Latest news with #EnglishWine
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Why English wine is so painfully expensive – and how to find the best-value bottles
The first question I am usually asked about English wine is not which county does it best, or whether English fizz is better than champagne. It's, 'Why is it so expensive?' With English sparklers often weighing in at well over £30, home-grown wine is undoubtedly on the pricey side. But there are good reasons for these eyebrow-raising price tags. Skip to: Best-value bottles to buy How to find the best value in English wines First, grape yields are relatively low in our cool-climate vineyards. Simon Woodhead, founder and winemaker at Stopham Vineyard in Sussex, says the grape varieties capable of ripening in chilly England, such as the pinot family of vines, tend towards 'very small bunches of grapes', so less fruit comes from each vine than from, say, cabernet sauvignon in hotter parts of the world. There are no economies of scale to speak of. The industry is still young and most wineries and vineyards are relatively small – two-thirds of commercial English vineyards are less than 7.5 acres, according to industry body, WineGB. Then there's the, ahem, occasional very poor year for grape farmers – I hardly need to say that English weather is unreliable. Last year, for example – a wash-out for many English wineries. A bad harvest (vintage) obviously pushes up costs overall. As for the sparklers, almost all are made in the meticulous, time-consuming and ultimately expensive méthode traditionnelle (AKA champagne method). Nonetheless, I urge you to try English wines if you haven't already. That pesky cool climate means that when the vintage is a good one, there's a delightful tingling acidity, and super-fresh, zesty fruit flavours – impossible to find in mass-produced, hot-region wines. The coming days are a great opportunity to give home-grown wine a whirl, as it's English Wine Week from 21-29 June, when many local wineries throw open their cellar doors and vineyards for special events, tastings and promotions. The best way to enjoy English wines is at the cellar door, talking to the producer, and sitting among the vines. And there are ways to get better value out of English wines – follow my tips to make the most of them. Best-value bottles to buy How to find the best value in English wines Look out for special offers Obviously, but right now in particular, as English Wine Week always brings on a flurry of special deals. My bottle recommendations below feature several very keen offers running in June and July. Match English wines with food – and drink them now Savour them with light savoury food like summer salads, mild cheeses, light seafood and fish dishes, cold pork and chicken, creamy pasta sauces and simple risottos. With their relatively light styles (English wines generally have lower ABVs than many other wines) they especially suit the summer season, so don't tuck them away until Christmas – they don't work as well with hearty winter food. Seek out own-label stars Some of the best-value English wines are now made for the major retailers under own-labels. There are some in my list of best buys below. Don't overlook cheaper Charmats Char-whats? The Charmat or tank method of making sparkling wine (as used for prosecco) is less expensive than the champagne method, and some English wineries have adopted it for certain labels. You won't get the rich complexity of a traditional bottle-fermented fizz, but some of these new sparklers are more than decent and often have lower price tags. Don't just stick to sparkling wine Still wines from England are getting better and better, and they often come in more cheaply than the fizz as they are cheaper to make. Reds are gradually improving, but for now the whites and rosés, in general, offer more consistent high quality. Don't serve English wines too cold To really appreciate their value, don't treat these wines as easy quaffers; instead appreciate and savour their elegant aromas and fresh-as-a-daisy flavours by serving them the right way. Chill the sparklers, whites and rosés well (but not too cold; I like mine at about 8-10C), and once opened, drink them up within three days.
The Sun
13 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Raise a glass to English Wine Week with these bargain bottles – including a new strawberry wine perfect for Wimbledon
WE don't really need an excuse to crack open a bottle come the weekend, but English Wine Week (June 21-29) is a more than good-enough reason. Sales of English sparkling have surged 187% since 2018, as people have realised how good they really are - with many outperforming their champagne rivals in taste tests. Roebuck, Bolney, Nyetimber... these English vineyards are becoming household names, and they're often to be found on supermarket shelves at excellent prices. Whether you prefer a sparkling, rose, red or white, our own vineyards have it covered. 6 We love the fact you can also visit the vineyards easily for the day - grab your best girls or your guy and enjoy a fun day of tasting the best of British in glorious countryside. So, to accompany your summer of staycationing and British sport, these English Wine Week bottles are just the ticket. To celebrate English Wine Week, Aldi is offering its Winemaster's Lot English Sparkling Wine for just £9.99 - that's 44% off its usual £17.95 price tag (available June 19-25). Julie Ashfield, chief commercial officer at Aldi UK, said: 'English Wine Week is a great moment to showcase the quality of British winemaking." You can also pick up cracking Specially Selected English Bacchus, £7.99 - a riot of passionfruit, gooseberry and rose petal some have called a true taste of a blooming English hedgerow. And Aldi's Specially Selected English Pinot Noir Rose, £8.69, makes the perfect choice if you're looking to supply the booze for a summer wedding or gathering. Talking of reds, if you're a fan of chilled red wine - a massive trend this summer - you'll love Devon-based winery Sandridge Barton's Don't Feed The Ponies Billy. In fact, what's not to love about a wine with a name like that (which comes from a campaign across Dartmoor National Park to stop people feeding the wild ponies, FYI)? Blending flavours of tart red berries, red apple and blackcurrant and cranberry, it's a light red at the higher end of the budget at £21.50 - but 25p will go to Dartmoor Preservation Association. 6 You've probably heard of Nyetimber wines - and for good reason, as yet again the winemaker recently picked up an award for its English Sparkling at London Wine Fair's Battle of the Bubbles, where 1086 by Nyetimber 2010 pipped prestige cuvées including Dom Perignon to the top spot. Nyetimber was the first British producer to release a prestige cuvee back in 2018, and it's now served to first class passengers on British Airways flights. Obviously, it's a little pricier than most at £145 a bottle, but the same vineyard's Classic Cuvee Brut comes in at a much more affordable £30. And if you fancy a trip to an award-winning winery, book in for a tour and tasting at the Nyetimber Estate on the South Downs, £50 per person. 6 With the Wimbledon Tennis Championships starting on June 30, the smell of strawberries is definitely in the air, so we were excited to discover this treat from the family-run Lyme Bay Winery in picturesque East Devon. The new Lyme Bay Winery Strawberry Wine, £12.79, tastes wonderful served chilled or as a spritzer with lemonade, prosecco or soda water. The perfect picnic wine! 6 Finally, if you're doing your big shop in Tesco, be sure to check out its fantastic line in English Wines, starting from just £4.75 a bottle. Graham Nash, lead product development manager at Tesco says: "Last year, our Tesco Finest English Sparkling Brut was our bestselling English wine, though English still wines continue to improve." Try the Bolney Lychgate Bacchus, £12.50, made in the heart of Sussex, if you like a lemony, floral, fresh white. And fans of a rose will find Tesco Finest English Rose, £12.50, rather moreish, plus it's made by father and son winemaker Balfour Winery. And if cash is tight, The Straw Hat White, £4.75, is a fun British option. WINE culturist Amelia Singer hails 'The Chassaux et Fils Rosé' as a "really savvy move from Aldi". Here, she gives Fabulous her verdict... Sainte Victoire is my favourite part of Provence to find personality filled yet great value Rosé. Thanks to the altitude of the Sainte Victoire hillsides, the grapes get exposed to plenty of sunshine during the day but their ripeness is moderated by cooler evening temperatures. This enables the wine to brim with intense, complex fruit which is balanced by elegant acidity and herbal finesse. I am delighted that Aldi are highlighting an actual area of Provence as quality and flavour profiles can vary greatly – however I always know with Rosé from Sainte Victoire that I will not be disappointed. Amelia Singer's podcast, 'Ameliarate Through Wine', which pairs celebrities' personalities, core values, and careers with wine. Available on Apple & Spotify.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The best food matches for English wines from bacchus to sparkling rosé
Within a few minutes of speaking to Richard Gladwin, it's clear he knows how to run a good table. I called the restaurateur (of Rabbit British Bistro in Chelsea and The Shed in Notting Hill, among others) and scion of the Gladwin clan, who run Nutbourne Vineyards in West Sussex and published An English Vineyard Cookbook in 2024, to chat food with English wine. His enthusiasm is infectious. Nutbourne makes a retro still wine, a 'field blend' of many grape varieties including pinot blanc, pinot noir, chardonnay and bacchus, plus some of the other German hybrids, such as müller-thurgau and reichensteiner, that were once mainstays of English vineyards. Such wines don't usually feature on my (perpetually updating) mental cravings list, but Gladwin explains how he serves it, and with what. 'The wine is floral: aromatic and gooseberry and elderflower at the beginning, then it stretches into lime, and I put it with spicy chorizo with labneh. The fat of the chorizo and the spice, and the cooling nature of the labneh, marry together with the wine and [it] completely heightens your tastebuds. We offer this at the beginning of the meal in all of our restaurants and I used to guarantee to customers on a first date that if they had it, they would…' I'll have to paraphrase Gladwin somewhat – let's say, make it to a second date. The wine is called Sussex Reserve ( £12.80; also available at Bayley & Sage in London). If it sounds tempting, you could also look for similar white blends: The Wine Society has one under its own-label, while Chapel Down makes Flint Dry from several grape varieties, including chardonnay, bacchus and reichensteiner. I've always felt that the right forkful of food can turn a glass of wine into a feast, and if you're opening a bottle to celebrate English Wine Week (21-29 June), there are a great many other tempting combinations to try. With a saline style of chardonnay such as his superb Jackson Family Wines Marbury 2023, winemaker Charlie Holland suggests pan-fried scallops, or oysters. 'Maldon oysters just work so well, especially at the moment; they seem to be very plump and meaty.' For another English chardonnay pairing idea, Gareth Maxwell, whose excellent The Heretics Deluxe Seven Chardonnay 2023 ( £35) has a creamy hint of cashew nuts and lemon curd, points me towards the 'easy ceviche' recipe on the Feasting at Home website, and also recommends the tangy coriander flavour of the avocado sauce on the same site. 'I've made this recipe about three times, it's fantastic,' he says. 'I originally had it with Dauvissat 1er Cru on Christmas Day.' Dauvissat, for the uninitiated, is a cult chablis producer. Now there's a recommendation. On to sparkling rosé, a style that England does exceptionally well. Chef Simon Rogan – who has just partnered with Wiston Estate to create an own-label one for his restaurant group – says he particularly loves it with the dish of gooseberry tartlet with ChalkStream trout, caper jam and brassica flowers on the menu at his restaurant Aulis in Soho. Clearly, you're not going to rustle that up at home, but take the trout recommendation and run with it. Think sparkling English rosé with Melissa Hemsley's trout pâté, poached trout or a smoked trout, courgette and watercress roulade (there's a recipe in Cindy-Marie Harvey's gorgeous book Watercress, Willow and Wine). English sparkling rosé is also superb with many forms of sushi: Chris Frayling-Cork, a man surely born to be a sommelier, of Dinings SW3 restaurant, says, 'We serve the 2019 Gusbourne rosé with our spicy tuna roll [maguro maki with a spicy sesame emulsion].' Finally, as the English asparagus season traditionally ends on Midsummer's Day, perhaps there is just time to try a classic: bacchus with blanched asparagus. The notes of pink grapefruit, elderflower and grass in the wine are a perfect match. Gladwin has something to say on this. 'With a poached egg, really boring but…' Sometimes the classics are the best? 'Yes. Or a lemon mayonnaise.' Homemade? 'Yes, yes, yes, yes. And some almond flakes.'
The Guardian
01-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Burgundy eat your heart out!': Devon producer is toast of wine world
They began by producing drinks more usually associated with the rolling hills of southern England – hearty ciders, warming tipples made from hedgerow fruits and good old-fashioned mead. But Lyme Bay Winery in Devon is celebrating a bit of history having become the first English producer to win prestigious international trophies for both red and white wine in the same year. Its Martin's Lane Estate chardonnay 2020 and Lyme Bay Winery pinot noir 2021 won the English White trophy and English Red trophy respectively at the 2025 International Wine Challenge (IWC). 'We knew we had produced some really good wine that had aged beautifully,' operations manager Wolf Sieg-Hogg said. 'We thought we'd be there or thereabouts but to take both prizes is wonderful. 'It's a labour of love – the entire team has worked tirelessly to get here. It's a huge moment for us – and for English still wine. English wine producers are the new boys on the world stage but we're definitely on the up.' The IWC judges were certainly gushing. Of the chardonnay, they said: 'Burgundy eat your heart out! Spry, toasty oak with ripe peach, melon, and apples. Wholesome fresh dry flavours of wet stones, citrus zest and a long, lingering finish. Harmonious and expressive.' They described the pinot noir as having 'beautiful aromatics of autumn leaves, ripe cherries, dried herbs, and iodine', adding: 'The palate reveals ripe strawberry and cranberry, with appealing spicy details. A complex, textured finish completes this elegant wine.' Founded 32 years ago and now employing 30 people, the Lyme Bay Winery is on a winding lane just outside the town of Axminster in East Devon (next to a vehicle reclamation yard and artisan coffee factory). It still sells cider, hedgerow wine and mead but its decision to branch out into fine wines has proven a good one. Rather than relying on its own vineyard, the grapes for its wine are sourced from all over southern England. The grapes for the winning chardonnay came from the Martin's Lane estate in the Crouch valley, Essex and benefitted from the long, hot summer of 2020. Grapes for the pinot noir were from Martin's Lane and four other Essex vineyards. The summer of 2021 was cool but a late warm spell in October allowed an extended 'hang time', ripening the grapes nicely. Sieg-Hogg said the ethos was not to be tied to one vineyard but to source the best grapes from the best vineyards. 'We don't go for quantity but for quality,' he said. It means when the grapes ripen there is a race to harvest them and drive them across the country to Devon, where they are crushed and pressed and the 'magic', as Sieg-Hogg calls it, of turning the juice into wine in gleaming tanks and oak barrels begins. 'You don't get much sleep at that time,' said Sieg-Hogg. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Once the butt of jokes, the English wine industry has begun to silence the cynics, with sparking wines such as those produced in the Camel valley in Cornwall leading the way. The climate emergency has created excellent conditions for growing grapes, not just in the south of England but, increasingly, farther north and west in the UK. Extreme heat threatens to harm some more traditional wine regions, such as areas of Spain, Italy and southern California. The Lyme Bay trophy-winning wine is not cheap – the chardonnay is £35 and the pinot noir is £29.99. Buy there are only a few thousand bottles of them and they will soon go. There are cheaper 'entry level' wines on offer and the winery sells to Aldi. 'It's about increasing the popularity of English wine, making it more accessible to more people,' said Steve Richardson, manager of the winery's cellar door shop. The visitor book at the shop shows that visitors from Australia, North America and continental Europe come here seeking out the Devon wines. 'The Scandinavians love our wines,' said Richardson. 'The Australians come with very open minds; the French don't like to admit how good it is.'
Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Times
The 10 best wines to buy at Marks & Spencer this summer
Working with the in-house winemakers Sue Daniels and Belinda Kleinig, the Marks & Spencer buying team are not shy of sniffing out something unusual and interesting, whether it's a mtsvane from Georgia or an orange wine from England. The Classics and Found ranges are full of interest and English wine is a noticeable strength. 2024 Cintu île de Beauté Rosé France (11%) £8.50A pleasing blend of Corsica's indigenous sciaccarello and nielluccio grapes, it's light and dry with a refreshing, silky texture. 2024 Found Lucido Italy (12.5%) £8A really interesting choice by the M&S team and a lovely alternative to the mainstream varietals with floral notes. There's a twist of lime and some jasmine on the finish. 2023 Palataia Pinot Noir Germany (13%) £10
