to wine for celebrations across the world. The idea also developed as the soils in the southeast of this country are very similar to those of Champagne, whose chalky, limestone-rich soil passes under the Channel and reappears in the South Downs and beyond.
In fact, we’ve been so impressed with the growth in quality of English Sparkling wines over recent years that we decided to put our label where our mouth is and launch a Tanners English Sparkling Brut. Naturally, like all our own-label wines, it’s from an impeccable source and highlights the very best this country can produce while offering excellent value. Made from the three classic champagne varieties, namely Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, it will certainly give some champagnes a run for their money.
Back in 1984 Carr Taylor was the first UK vineyard to commercially produce sparkling wines. This was followed by Nyetimber, founded in 1988 by American couple Stuart and Sandy Moss, who saw the possibilities and had a long-term vision for the sector. It took until 1997 for their first sparkling wine to be released which promptly won a gold medal in the internationally recognised IWSC competition. They sold in 2008 to Eric Heerema and the estate has gone from strength to strength. The Southeast continues to dominate production with around three quarters of UK wines produced here including our Tanners English Sparkling Brut, but great fizz can also be found closer to home. Rowton Vineyard, just outside Shrewsbury on the Welshpool road, is where twins Melissa and Zoë Evans produce an excellent pink fizz.
Mention should also be made of those producers just across the border in Wales who are producing some excellent fizz. From Velfrey Vineyard in Pembrokeshire, where Andy and Fiona Mounsey, together with their family, produce a super, gently aromatic fizz to Richard Morris and his family who make organic and biodynamic sparkling in Monmouthshire at Ancre Hill Estate.
It’s safe to say that English (and Welsh) Sparkling is now so much more than a curiosity and can hold its head up high amongst the pantheon of sparkling wines produced anywhere on the planet!
England
