Go native for a quality quaff

Feb 8 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

ENGLISH wine growers have just celebrated a very happy Christmas. Not only did they enjoy a huge hike in sales over the run-up to the festivities, but they were handed a timely present on December 19 in the form of an official exclusion by the European Union from reforms which would have prevented any new vineyards being planted in the UK.

Even so, too few wine lovers have actually tasted English wine. There’s a general impression that it’s not up to much and is poor value for money. That’s certainly what the majority of the 30 members from Holy Saviour’s Wine Club in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, thought before they tasted a range of English wine last week. But the wines, for the most part, utterly confounded their expectations.

There are now well over 400 registered vineyards in England and Wales spread over 2,000 acres. Although they produced more than three million bottles of wine in the bumper harvest of 2006, English and Welsh wine accounts for far less than 1% of the wine we drink. There’s talk that with global warming, southern Britain will soon have a climate a bit like that of Champagne, but the reason why the EU has decided to relax regulations governing new planting in the UK (and other minor wine- producing countries) is that no one realistically expects the whole of Kent, Sussex and Surrey to be covered in vines in the foreseeable future.

English sparkling wine may now be winning both admirers and prizes, but the stiff competition across the Channel is a multi-billion Euro industry that picks its grapes from over 80,000 acres of vines.

That said, the largest English vineyard, Denbies, near Dorking in Surrey, covers a whopping 265 acres, bigger than any of the leading estates of Bordeaux. Jackie Stroud is one of a permanent team of 15 who carry out a never-ending, year-round labour, tending the vines. When she escaped north for a few days, she arrived humping a case stuffed with bottles, kindly provided for the Tynemouth tasting by Denbies’ winemaker Marcus Sharp.

From now until April, Jackie’s job is to prune the vines. A specialist team of three or four cut away the unwanted canes to leave just one or two on each vine to bear the fruit for the coming season. A second team then follow to clear away all the unwanted wood. The next job is to bend the fruiting canes on to wires running along the vines.

May and June brings countless back-breaking hours rubbing out unwanted buds from the lower part of the vine stems. The summer is taken up either tucking leaves into position or cutting away unwanted leaves until the sticky work of harvest begins. By December there’s the prospect of a whole new cycle beginning. But as Jackie says: “Somehow it all gets done, and it certainly beats working in an office.”

English wines can be frustratingly hard to find in our region (one of the best selections is at Rothbury Wines). The best way to be sure of getting hold of Denbies is to order them from their online shop – www.denbies.co.uk or phone the winery sales team on (01306) 734652. Prices are reasonable and the quality is very high indeed.

The Tynemouth wine lovers were particularly taken with Denbies Coopers Brook 2004, a stylish, dry but very fruity blend of Chardonnay with the early ripening Reichensteiner. It’s a bargain by any standards at £6.25. Another unexpected hit was a soft, plummy, perfumed red, Redlands 2006 (£8.99), a blend of Dornfelder and Pinot Noir (only one in five bottles of English wine is red or rosé, though that’s a lot more than just five years ago).

Several supermarkets list two or three bottles of English wine. The most consistently successful are bubbly – usually made in the classic Champagne way, and often using the same classy grape varieties.

My wine of the week is a good example, worthy of anyone’s Valentine. The Holy Saviour’s Wine Club members were also impressed by Chapel Down, Century, Extra Dry (£14.99 at Sainsbury’s). In this case extra dry really means fairly sweet, and it’s best served as a partner for cake or with a fruity pudding rather than as an aperitif.

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Wine of the week

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference English Rosé Sparkling Wine, £17.99

Luxurious English bubbly made in Kent by Chapel Down; a pretty, delicate pink, it has lots of dry strawberry fruit and fine creamy bubbles. A good aperitif or a fine partner for salmon or other oily fish.

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Pink for lovers

AS Valentine’s Day approaches, the number of pink wines on the supermarket shelves rises almost as quickly as the price of red rosés.

I've just much enjoyed a sip of Argento Malbec Rosé 2007 (£5.99 at Tesco). A vivid, young pink, it has a cherry and spice smell and an intensely fruity but dry, juicy cherry flavour.

If you must have pink champagne to woo your beloved, I can't think of anything much nicer than the organic (actually biodynamic) Champagne Fleury Rosé Vintage 2005 Brut (£34.99 from Marks & Spencer). It is, quite simply, the most delicious pink fizz on the market tasting of redcurrants, all suspended in tiny, sensuously creamy bubbles. It revived both me and my palate after a hard morning's tasting at France's annual organic wine fair.