9th August

AWARD-WINNING  PUTNEY PUB TO LAUNCH ENGLISH WINE LIST

Award-winning Putney pub, The Bricklayer’s Arms, is to launch an exclusive English wine list in September.

The Bricklayer's Arms is Putney’s oldest pub and currently CAMRA’s (Campaign For Real Ale) Greater London Pub of the Year. The family-owned, independent pub stages regional beer festivals, each featuring up to 50 ales from around the UK – some of which have never been served in London before.

Landlady Becky Newman, who took over the pub is 2005, says: “I am delighted with the success of our Real Ale festivals and am thrilled with the on-going support of both customers and breweries. It was because of their support that I decided to research the possibility of selling English wine exclusively.”

Following a year’s worth of research, Becky was amazed by the quality of English wines available.

    Becky Newman

 “I grew up in the generation that avoided English wine because of the poor quality and price. How times have changed!” says Becky. “The range and quality available is astounding.”

Becky’s aim is to create one of the most comprehensive lists of domestically produced wine in the UK and to become a centre of excellence for English wines.  Wines on the list include sparkling from Ridgeview Wine Estate, Chapel Down's still white Pinot Blanc, Denbies Wine Estate's best selling Surrey Gold, two reds from Bolney Wine Estate, a further red - a 100% Gamay - Biddenden and A'Beckett's still Rose.

“I am very excited about launching an exclusively English wine list and I would urge anyone who still thinks that English wine is of poor quality or anyone who has never tried English wine to do so, because I am certain they will be as amazed and as impressed as I am.”

The list will be launched officially on 9th September.  Full details about The Bricklayers Arms is on their website.

26th July

CHILFORD HALL CROWNED EAST ANGLIAN WINE OF THE YEAR

Chilford Hall Vineyard in Linton, Cambridgeshire is celebrating after its Chilford Hundred Sparkling Rosé 2004 was awarded the top accolade of Wine of the Year 2010, as well as the Spear Trophy for best sparkling wine and a Gold Medal at the East Anglian Wine Growers Association 2010 awards.

The vineyard was awarded eight prizes in total in the prestigious regional competition, held on 21st July 2010 in Wissett in Suffolk, including: a commended certificate for the Müller-Thurgau Siegerrebe 2009, and four Bronze medals for the Schönburger Müller-Thurgau 2009, Ortega Reichensteiner 2009, Blush 2009 and the Schönburger single variety 2009.

The judging panel included: Anthony Foster MW, Robin Crameri MW, wine producers Roy Williams and Mary Mudd, and James Long, managing director of Corney and Barrow (East Anglia) Ltd, all of whom blind tasted 65 wines submitted by vineyards across the East Anglian region before coming to a decision.

Chilford Hall’s 20-acre vineyard has been in operation in Linton since 1972, with the first vintage produced in 1974. The estate is famous for sparkling and still rosé and white wines, and produced its first Granta Valley red wine in 2008 that sold out within six weeks.

Anthony Foster, Master of Wine and Chairman of the EAWGA judging panel, says, “Chilford’s Sparkling Rosé 2004 is a spectacular example of méthode traditionelle (bottle-fermented) wine, and as a pink wine, has all the elements required to stand up on a world stage. It is as good a wine as I’ve ever tasted; it has fruit, autolysis, structure, elegance and style.”

Mark Barnes, Chilford’s Wine Maker, says, “We are absolutely thrilled to have won Wine of the Year along with a Commended and four Bronze medals. We had great compliments from the judges, who made it clear that our Sparkling Rosé could stand up in an international competition and, as winners, we look forward to hosting the competition at Chilford Hall Vineyard in 2011.”

Glen Mejias, General Manager and Director of Chilford Hall, says, “Interest in English wine and winemaking is growing and Chilford has recently introduced weekday and evening winery tours and tastings to cope with larger group enquiries.”

“Wine sales are increasing year on year; we are bringing out newer vintages into our onsite shop and online store much faster than before as popularity increases, people look to buy local and recognise the excellent quality of English wine.”

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25th July

CELEBRATIONS AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS

It was a day of celebration and the meeting of many of the figureheads and personalities in the UK wine industry both past and present, alongside new faces to the UK wine scene. The Annual Awards ceremony for the English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition took place last week at the House of Lords, where Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, President of the UKVA and a vineyard owner himself, handed out certificates for medals awarded along with the prestigious trophies.

Speaking to the assembled audience of producers and growers, Susan McCraith MW, Chairman of Judges in this year’s competition, commended the overall high quality of entries: “It was a great competition with a record number of gold medals reflecting the quality of the 2009 vintage and also the ever-increasing expertise in vineyards and wineries.” 

Susan concluded:  “When we sit here in two years’ time the London 2012 Olympics will be about to start. Everyone will be rooting for Team GB and hoping for UK medals. Let’s make sure that English and Welsh wine medal winners are the wines of choice for our nation and for our visitors. There shouldn’t be a single restaurant in London (or elsewhere for that matter!) without an English wine.”

       Susan McCraith MW

Each of the trophies is awarded to a particular category and their origin was introduced before presentation.  Many of these date back to the early years of the industry and commemorate and acknowledge the leading figures and innovators of their time.

The crown of the trophies is the Gore-Browne Trophy – The Wine of the Year – which was received by Mike Roberts of sparkling wine producers RidgeView Wine Estate for their 2001 Grosvenor Blanc de Blanc bottled in magnums.  The same wine also won the Sparkling Wine Trophy and Trophy for Best Presented bottle.

Another notable trophy is the McAlpine Trophy for Winemaker of the Year which this year was awarded to Sam Lindo of Camel Valley Vineyard.  Sam won this trophy two years ago so was delighted to receive it a second time. 

Lord Montagu, Mike Roberts (Ridgeview)         Lord Montagu, Sam Lindo (Camel Valley)

A full set of the competition results is available here.

16th July

WINE AND CHEESEMAKING EXPERIENCE DAY ANNOUNCED WITH DENBIES WINE ESTATE AND NORBURY BLUE DAIRY

Wine and cheese - a natural partnership that goes back to ancient times. This will be highlighted by Denbies Wine Estate who are teaming up with local cheese Norbury Blue Dairy which is located just 10 minutes away from the vineyard situated just outside Dorking.

Norbury Blue is Surrey’s only handmade cheese, the milk comes from a farm-assured, closed herd of Friesian cows from Norbury Park farm. The dairy cows are fed on fodder that is grown locally and entirely GM free. The unpasteurised, vegetarian blue cheese produced has a soft and creamy texture with a blue-marbled effect.

Denbies wine is single estate grown, all the wine is made from grapes grown on the estate with the entire wine making process carefully crafted from vine to bottle.

On Thursday 25th November, Denbies and Norbury are teaming up to offer a day of discovery.  The morning session will be at Norbury where visitors will be offered an hands on experience in cheese production. After lunch, visitors will spend time with the Denbies winemaker/expert, who will explain the finer techniques of wine making and blending. Visitors will also be invited to blend wine, this is followed by a wine tasting in the Denbies Cellar.

The day places the emphasis on local quality produce and is the only one of its kind in the UK. Further details and booking are available on the Denbies website - www.denbies.co.uk

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15th July

A DEVON VINEYARD'S ENCOUTER IN DRAGON'S DEN

 - AND SECURED SUCCESSFUL INVESTMENT

Pebblebed Vineyards have gone where few have trodden .... into the Dragon's Den. 

Geoff Bowen, owner of Pebblebed, appeared in the first episode of this the 8th series of Dragon's Den seeking investment in his new vineyard business in Devon.

Happily for Geoff his pitch was successful and he secured the full investment he was seeking from Duncan Bannatyne in return for a 40% stake in the business.  Mr Bannatyne acknowledged the direction in which English wines were going and the quality they represent.

Read the full story here

You can see watch the Dragon's Den episode this week on BBC iPlayer

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12th July

THREE CHOIRS OPENS A ROOM WITH A VIEW

Three Choirs Vineyards in Gloucestershire will be celebratig the launch of their new Vine Room on July 27th.

Complementing the Three Choirs’ restaurant, The Vine Room provides a more informal dining experience.Tthe room will boast panoramic views over the vineyard complete with terrace for dining.

The Vine Room will open on the launch day at 10.00am. Visitors will also be able to taste Gloucestershire’s finest produce at the mini farmers market (between 10.00am and 2.00pm).  Stallholders will include Three Choirs own suppliers, exhibiting the highest quality local offerings. At 11.00am there will be a cookery demonstration by Three Choirs' chef Darren Leonard and tours of Three Choirs will also be on offer. Children are welcome to participate in a range of fun family activities and learn about the local wildlife on a guided nature walk.

The Vine Room is also available for private parties, a selection of menus are available, ranging from English cheese plates to finger buffets and barbeques all expertly prepared using locally source seasonal produce wherever possible.

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8th July

BANK HOLIDAY ENGLISH WINE WEEKEND IN NORTHUMBERLAND

The Feathers Inn at Hedley on the Hill near Stocksfield in Northumberland will be celebrating English wines and ciders over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

As part of the weekend events, the Feathers will be holding an English wine and food night on the Sunday night (29th). Chef and co-proprietor Rhian Cradock will be hosting the event, producing and pairing dishes using local produce to complement the range of wines produced from around the country.  Bank Holiday Monday will see an English cider and wine festival and farmers market with outside BBQ, games and competitions. The festival is free to attend and proceeds are going to the NSPCC.

The Feathers has an active wine club and recently took part in the North East Wine Fair.  The pub has received many accolades, and are Winners of the Good Pub Guide Northumbria dining pub of the year 2008, 2009, 2010.

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5th July

LOTTERY SUCCESS FOR LONDON VINEYARD

An exciting Enfield based project is celebrating its entrepreneurial success, following the creation of London’s first ever commercial scale community vineyard; thanks to a £132,000 grant from Local Food.

Forty Hall Community Vineyard were amongst the successful applicants to receive funding from the Local Food Programme, a £50 million funding programme supported by the Big Lottery Fund which will be supporting food related community projects right across the country.

Two acres of land have been planted to date, with 15 acres planned in total. The aim of the project is to establish the vineyard as a self-sustaining social enterprise that will provide educational, social and mental health benefits to local people, as well as a range of horticultural volunteering opportunities.

Forty Hall's Vineyard Manager, Sarah Vaughan-Roberts, commented: “The Local Food funding marks a key turning point for Forty Hall Community Vineyard, enabling us to employ a project manager, extend our services to the local community and, critically, to plant enough vines next year for the project to become financially self-sustaining in the future. It is a hugely exciting milestone in our development.”

The project is being supported by Capel Manor College who have provided the land for the vines to be grown on. The College supported the project closely during the development stages, and will also maintain an active role long term. The community vineyard project forms part of a wider initiative for Capel Manor College to develop a hub of community organic food production, distribution and educational skills.

Local Food has been developed by a consortium of 15 national environmental organisations, and is managed on their behalf by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT). Supported by the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme, Local Food will distribute grants to a variety of food related projects to make locally grown food more accessible.

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1st July

DENBIES APPOINTS VINTAGE WINEMAKER AND VITICULTURIST

Denbies Wine Estate is very pleased to announce the appointment of Brendan Seal as Vintage Wine maker and Viticulturist.  Brendan is currently winemaker at Mount Edward Winery, New Zealand which is acknowledged as one of the emerging stars of the wine growing world, situated in the Gibbston sub region of Central Otago, some 25km east of Queenstown.

John Worontschak, co-director of Litmus wines, Operations Director at Denbies adds “Brendan’s appointment reinforces our commitment we have at Denbies to produce truly stunning wines. His New World and European experience will bring a different dimension to the development of Denbies still wine making.’

Brendan brings specialist experience, developed at Mount Edward, which includes growing limited quantities of premium and small batch classic white varieties.  Past experience also includes working at Chard Farm in their early years and in Europe working with Andre Ostertag in Alsace.

England is recognised for producing outstanding sparkling and fine aromatic wines.  With the appointment of Brendan working alongside resident winemaker, Marcus Sharp, Denbies are looking to push the boundaries of still wine making to a different level. Significant developments in the vineyard commenced with the planting of 4 acres of sauvignon blanc in the spring, another first for English winemaking at Denbies.

Denbies Wine Estate, England’s largest vineyard, currently has a range of 12 wines and produces over 450,000 bottles of wine per annum.  Denbies is located in Dorking, Surrey with direct rail access from London Waterloo and Victoria mainline stations.

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30th June

ENGLAND MAY HAVE LOST IN FOOTBALL BUT HAVE WON IN WINE!

Camel Valley Vineyard in Cornwall has left Champagne on the sidelines by scooping a top prize: the World Sparkling Rosé Trophy in the International Wine Challenge (IWC).  The winning wine, 2008 Pinot Noir Rosé Brut (£24.95), reached the final trophy tasting by winning a Gold medal in this year’s IWC.  It then had to face a further tasting by an elite panel of judges, and overcame competition from Gold medal winners from the same category and from different countries, such as 1999 Charles Heidsieck Rosé Champagne (listed at £45.99), to scoop the crown.

The same wine was also awarded the England Trophy for Camel Valley, who win this Trophy for the second successive year.

UK Winemaker of the Year Sam Lindo, refused to believe the news when he first heard it from a Guardian journalist following up the IWC press release.  Said Sam:  ‘Winning the England Trophy for the second successive year was almost too much to hope for, but I never, in my wildest dreams, expected to win the International Trophy too!’

Said founder, Bob Lindo:  ‘The news came through just as I was about to start our Wednesday 5pm Grand Tour.  The 60 or so visitors, who clapped and cheered and we had a fantastic spontaneous celebration.’

Sam Lindo, 33, is the second generation of wine maker at Camel Valley and his father Bob, no stranger to wine awards, believes that the injection of youth and enthusiasm has made Camel Valley aspire to the highest level.   Added Bob:  ‘We have a very young, capable and well trained team here and they work exceptionally hard in order to make the best of every grape; this is their award.’

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18th June

ENGLISH & WELSH WINE OF THE YEAR COMPETITION 2010:

RESULTS ANNOUNCED

This year’s English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition results are announced today, with more medals awarded than ever before, acknowledging the consistently high quality of wines and winemaking coming from the UK.  90% of wines entered won an award.

Medals were awarded across the style categories by a judging panel of five Masters of Wine, chaired by Susan McCraith MW.  The results reveal the quality of the 2009 vintage, shown particularly in the dry white and still rosé categories. 

A record number of entries from England and Wales were recorded, acknowledging the larger harvest of last year but also including some new wines and vineyards.

The category that stood out most for the judges was the still rosé section, where 6 Gold medals were awarded (none were gained in the 2009 competition).  The hard fought trophy for this category – the Waitrose Rosé Trophy - was won by Camel Valley Fortnum & Mason Rosé 2009.  This is the second successive year for Camel Valley in winning this popular award and the third time overall.  An additional trophy was awarded from this category – that of for Best Unchaptalised Wine - won by Wickham Vineyard for their Row Ash Rosé NV.

Still dry white wines were a strong category, with the varietal Bacchus taking the lead on the medal board, gaining all but one of the 6 Gold medals, as well as the Trophy for best commercial production from the previous vintage – awarded to Chapel Down Bacchus 2009.  Other single varietals, such as Madeleine Angevine, Ortega and Huxelrebe also won medals.

Red wines showed great promise this year with more medals awarded in both the Pinot Noir and other varietal categories.  This year’s Red Wine Trophy was awarded to Plumpton College’s Sutherland’s Block 2009 Pinot Noir.

The Sparkling wine category proved to be as competitive and impressive as ever, with a higher number of Gold medals over last year.  Wines from non classic varietal performed well alongside the classic varietal sparklers, and sparkling rosés upheld their strong performance.

The star of the show in the competition is the Gore-Browne Trophy – The Wine of the Year – which was awarded for the second year in a row to Ridgeview Wine Estate, this year for their Grosvenor Blanc de Blanc 2001, bottled in magnums. The wine also scooped the trophy for Best Sparkling Wine.

Another significant accolade in the competition is the McAlpine Trophy for Winemaker of the Year, awarded for a second time to Sam Lindo of Camel Valley, who first won the title in 2007.

                                                                Sam Lindo

One notable trophy in the competition, the Montagu Trophy, acknowledges a key part of any wine producing business, that of packaging and presentation.    This trophy is sponsored for the first time this year by Avery Denison, the world’s largest manufacturer of food and drink label materials.   After much deliberation the trophy was awarded to Ridgeview’s Grosvenor 2001 Blanc de Blancs (magnums) – not only for the quality of design in the foil and labelling but also for its presentation in hand crafted wooded boxes, adding to the prestige of the wine and reflecting the wine estate’s identity. 

There was a triumph for the dessert wine category, with a Gold medal awarded to Eglantine’s North Star 2006, produced from 100% Madeline Angevine, adding to its already impressive Gold medal gained in France in Vinalies earlier this year.

“As a panel we were all very impressed with the quality of this year’s entries,” commented Susan McCraith MW. “We were delighted to award a record number of Gold medals across all the categories. The still rosé category was the highest quality we’ve seen - truly world-class, and the red categories were the best we’ve ever tasted.  The dry white wines impressed us greatly, and showed that the aromatic qualities of the grape varieties grown – particularly Bacchus – are a highly successful style here in the UK.  There were some real stars in the sparkling wine categories to rival some of the best in the world.  My congratulations to all entrants and winners.  There is a lot to be proud about.”

Acknowledging the organisation behind the scenes of the competition, Susan added: “I’d like to personally thank Brian Shirley, Chairman of the South West Vineyards Association, and his team for putting on such a well run tasting for us in Shaftesbury.  There were a lot of wines to deal with and the two days of judging went very smoothly. I would also like to thank all my fellow judges for their time and effort over the competition.”

The official Awards ceremony for the competition will take place later in July at the House of Lords, hosted by the President of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.

VIEW THE FULL LIST OF AWARDS HERE

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15th June

SOUTH EAST VINEYARDS ASSOCIATION COMPETITION 2010 NEW VINEYARDS SCOOP TROPHIES

A record number of medals were awarded this year in the annual South East Wine of the Year Competition. Andy Howard, Chief Wine Buyer for Marks and Spencer, led a team of four specialist wine industry professionals to judge the best English wines in Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Tasting alongside him were Patricia Stefanowicz MW, wine educator Lindsay Oram and Sue Daniels, wine technolgist at Marks & Spencer.

Nearly 60 entries were received, of which 75% were awarded a medal in the Highly Commended, Bronze, Silver and Gold categories.

Winning wines were submitted from a diverse range of vineyards from the SE region, including large producers such as Ridgeview, Chapel Down and Biddenden Vineyards alongside smaller producers such as Bluebell and Nutbourne, and even amateur producers, who also won medals.

The awards ceremony was held at Denbies Wine Estate on 8th June 2010 and attended by winemakers, vineyard owners and related professionals. Andy Howard commented on howt English wines have gone from strength to strength, improving year on year, and was encouraged by the quality of the wines and the number of entries.

The judges selected 9 of the best wines to taste during the meal.

Two new names to the Englsih wine scene stole the show.  The top wine this year was Gusbourne Estate Classic Blend 2006, a sparkling white from a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier made by winemakers Michael and Simon Roberts of Ridgeview Wine Estate. Vineyard owner Andrew Weeber collected the South East Wine of the Year trophy for this one of Gusbourne's first wines.  Runner up, and winners of the Charles Laughton trophy, was Bluebell Vineyards, whose winemaker Kevin Sutherland (from Plumpton College) collected the award for their sparkling Blanc de Blancs 2006.

      SE Wine of the Year Winners 2010 Andrew Weeber (Gusbourne) and Kevin Sutherland

A more detailed write up of the event can be found on drinkbritain.com

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14th June

THE 2010 ENGLISH & WELSH WINE OF THE YEAR COMPETITION:

JUDGING UNDERWAY

The annual national competition for the UK wine industry - the English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition - takes place today and tomorrow in Shaftesbury.  Over 200 English and Welsh wines will be put through rigorous assessment by a top panel of judges to find out which will be crowned Wine of the Year 2010. 

The Competition itself will take place in the historic surroundings of the Mayor’s Room, courtesy of Shaftesbury Council.   This year has attracted the highest number of entries ever, reflecting the successful harvest from 2009 in still wines, and the growing number of new wines produced from more recently planted acreage.

The judging will take place behind closed doors, with the wines being tasted blind and in style order by a distinguished panel of Masters of Wine who bring with them a wealth of experience from trade buying to wine writing and lecturing. This is the only competition of its kind whose judging panel is made up entirely of Masters of Wine.  The judging panel comprisesf: Susan McCraith MW, Patricia Stefanowicz MW, Maggie McNie MW, David Bird MW and Julian Brind MW.

The panel is chaired by Susan McCraith MW, in the first year of her three year tenure.  Susan McCraith commented: “I’m looking forward to a fascinating two days of judging. I know we can expect some top quality wines and a good range of style and grape varieties to show the diversity of wines now produced in England and Wales.”

Following the judging on tomorrow (Tuesday 15th), there will be a unique opportunity for members of the public to taste from the line up of wines that were entered in to the competition, and explore for themselves the wide range of styles that is now produced in the UK.  This tasting will take place in the stunning surroundings of the recently reopened Hotel Grosvenor, situated in the heart of Shaftesbury on the High Street.  The wines will be on show in the hotel’s main reception room from 2.00pm-5.00pm and entry to the tasting is free of charge and open to all wine enthusiasts.  For more information please contact the competition organiser, Brian Shirley on 07850 842095.

The full results will be announced on Friday 18th June, when the top awards including Wine of the Year and Winemaker of the Year will be revealed. 

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13th June

ENGLISH WINE PROMOTION AT BUMPKIN RESTAURANTS

It's great to see so many England flags flying out there at the moment.  Yesterday's football results may have been a little disappointing, but there's plenty still to look forward to ..... and let's let that include English wines too!

English Wine Week may be over for another year, but Bumpkin restaurants are continuing their English wine promotion right through to the end of July which will see us through - and beyond - the World Cup final.

There are currently two Bumpkin restaurants, located in Notting Hill and South Kensington in West London.  These restaurants bring country inspired cuisine to the heart of London, also serving fine wines and premium beers, including their own ale brewed in Kent. Their seasonal British menu features everything from market garden salads to their classic Charter pies.

Accompanying their dishes is a wide selection of wines, including some from England, from Three Choirs, Chapel Down and Ridgeview.  Their English wine selection was promoted during English Wine Week, and have been warmly received by diners - infact so popular are they proving that the promotion is continuing.  So if you are in the neighbourhood, why not pop down for a truly English experience?

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7th June

DEVON ROSE WINES OUTPERFORM ROSES FROM THE LOIRE VALLEY

As part of this year’s Devon Wine Week, the Devon Wine School hosted one of its special blind tastings on Thursday 3rd June.  The idea was to see how Devon’s Rosés would match up against Rosés produced in France’s Loire Valley.

Local vineyards have had a couple of difficult years in 2007 and 2008 but 2009 was kinder and 2010 is starting to look very encouraging.

The tasting panel, chaired by Susy Atkins, the highly regarded author and broadcaster, was made up of wine professionals from around Devon.  They tasted 20 wines, 17 of which were still and 3 of which were sparkling. 11 wines came from Devon and 9 came from the Loire Valley

The wines were all presented in plain bottles to make it fair and the tasting produced some real surprises for the panel, who awarded just 2 silver medals, both of which went to Devon vineyards.  Bovey Tracey’s Ashwell Vineyard won silver for its still 2009 Rosé and Topsham’s Pebblebed won silver for its non-vintage Sparkling Rosé.  8 Bronze Medals were also awarded, with 4 going to the Loire Valley and 4 going to the following Devon Vineyards:

              2009 Pebblebed Rosé

              2009 Kenton Vineyard Rosé

              2009 Sharpham Estate Rosé

              2009 Manstree Vineyard Rosé

Four of the top 10 wines were made by Yearlstone’s Juliet White.

After the tasting, Susy commented:

'Devon's roses won fair and square in this professional blind tasting. At the end of a gloriously sunny English Wine Week, it's inspiring to see how well Devon's wines can perform against a similar group from a classic European wine region. I thought it especially interesting that the wines came from "difficult" vintages yet still showed so well.'

The panel of 6 tasters were:

Susy Atkins (chair)

Ben Foster (owner of wine importers Newton Wines)

Richard Hartley (owner of the Culm Valley Inn, Culmstock)

April Marks (owner of Regency Wines in Exeter)

Richard Racynski-Floyd (manager of Coolings Wine Bar in Exeter)

Andy Whiteman (owner of the Harris Arms, Lewdown)

The tasting was organised and administered by Alastair Peebles Master of Wine of The Devon Wine School

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3rd June

ENGLISH WINES AND ENGLISH WINE WEEK IN THE PRESS

English wines have been attracting attention in the press lately - highlighting also the many activities that are going on for English Wine Week.   Here are just a few:

Matthew Jukes wrote up his chioce of English wines in his column in the Daily Mail (Saturday 29th May) - it is also on his own informative website www.matthewjukes.com

Tim Atkin reveals his top English wines in today's Times

This week's BBC programme See Hear, broadcast yesterday (2nd June), introduces viewers to English wines and Denbies Wine Estate- it can be viewed on BBC iplayer

BBC's The One Show last Friday (28th May) heralded a huge success for English wines in a blnd tasting with French wines - there's just time to catch it on BBC iplayer

The Calfs Head pub and restaurant, near Clitheroe, has made headlines in their regional press, by launching an English wine only wine list for English Wine Week - more here

Country LIfe (May 26th edition) featured English Wine Week with recommendations from their wine expert Amelia Pinsent.

Guardian.co.uk listed key vineyards where you can stay (21st May)

Jane MacQuitty, The Times on Saturday wine expert listed her top English sparklers (15th May)  along with a tasting video where tastes her chosen three English sparkling wines.

Wine writer Simon Woods on his website tastes a range of English reds - see our news item below (28th May - left hand column).

MERCURE HOTELS CELEBRATE ENGLISH WINE WEEK

Visitors to 24 of England's Mercure Hotels during English Wine Week will have a chance to enjoy a glass of local wine when they dine.  Mercure hotels are located throughout in different parts of the country and each hotel will be sourcing still white and rose wines from a vineyard located nearby, or at least in the same county or region.  The participating hotels are listed within each regional section on this website. 

Mercure, which is part of the Accor group, is known for its individually styled hotels, each with their own character. Hotels range from those in city centres to country manors, in key provincial locations.

Jonathan Sheard, Director of Operations, Mercure UK and Ireland, said: “English Wine Week is an excellent way to highlight the quality and variety of English wine, alongside Mercure’s quality service. Mercure restaurant menus will be perfectly complemented by the English wine offered.

This week is a fantastic way to remind ourselves that great tasting wine can be found on our doorstep, which is why we are offering diners a complimentary glass of English wine for the week.”

Participating Mercure hotels are listed by region on the What's On and Wine and Food sections of the English Wine Week website.

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2nd June

ONE DAY WINE WORKSHOPS TO TAKE PLACE AT DENBIES

Ever wanted to learn more about wine - where it comes from and and how to appreciate and taste it?

Denbies Wine Estate are offering the opportunity to learn all this in one day.  Their One Day Wine Workshop will cover all aspects of wine tasting and appreciation, grapes varieties and wine regions.  Denbies One Day Wine Course will be hosted by our Denbies Wine Expert.   No prior knowledge is necessary.

The course will include:

• How to taste wine
• What is a ‘ blind’ wine tasting – what to look for when tasting different wine styles
• Examples of contrasting wine styles from around the world – Including French, English, Spanish, New World
• Wine and food pairing – the right match?
• Refreshments throughout the day – two course lunch with Denbies award winning wine
• Behind the scenes tour of the Winery
• Tasting glass & Denbies Estate grown vine to take away

The One Day Workshops will be available on:

Saturday 3rd July

Saturday 18th September

Saturday 22nd January 2011

11.00am-4.00pm

Cost is £95 per person - reservations are strongly recommended.

Please contact events@denbiesvineyard.co.uk

Tel: 01306 742002

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1st June

ENGLISH WINES NOW SERVED AT THE CINNAMON CLUB

London's Cinnamon Club is now listing English wines on its wine list. Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2005, Chapel Down Pinot Reserve 2004 and Chapel Down Bacchus 2009 are now served alongside an extensive list of wines from around the world, chosen to complement the wide range of dishes served from the menu.  

Sommelier Laurent Chaniac commented: "this is becoming the least well kept secret, those wines are truly to be enjoyed by everyone, complexity, finesse and length are what they are all about."

The Cinnamon Club offers ever evolving menus combining Indian ingredients with local produce and Indian cooking techniques with a European design template.  This successful combination produces a distinctive layering of flavours, and is accompanied by a carefully matched wine list.

The Cinnamon Club

The Old Westminster Library

30-32 Great Smith Street

London SW1P 3BU

Tel: 020 7222 2555

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31st May

DENBIES WINS GOOD HOUSEKEEPING AWARD FOR BEST SPARKLING WINE

Denbies Wine Estate was delighted to be the recipients of the prestigious Good Housekeeping Food Awards 2010 ‘Best English Sparkling Wine’ for Denbies Greenfields Cuvée.

The annual awards, held in London at a glittering celebrity chef star studded ceremony, honour the very best in food and drink and entries are judged by the expert Good Housekeeping Magazine, the largest selling women’s magazine, panel; Prue Leith, co-founder of Leith’s Cookery School, Jane Asher, actress and writer, Valentine Warner, Chef and food writer, Atul Kochhar, Chef and Great British Menu finalist and Meike Beck, Good Housekeeping chief home economist.  The panel was assisted by Richard Ehrlich, Good Housekeeping's wine expert who tasted dozens of English wines before making a shortlist of five for judging.

‘Just the right amount of bubbles not to obscure the flavour’ commented Jane Asher on the Greenfields, which is traditional bottle fermented method and made using the classic combination of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.  

The Award was presented by Richard Corrigan, Michelin-starred and TV star chef, to Christopher White, Denbies General Manager, who commented, ‘Winning the Good Housekeeping award for Best English Sparkling Wine is a great honour.  I would like to thank everyone at Denbies who has contributed to producing such an outstanding wine.’

Greenfields Sparkling Cuvée was served to HRH Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at the finals of Great British Menu which is currently being aired on BBC 2.  

            L-R: Jane Asher; Jeannette Simpson, Elfrida Spooner and Christopher White

                                               of Denbies; Richard Corrigan

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30th May

'THE FLOWERING OF THE VINE' CELEBRATIONS TAKE PLACE IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE VINEYARD

John Freeland, of Warwickshire wine merchants C A Rookes, attended a 'Flowering of the Vine' ceremony - a French tradition where the vines are blessed at flowerig.  Although a little early in English vineyards, it was an occasion much enjoyied, and attending by Two French Wine orders, members of the Ordres des Chevaliers Bretvins (the Muscadet wine order from the Nantes region) and the Commanderie du Taste Saumur (another wine order from the Loire).  John is a member of these orders.  The ceremony took place at Barton House Vineyard, Barton on the Heath in Gloucestershire.

The Rev Canon Anthony Wells gave a short sermon, blessing the vines for a good and bountiful harvest hopefully in 100 days, as the vines were onlyjust showing the buds for full flowering in the next few days. This was followed by the well know hymn “All things bright & beautiful” and the day concluded with a lunch accompanied by Muscadet and Saumur Champigny.

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29th May

ENGLISH WINE WEEK STARTS TODAY

Check out the many events and activities going on around the country for English Wine Week.

Some of the highlights of this year’s English Wine Week include the Mercure Hotel Group whose key hotels in England will be offering their dining guests a complimentary glass of wine from a local vineyard during the Week. Other participants include The Wine Society and Laithwaites Wine.   In Devon, local vineyards are collaborating again to host Devon Wine Week, ensuring that on every day of the Week there will be an event or activity either at a vineyard or local outlet.  Working alongside them are retailers and restaurants that will be highlighting English wines with their menus – showing just how delicious the marriage of local food is with locally-sourced wine is.   In Wales, Welsh Wine Week will also be celebrated with activities taking place in a number of vineyards.

Some other snippets to whet your appetite:

In Lancashire, hotel and restaurant The Calfs Head near Clitheroe will be selling only English wines during English Wine Week, offering a ‘try before you buy option’ on the listed range. 

Camel Valley Vineyard in Cornwall are teaming up with Rick Stein’s Deli and promoting a ‘Green Fit & Fresh' initiative, and Help Haiti along the way: collect your picnic from Rick Stein’s Deli, hire a bike on the Quay at Padstow and cycle the Camel Trail.   Get your award winning wine by the bottle or glass and enjoy your picnic at the vineyard.   No cover charge, donation for Action Aid Haiti would be welcomed.  Camel Valley also celebrates its 21st birthday this year and to mark the occasion, winemaker Sam Lindo has created a series of wines from small, distinct parcels of the Camel Valley vineyards, and will launch the first of these ‘monopole’ wines during English Wine Week.

The Wine Society will have on tasting their listed range of English wines in their cellar shop in Stevenage Information on the wines listed by the Wine Society can be found on www.thewinesociety.com

Stanlake Park Wine Estate based near Twyford, Reading are launching their partnership with Rumsey's Chocolaterie where they have developed some exclusive English chocolate to pair with their wine, probably the first vineyard in England to have done so. www.stanlakepark.com

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28th May

ENGLISH WINES PRAISED ON BBC'S THE ONE SHOW

Tonight's One Show on BBC1 launched English Wine Week off on a positive note.  Food ciritc, Jay Rayner is by his own admission not a fan of English wines.  Jay and four members of the public took part in a blind taste test, organised in the cellars of Berry Bros & Rudd by Master of Wine Simon Roberts who selected two French wines for every English wines, based on price and style.  The first flight of sparkling wines pitched award-winning Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2001 against two Champagnes. Not a bad result: Nyetimber was voted by 2 of the 5 tasters as their favourite.  With the three red wines, all 5 tasters selected the same wine as their favourite - all 5 had chosen Bolney Wine Estate Pinot Noir 2008, beating two red Burgundies. Jay Rayer admitted that he had to reconsider his opinion of English wine.

There was flight of still white wine.  it was also reported that the One Show production team selected the English wine - Chapel Down Pinot Blanc 2006 as their favourite.

You can see the show on BBC iplayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00skfq1/The_One_Show_28_05_2010/

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20th May

ENGLISH WINES TAKE FOUR GOLD MEDALS IN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS

It’s been another great year for English and Welsh wine in the major international wine competitions, whose results were announced earlier this week at the London International Wine & Spirits Trade Fair.

English wines impressed particularly the judges at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) and Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) with no less than 4 Gold medals shared amongst three producers Camel Valley, Nyetimber and Ridgeview. Along with the results from The International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC), English and Welsh wines won 120 awards, more than ever before.

Two of the Gold medals were awarded in the IWC to Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs 2001 and Camel Valley Noir Rosé Brut 2008.  This was a second successive year as a Gold medal winner for Camel Valley and a first major win in this competition for Nyetimber.

The two other Gold medals were won in Decanter World Wine Awards by Ridgeview Wine Estate for their Knightsbridge Blanc de Noirs 2006 and Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs 2006, which also took the regional Trophy.  UK doubled the number of silver medal winners in this year’s DWWA.

The International Wine & Spirit Competition saw three times as many Silver medals as were awarded last year.  Whilst the majority of came from the sparkling wine sector, there were notable wins for Bolney Wine Estate’s Pinot Noir Red 2008 and Eglantine’s dessert wine North Star 2006¸ which were both awarded Silver Best in Class.

New Welsh vineyard Ancre Hill Estate in Monmouthshire won a Silver Medal in the DWWA and Bronze in the IWSC for the same still wine – their White Welsh Regional Wine 2008 – showing the ongoing developments and success from the Welsh wine industry.

These and many other English and Welsh wines will soon face scrutiny in the UK’s own national awards – the English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition, which takes place in mid June.  This is the only competition in the world where the judges are all Masters of Wine.  The results will be announced at the end of June.

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10th May

A NEW BOUTIQUE WINERY IN WEST SUSSEX

Peter and Bridget Gladwin Nutbourne Vineyards and Charles and Wendy Outhwaite (owners of Redfold Vineyards) are joining forces to establish a new boutique winery exclusively dedicated to the production of their two prestigious English Marques.

The winery will be situated between the two vineyards and is currently under construction being fitted out with state of the art equipment imported from Germany and France. It will have an initial production capacity of 100,000 litres a year and will be ready for this year’s harvest in October.

Owen Elias, the former head of winemaking at Chapel Down in Kent and four-time winner of UK Winemaker of The Year, will become consultant winemaker for the new enterprise. Other members of the new winemaking team are currently being recruited.

The two vineyards are less than 1km from each other just outside the village of Nutbourne, near Pulborough in West Sussex. They both share the same gentle south facing slopes of greensand soil along with their well known neighbour Nyetimber Vineyards. Nutbourne Vineyards have been established for nearly 30 years and produce a range of award-winning white and rosé still wines together with their much acclaimed Nutty Brut Sparkling.

Redfold was planted in 2008 with the classic Champagne grape varieties of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Their first commercial crop will be this summer and their first wines will be released in 2013.

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5th May

POSITIVE RESPONSE IN PARIS TO ENGLISH WINE TASTING

As reported below a tasting of English wines was staged for wine enthusiasts by French wine blogger Miss Vicky Wine on April 22nd in Paris.

Miss Vicky Wine worked hard to persuade English vineyards to part with some wines and she personally brought them over to the tasting.  Around 80 Miss Vicky Wine followers came to the tasting, eager to taste the English wines presented.

A selection of styles was presented, including 3 top sparklers: Hush Heath Balfour Brut 2006, Ridgeview Grosvenor 2006 and Camel Valley White Pinot.  A pleasing range of still white and red wines from Bolney Wine Estate and a still rose from Cornish vineyard Polgoon were also well received.

The wines from the lesser-known grape varieties (such as Rondo, Dornfelder, Muller-Thurgau) caused lots of interest and the sparkling wines showed just how competitive our sparkling wines are getting.

Miss Vicky concluded in her blog: "and the French all wished they could buy the wine in Paris ..."

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4th May

CO-OP TO PLANT OWN ENGLISH VINEYARD

The Co-operative Farms is to expand its "Grown by Us" food and drink range to include wine, and planting a vineyard on its farm in Gloucestershire.

The vineyard will produce a still white wine, made primarily from Ortega, and which will be sold as part of The Co-operative's "Grown by Us" brand (food and drink either grown by The Co-operative Farms, or made using its produce).

The vineyard is being planted on around six acres at The Co-operative Farms' site at Down Ampney, near Cirencester.

"The Co-operative has a well-deserved excellent reputation for its wine, and the prospect of adding an English white wine, made from grapes grown on one of our own farms, is very exciting," commented Christine Tacon, The Co-operative Farm's Managing Director.

Gloucestershire is one of the UK's leading wine-growing areas. Cirencester was a town in Roman times, and it's likely that wine was grown in the area then. A wood next to The Co-operative's Farm is called Vines Brake, suggesting it was once home to a vineyard.

(source: www.talkingretail.com)

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1st May

NEW RANGE OF WINES AT BOTHY VINEYARD AS VINEYARD SHOP OPENS FOR THE SUMMER SEASON

Bothy Vineyard re-opens for business on 1 May 2010 with a wider range of wines than ever before.  In addition to their popular still whites- Oxford Dry 2009 and Renaissance 2009 - and rose Oxford Pink 2009,m there are still limited stocks of the Trophy winning medium sweet Paradox.

New wines to the range are a red wine made from a blend of red and white grapes grown on site - Cote Bothy - and its first ever oaked white made from Bacchus - Oxford Fumé. Both of these were made using French oak barrels imported from Burgundy.

For the first time in nearly a decade a new sparkling white - Halcyon Days - will alsobe available

The vineyard shop will be open from 10am every Friday, Saturday and the first Sunday of each month, or you can arrange to visit outside these times by contacting them first.

(source: ukvino.co.uk)

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26th April

2009 PRODUCTION FIGURES ANNOUNCED

The 2010 English Wine Producers Trade & Press Tasting took place on St George’s Day (23rd April).  The tasting highlighted an industry that has shown sales growth despite the economic climate and that is continuing expand production and in fact looking to a very positive future.

This is supported by the official wine production figures that were released last week by the Wine Standards Branch of the Food Standards Agency, confirming earlier predictions that 2009 production was 3+ million bottles.  The hectarage in production is showing a 20% increase on the previous year alone whilst there is a further 25% planted but still to come on stream.   New plantings continue with more anticipated this year.

Much of the recent plantings and a growing percentage of production are for sparkling wine.  The line up of wines in this year’s tasting was indicative of this growing trend, with more sparkling wines than ever before on show.

The trade tasting attracted key buyers from supermarkets to independent wine merchants, hotels and restaurants to wine bars, reflecting the growing interest from the trade in the UK wine industry.

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16th April

ENGLISH WINE TASTING TO BE STAGED IN PARIS

The word on English wines continues to travel.  Wine writer and blogger Anne-Victoire Anne-Victoire Monrozier - also known as Miss Vicky Wine - has organised a wine tasting of English wines in the Grains Nobles wine bar, which also houses a famous tasting school - based on 8 rue Boutebrie, 75005.  The tasting will take place on Thursday 22nd April.

"Most of the people coming will be expats, young workers, wine bloggers, people in the wine trade and I hope a few journalists," comments Anne-Victoire.  The line up of wines will include top offerings from Ridgeview Estate, Bookers, Polgoon, Camel Valley and Heath Hush - most will be sparkling, although there will be some still rosés and a pinot noir red.

Further information about the tasting will be on Miss Vicky Wine's site.

it will be the first time for a while that Parisians have been introduced to English wine.  Miss Vicky Wine has promised to give us a report back on how they were received - we will report back to you!

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15th April

DENBIES' RUNNERS IN LONDON MARATHON

Not that they'll be supping wine as they complete the arduous 26 miles and 385 yards - but two of the Denbies Wine Estate team will be running in this year's London Marathon - PR and Marketing lady Jeannette Simpson and Kelly Walsh, Banqueting & Group Bookings Manager.

For both it will be the first time they will be running in the Marathon, and both are running for a very worthy cause - The Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, who Denbies have worked with over the past few years. 

Rainbow Trust Children's Charity provides practical and emotional support to families when their child has a life threatening illness. Immediate help is available for families and for 24 hours a day when needed.  For more details, please follow  Rainbow Trust Children's Charity

"This is a daunting task but we are determined and with the big day just around the corner are now really making a last request for our fundraising!," comments Jeannette.   "Thank you so much to all of you who have supported us so far but if you haven’t, and are able to, any amount would be greatly appreciated!"

Donations can be made on the Just Giving site - http://www.justgiving.com/teamkj

If you would like to find out more about the charity please contact Jeannete Simpson.

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14th April

NEW ENGLISH WINE LIST LAUNCHED AT LANCASHIRE HOTEL

The Calf's Head, at Worston near Clitheroe in Lancashire recently launched their new all-English wine list.  The list was compiled after extensive research by buyer Patrick O'Reilly. The list currently runs alongside their other extensive wine list featuring wines from around the world.

The English wine list, which features wines from Biddenden, Bolney Wine Estate, Denbies and Stanlake Park amongst others, was launched last Friday, offering complimentary tastings to their customers.  Julian Barnes, MD and winemaker at Biddenden, was there for the launch.

"We were absolutely over the moon with the positivity shown by our customers," Patrick commented.  "It has been an exciting and interesting topic for myself as I have reserached this subject and we are sure now the concept will be a bigger success than we ever imagined

"The enthusiasm around here has been amazing and exceeded all our expectations," he added.

The Calf's Head is a country house hotel and restaurant, situated in the Ribble Valley close to Clitheroe.   Further information is available on their website www.calfshead.co.uk

Watch out for more English wine promotions there!  

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7th April

FIRST COMMERCIAL ENGLISH SAUVIGNON PLANTING AT DENBIES WINE ESTATE

As part of the ongoing vineyard development at Denbies Wine Estate, three hectares of Sauvignon Blanc have been planted. Clone 108 on Gravesac rootstocks were chosen for early ripening and limestone tolerance.

The Sauvignon Blanc planting is part of Denbies strategy to move to more premium dry white wine styles.

 “There is always an element of risk with any new variety that is introduced to the UK” commented John Worontschak, consulting winemaker with Litmus wines who are working with Denbies on its expansion plans.  “Three hectares, although small in terms of Denbies overall size is larger than the average English Vineyard!  We are confident with this great site that we will achieve full ripeness. “

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29th March

JOIN IN THE STANLAKE PARK CHAMPAGNE CHALLENGE THIS EASTER

Over the 4-day Easter Holiday (April 2-5) Stanlake Park Wine Estate, based near Reading, will be hosting a very special challenge.   Visitors over 2nd – 5th April will be challenged to tell the difference between their own Sparkling Wine and a Champagne.  The wines of course will be tasted blind and responses recorded. At the end of the four days all the responses will be added to up to see which of the wines comes out on top.  We will let you know the outcome!

Two of Stanlake’s sparkling wines will be in the Challenge line up: their Heritage Brut (a blend of Seyval Blanc, Muller Thurgau, Reichensteiner and Pinot Meunier) and Stanlake Brut, a more traditional blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to taste other sparkling wines recently added to Stanlake’s extensive range of wines and styles: a rosé sparkling and a ready made Kir Royale, produced with their 20 year old blackcurrant liqueur blended with their sparkling wine.

Stanlake has just rebranded their range of sparkling wines, reflecting the high quality of the winemaking with traditional winemaking and a distinctly English style.

For further information on this challenge the other activities taking place at Stanlake, visit their website www.stanlakepark.com

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24th March

INTERNATIONAL SILVER MEDAL FOR RIDGEVIEW

Ridgeview's Blanc de Blanc Grosvenor 2006 has been awarded a very prestigious Silver medal in Chardonnay du Monde 2010 which honours the best wines produced from Chardonnay.

The 17th annual Chardonnay du Monde® wine competition was held March 10-13, 2010 at Château des Ravatys, the wine estate of the Pasteur Institute at Saint-Lager in the Burgundy wine (France) and the wines tasted by an international panel of judges

Over 880 wines from 37 countries across the world were entered.

Further information on the competition can be found here.

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5th March

CHILFORD HALL VINEYARD AND CHILFORD WINES & BISTRO OPEN FOR NEW SEASON

Chilford Hall Vineyard in Linton, Cambridgeshire reopens on Friday 5th March for the new season with winery tours, wine tastings, wine sales and refreshments.

Following good weather conditions in 2009, the October harvest produced over 20 tonnes of grapes, including a significant increase in the Rondo and Regent grape varieties, leading to an increase in production of red wine.

Chilford Hall Vineyard has traditionally produced sparkling and still white and rosé wines; Chilford’s first ever red wine “Granta Valley” was produced last year and was so popular it sold out within six weeks. The second red vintage Granta Valley 2008 will be on sale later this year.

Glen Mejias, Director at Chilford Hall, says, “We are looking forward to an exciting new season, the weather last year was a huge improvement on the past two years, producing very good fruit quality and we will produce some excellent wine this year.”

Onsite wine shop Chilford Wines and Bistro is open every day between March and October from 10am to 5.30pm, and offers free onsite parking, wine tasting, lunches, refreshments and a selection of wines and local produce for sale.

Tours of the winery take place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday and on Bank Holidays at 11am and 2.30pm and cost £9.95 per person. Advance group and coach party bookings are welcome, evening tours available by prior arrangement.

Please contact Chilford Wines and Bistro on 01223 895625 for further details. English Wine Week is Saturday 29th May to Sunday 6th June 2010.

To find out more about Chilford Hall Vineyard please visit www.chilfordhall.co.uk

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3rd March

A TRIUMPH IN FRANCE FOR EGLANTINE

Eglantine Vineyard has won a gold medal in Vinalies, an international competition that takes place annually in Paris.

Eglantine North Star 2006, a dessert wine produced from Madeleine Angevine was the only English wine to gain an Gold medal in the competition.

And this wine has a proven track record - his is the second Gold tha it has won tfrom Vinalies, the previous being gained by the 2004 Vintage two yeas ago.

North Star has consistently won awards foreach of its vintages on both the national and international stage.  The wine is produced from some of the ripest Madeleine Angevine grapes in the vineyard - Eglantine's answer to Icewine. Limited quantities are available - price £20 per half bottle - contact Eglantine direct.

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19th February

FRANCE VS ENGLAND BLIND TASTING REVEAL IMPRESSIVE RESULTS

A France VS England blind tasting took place recently in Oxford, at Balliol College.  The tasting was arranged by  Diego Zancani (Modern Languages, also Praefectus of Holywell Manor)  and Yannick Joseph (UKvino & Butler of Balliol College).

About 20 members from Holywell Manor (Oxford University) Wine Tasting Club - all post graduates - took part in the tasting.

The wines were chosen by Yannick and matched according to their percentage of alcohol and their main flavours

The results revealed an even 2 all, and one draw (scores were makred out of 100).  The winning marks gained by England however, were significantly higher then their competitiors:

Champagne Lafitte  (71/100  VS   Three Choirs "classic cuvée" (70/100)        (Winner: France)

Cremant de Bourgogne rosé (76/100)    VS    Wicham rosé 06   (75/100)     (Winner: France)    

Bordeaux Blanc 08 Delor (68/100)  VS   Stanlake Park "Kings Fumé" 06 (80/100) 

(Winner: England)

Anjoux Rosé 08 (70/100)   VS     Chapel Down English Rose  08 (70/100)         (DRAW)          
                  

Burgundy Bouchard Ainé 07 (62/100)   VS Wickham (Pinot Rondo) 07  (81/100)  

(Winner: England)  

Yannick passed on some comments on the wines:

1)Three Choirs, Creamy texture with very fruity aromas of grapefruit, greengage and edelflower  (maybe too fruity to be a Champagne)

2)Wickham Sparkling Rosé 06, crisp fresh and clean. Hints of ripe berry fruits, especially strawberry, raspberry and green apple (again too fruity to be Cremant de Bourgogne)

3)Stanlake Park "Kings Fumé"06, a world class white wine, rich, fruity with a long finish and a very elegant oak touch.

4)Chapel Down English Rose, Clean, crisp refreshing with long finish. flavours of lime, raspberry and wild flowers.

5)Wickham Red 07. Another worldclass wine, with a fantastic texture on the palate, with flavours of ripe berry fruit, fresh meat and cinamon.and a beautiful oak finish.

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15th February

FIRST SCOTTISH WINE TO BE PRODUCED THIS YEAR

This year's harvest will include the UK's first ever Scottish wine.  Vines planted 4 years ago at the Ardeonaig Hotel in Perthshire will be harvested this autumn.  Top chef and hotel owner Pete Gottgens, plans to sell the wine in his hotel restaurant and run classes in wine-producing.

If successful, he will look to expand the 48 Bacchus and Madeleine Angevine vines to 800 once he knows which of the varieties grows best on the banks of Loch Tay.  This vineyard is now a member of the Mercian Vineyards Association, making it, not unsurprisingly, the most northerly vineyard in the UK to have joined.

“If we have a warm summer, then we are in business. This will be the first harvest that we actually pick the grapes,” said Mr Gottgens, who used to be Nelson Mandela’s personal chef.

“Cold is not the problem, the lack of sunshine is our biggest problem. If the wine is fit for consumption it will be served by the glass with our food. If it's not good enough we can make it into vinegar.”

Source: Daily Telegraph

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12th February

FIFTH DEVON WINE WEEK ANNOUNCED

14 Devon vineyards will be taking part in the Fifth Devon Wine Week, which  begins on May 29th - and it remains by far the biggest regional celebration of English Wine Week.

Those taking part this time are:  

Yearlstone

Sharpham

Pebblebed

Manstree

Kenton

Old Walls

Lily Farm

Eastcott

National Trust Knightshayes

Cannington College Bridgwater ( guest member  - and see item below)

Redyeates Wedge

Ashwell

Willhayne and an associated vineyard close by

The Week's main event is to be:   The Devon Challenge.  Devon rosés ( still and sparkling ) vs the rosés of the Loire, to be held at the Devon Wine School by Master of Wine Alastair Peebles.

Daily events and activities taking place over Devon Wine Week will appear on their website www.devonwineweek.co.uk by April 1st.

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11th February

NEW CHAIRMAN FOR UKVA

 Ian Edwards is the new Chairman of the industry's representative body, the United Kingdom Vineyards Association (UKVA), replacing Bob Lindo of Camel Valley Vineyards, who stands down after 3 years in the Chair.

Ian is owner of Furleigh Estate in Dorset, a 5.5ha vineyard planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Bacchus and Rondo, and producing sparkling and still wines, the first released in 2009.   In what has been a busy and challenging time for the UK wine industry with the changes in the EU wine regime, Ian has played a major role in negotiations and interpretation of the legislation.

Bob’s 3 years as Chairman saw the biggest changes UKVA history.  The EU wine reforms and the removal of the planting ban posed significant challenges but the greatest achievement of the UKVA over that period was to negotiate with DEFRA for training funding for its members which has, to date, resulted in the launch of WineSkills, a training programme run and implemented by Plumpton College.  During his tenure Bob also set about modernising the approach of the UKVA in response to the explosion in planting. 

Said Bob:  “It’s been an enjoyable 3 years and I’ve been supported by an excellent team.  I’m really thrilled to see the WineSkills training programmes in place; it’s an opportunity to make our wine industry even more skilled and professional.  My successor Ian Edwards will be an excellent replacement; his understanding of the intricacies of the EU wine reform will be invaluable as the industry implements its new labelling.”

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10th February

CAMEL VALLEY CELEBRATES THE END OF THE CORNISH OYSTER SEASON

Showing the classic marriage between Englsih wine and local food, Camel Valley will be part of a 3 day authentic oyster gathering and Cornish Seafood Market, taking place over the last weekend in March at Mylor Yacht Harbour, Falmouth, Cornwall.

The weekend celebrates the end of the oyster season, with the harvest from the last wild oyster beds and for the last fleet working under sail in Europe. See the fleet in action then enjoy traditional harbourside entertainments including a fresh local Seafood Market – then celebrate the start of the summer with Camel Valley Seafood Sunday – a jazz, sparkling wine and seafood Sunday.

Award winning Cornish produce includes:

Cornish stout – Pennycomequick

Cornish sparkling wine – Camel Valley Brut

Cornish shellfish – oysters, crabs, mussels, prawns, scallops

Cornish seafood – mackerel, sardines, tuna                                                       

Cornish produce – sea salt

Last weekend in March – Friday 26th, Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th – 10am til late

Plenty of parking arranged at the top of the hill – Porloe Farm

For further information please contact Cornish Native Oysters – www.cornishnativeoysters.co.uk

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26th January

A BARREL FULL OF TROPHIES

Why Camel Valley have justifyable reason to celebrate

2009 was a good year for Bob & Sam Lindo of Camel Valley Vineyard - infact it was a great year for them.  The father and son winemaking team have scooped some major trophies this last year - both in the UK and abroad.   Camel Valley took the only Gold medal and went on to win the English Wine trophy in the 2009 International Wine Challenge - and Bob gained the added accolade as being celebrated as 'English winemaking legend' when the awards were publicly announced at the London International Wine & Spirits Trade Fair in May of last year.  Further awards included the Waitrose Trophy for Best Rose Wine and the EWP Trophy in the national competition (The English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition, which is the only competition to only have MW's as judges), followed by the South West Vineyards Association Trophy for best Sparkling wine.  To crown the year, Camel Valley won the very glamorous Trophy for Best International Traditional Method Sparkling wine in 'Bollicine Del Mondo' (news item below) in December.

... no pressure for 2010 then!

                                Bob (left) and Sam Lindo celebrate with their trophies

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18th January

UK VINEYARDS GUIDE 2010 NOW AVAILABLE

Stephen Skelton MW has just released his latest, definitive and comprehensive guide to the industry: UK VINEYARDS GUIDE 2010, which is packed with detailed information and essential data. 

Chapters include an in-depth history of the industry, from pre-Roman Britain to the present day, charting the progress from the birth of the modern commercial wine industry post-war, and more latterly the surge of growth in the last decade.  Stephen also casts his eye into the crystal ball to look at the future of the industry and tackles the topical subject of the effects climate change on the UK’s viticulture.

Viticulture, vinification and grape varieties are also covered in detail.  The definitive list of almost all vineyards in England, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Islands provides the most comprehensive record available – extensively researched and featuring useful information on each.  Additional lists identifying the organic and biodynamic vineyards, vineyards of 4 hectares and above and a breakdown of vineyards by country and size are also included, along with chapters recording the competition successes over the years and useful contacts relevant to the industry.

This book provides an essential reference book to all aspects of UK wines and their producers.

The author, Stephen Skelton, is a Master of Wine, viticultural consultant and writer.  He has advised, and continues to advise, many of today’s growers in the 35 years that he has been involved with grape growing and winemaking in the UK. This is the fourth guide that he's written.

The book is available only from: www.lulu.com Reference: 7848482 or www.englishwine.com - Price £22.95 + postage and packing.

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15th January

BIBENDUM TIMES ON HUSH HEATH

An excellent article on Hush Heath Estate, producers of award-winning rose sparkling wine, was featured in wine merchant Bibendum's on line magazine, Bibendum Times.  The article covers in depth the quality behind the wine from the grapes to the packaging, and an interview with owner Richard Balfour-Lynn.  It provides an insghtful look at one of England's top sparkling wine estates.

Packed with interesting stories from the world of wine, Bibendum-Times is a must-read for any wine enthusiast.

13th January

RESTAURANT AT CHAPEL DOWN NOMINATED FOR AWARD

The finalists of the Kent Restaurant Awards 2009 in association with restaurant reservation and takeaway ordering website OrderOnlineNow.co.uk, has been announced. One of the finalists in the 'Best English' Restaurant category is Richard Phillips at Chapel Down.  Located at the Chapel Down Winery, the highly respected chef Richard Phillips has created a successful restaurant boasting a highly imaginative menu in the surroundings of Tenterden vineyard.

Over 6500 members of the public nominated and voted for more than 300 establishments across the county. A panel of expert judges visited a shortlist of more than 70 venues, assessing the quality of the cooking, service and ambience, awarding additional marks for the use of local produce of sound provenance using sustainable farming practices.

“We are fortunate enough to live in one of the most affluent areas of the country, surrounded by some of the finest farm produce, wild game and seafood available, said OrderOnlineNow.co.uk founder Andrew Frisbee, who added, “The local restaurant scene has enjoyed a number of high profile openings this year, as existing venues continue to improve their performance.”

The 12 category winners will be unveiled on Thursday 28th January.

BARCLAY BROTHERS TO ESTABLISH VINEYARD ON SARK

News issued by decanter.com

Sirs David and Frederick Barcley, owners of the Daily Telegraph newspapers and the Ritz hotel in London, are to establish vineyarsd on the Island of Sark in the Channel Islands.  They have recruited Bordeaux winemaker Alain Raynaud to oversee the operation.

5 hectares will be planted mainly with Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinot Gris, mainly for the production of still wine but some sparkling wine will also be produced.  The wine will be sold mainly to tourists visiting the island.

Alain Raynaud is the owner of Chateau La Croix de Gay in Pomerol and consultant for a number of estates including Colgin in Napa.

'The Sark vines stand at an elevation of about 100m above sea level, and on the same latitude as the Loire. There is great potential here for developing quality white wines,' he comments.

Planting will take place in April this year.

The full story is available here from decanter.com

NYETIMBER AND CAMEL VALLEY RECEIVE THEIR TROPHIES

Following the announcement of the outstanding success of two English sparkling wines in the international sparkling wine competition “BOLLICINE DEL MONDO” in Italy in December (see news item below) it was time to celebrate with the gala dinner and trophy ceremony at the prestigious restaurant Bottega del Vino in Verona.

Brad Greatrix, winemaker at Nyetimber and Bob Lindo, owner of Camel Valley both attended the event, and were rewarded with very decorative trophies to mark their success.

Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2003 beat all the contenders, gaining the highest marks and was crowned Champion, whilst Camel Valley's Pinot Noir Brut 2007 took the award for Best International Traditional Method in 2010'.  Both wines beat the likes of Champagnes Canard Duchêne and Louis Roederer Millésime 2000 amongst other worthy worldwide contenders.

Brad Greatrix of Nyetimber receives the top trophy:

  Bob Lindo (centre, red tie) receives his award

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12th January

RED, WHITE & BRUT!

Wine Trail for Kent

Produced in Kent, the champion of Kent’s food and drink producers, has just uncorked an update of its wine trail, encouraging consumers to discover, experience and sample Kent’s award-winning vineyards and wines.

The free trail, which comes in a handy fold-out A5 colour brochure and is available online at www.producedinkent.co.uk  (or from tourist information centres in Kent) tracks the history and heritage of Kent’s wine growing tradition. Wine trail users can ‘work up a thirst’ with a fabulous 4.7 mile walk, which starts at Camer Park, a 45 acre site of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with the walk passing through Meopham Valley vineyard en route.  The trail also includes details of some of the best hotels, pubs and restaurants to enjoy Kentish wines, with information on retailers and visitor attractions in the region that stock the county’s wines.

A fascinating time line charts the rise of the wine making industry, from Roman times, through the Middle Ages, to the present day and there is an intriguing description of the wine making process covering Kent’s Red, White, Rosé and Sparkling wines.

Readers can find out about today’s successful and award-winning wine producers. Full details of Kent’s 14 commercial vineyards are included, with a cluster of six vineyards centred around the ‘micro-climate’ enjoyed in the Weald of Kent. Many of the vineyards offer fascinating vineyard tours and tastings, including Kent’s oldest family owned vineyard Biddenden Vineyards, established in 1969, and the largest producer of English wines The Chapel Down Winery (part of English Wines Group).

‘Red, White & Brut’ can be viewed or downloaded from www.producedinkent.co.uk

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11th January

CANNINGTON COLLEGE VINEYARD WINS NEW LEASE OF LIFE

Cannington College's vineyard in Somerset - once renowned for its heavy and early cropping - is to be restored to its former glory.

Bob and Jenni Beard, owners of a small vineyard nearby, have agreed to take over the care of the thousand or so vines - grapes will be bought by Yearlstone Vineyard, and the college's owners - Bridgwater College - will take a share either of the proceeds or of the resulting wine.

The deal follows three years of discussion between Cannington and Yearlstone to save the vineyard -  and reverse Bridgwater College's original decision to grub the vines in 2006.

" We're really pleased that Cannington have agreed to keep the vineyard going and that Bob and Jenni (with two friends ) want to take it over. It's been heart-breaking to see such a great site with mature vines under threat, when most of us in the South West have to buy in grapes from all over England" said  Yearlstone's Roger White.

Bridgwater College and Yearlstone have struck up a close relationship - with the college's  French-exchange students paying

regular visits to Yearlstone to see round the vineyard and winery. Cannington is offering to join in the well-supported Devon Wine Week in the final week of May as a " guest " Somerset attraction.

The vineyard at Cannington includes Rondo, Regent, Seyval Blanc, Siegerrebe and Madeleine Angevine.

Further info: Roger White at Yearlstone

roger@yearlstone.co.uk

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6th January

2009 'A Vintage Year' for UK's vineyards

As 2010 begins, winemakers can celebrate a vintage end to the last decade, following one of the best harvests on record.  More than a number of winemakers are even talking in superlatives: ‘Fantastic’; ‘wonderful quality year’ and ‘one of the best ever’ amongst them when describing the 2009 vintage.

With a number of new vineyards also now coming in to full production, volumes are looking to be considerably higher than the last two years and likely to match (maybe even exceed) the record 2006 figures of over 3 million bottles.

Across the country the fruit quality was exceptional, with many of the highest sugars ever recorded along with good acids.  Excellent fruit flavours in many of the aromatic varieties were reported, along with the traditional varieties – Chardonnay and the Pinots – which displayed potential alcohols of 11-13%.  There will be many more unchaptalised wines produced this year than has been seen for some time.

The scene was set earlier in the year when little late frost was experienced, followed by a near perfect period of warm late spring and early summer weather, particularly over flowering (remember the memorably warm and almost all dry Wimbledon fortnight).  A wet July replenished much needed moisture in to the ground.   The growing season was however boosted by the prolonged warm autumn, giving rise to grapes of the highest quality..

Yields were variable in different regions, but the largest growth area, the South East, saw a bumper crop.  East Anglia experienced a very dry growing season.  Some parts of the south west suffered from late frost and damp late June/ July but bolstered by the long warm autumn which resulted in good, average yields.

“The main pleasure was the cleanliness of the grapes,” comments one grower.  Another added that they have “probably harvested some of the best quality grapes ever.”  One winemaker stated that 2009 is “potentially one of the best vintages for wine quality of the decade.”

The UK therefore anticipates top quality wines from 2009, which are already displaying depth and character in tank.  Many will have to wait, of course, for the sparkling wines from this year.   2009 has produced the highest volume of wine that will go on to secondary fermentation.  As Michael Roberts of Ridgeview added: “All in all and fantastic year – a pretty wonderful build up for the London Olympics!"

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5th January

LLOYD JONES - PEMBOA VINEYARD, CORNWALL

It is with great regret that we announce the death of Lloyd Jones, who died on Christmas Eve.  Lloyd and Janet Jones planted their vineyard at Mellangoose Mill, Pemboa near Helston at a time when vineyards were very few in Cornwall.  In those early days it was usual to plant a couple of acres, set up a winery in an outbuilding and generally make your own way, and this is what they did.  From the first he supported the South West Vineyards Association, coming 'up country' to committee meetings, representing Cornwall and stepping in to edit and publish the SWVA's journal, the Vine Post when there was a need. 

Martin Cursham, Secretary of the SWVA commented: "He was one of the English wine pioneers and for that, and his friendly kindness, he will be long remembered and sadly missed."

Adds Bob Lindo of Cornwall's Camel Valley Vineyard, and Chairman of the UKVA: "Lloyd, together with Janet and Pemboa Vineyard, made a serious contribution to the Cornish wine fraternity and I’m very saddened by the news that Lloyd has passed away.  Lloyd was cheerful, laid back, hard working, friendly, likeable, decent, gentle and kind.  Lloyd spoke kindly of everybody and everything and we will all miss him in Cornwall and our thoughts are with Janet."

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4th January 2010

ENGLISH WINE SALE AT VINEYARDS OF BORDEAUX

Yes we know the name isn't quite synonymous with English wines, but this wine shop, based in Plymouth, has been waving the flag for English wines (as well as wines from ... well, Bordeaux) for a number of years.

However all good things come to an end, and the proprietor is moving on to pastures new in May.  Until then, all remainng stock is available for sale at a 20% discount.  English wines include those from Sharpham, Three Choirs, Old Walls and Pebblebed.

The shop is open from Monday to Saturday 10am till 2pm. Tel 07931 328908, or email curzy69@hotmail.com for further information.

Vineyards of Bordeaux

6 Frontfield Crescent

Southway

Plymouth  PL6 6RY

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18th December

ENGLISH SPARKLING WINE SCOOPS TOP PRIZE IN INTERNATIONAL SPARKLING WINE COMPETITION

The ongoing success of English sparkling wines was further applauded with another outstanding win on the world stage.

Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2003 was crowned Champion of Worldwide Sparkling Wines, taking the highest marks in the competition and the gold medal in “BOLLICINE DEL MONDO”, the competition organised and run by Italy’s wine magazine Euposia.  

 Camel Valley’s Pinot Noir Brut 2007 featured in the top 10, also winning the competition’s award for ‘Best Rest of the World’, toasting further success for England. These two English wines came ahead of Champagnes Canard Duchêne and Louis Roederer Millésime 2000, which featured amongst other Champagnes and sparkling wines in the top 10.  Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2001 was also in the top 12 wines in the competition, out of a total of 52 entries.

Now in its second year, Bollicine del Mondo attracts sparkling wines from around the globe as a competition open only to traditional method, traditional varietal wines.  Last year Camel Valley gained Silver in the competition, second only to Champagne Bollinger.    The competition is sponsored by Banca Popolare di Verona (Banco Popolare Group is one of the biggest banks in Italy); the Italian wine trade Fair Vinitaly; the Italian Association of Sommeliers and Verona Confcommercio.

The wines were tasted blind by a panel of oenologists, winemakers, sommeliers and journalists led by Ais Veneto President, Mr Dino Marchi.

“This is an outstanding success for England and my congratulations go to Nyetimber for their win and to Camel Valley for another excellent result,” commented Beppe Giuliano, Director of Euposia.  “We were so impressed with the wide variety of wine regions that were represented in this competition and the increased number of entries.”

Nyetimber’s success in this competition comes at the end of a busy year of awards, with their Classic Cuvée 2003 gaining medals in the International Wine Challenge, the International Wine & Spirit Competition and the English & Welsh Wine of the Year Competition.  Their Blanc de Blancs also won top medals in the competitions.  Similarly, Camel Valley has enjoyed many outstanding achievements in competitions this year, showing that England once again is well and truly flying the flag on the world wine stage.

The top results in this year’s Bollicine del Mondo are:

1° Nyetimber, UK, “Classic Cuvée 2003”,                                                points 634

2° Cesarini Sforza, ITA, Aquila Reale Riserva 2002, Trentodoc             points 632

3° Champagne De Saint Gall, FRA, Brut Millésime 2002                          points 628

    Guido Berlucchi, ITA « Brut Storica 61 »

     Champagne Baron Fuenté, FRA Brut Precieux                                  points 625

     Champagne Devaux FRA

     Camel Valley, UK, Pinot Noir Brut 2007                                               from 624 to 616

     Champagne Canard Duchene 

     Champagne Roederer, Millésime 2000

     Simcic, Slovenia, Brut Cuvée

     Cantina d’Isera, ITA, Riserva 2004, Trentodoc

     Nyetimber, UK, Blanc de Blancs 2001

     Champagne Grand Tour, s.a

     Kuenstler, Germany, Riesling Sekt 2004

     Fondazione Edmund Mach, ITA, Riserva del Fondatore 2004, Trentodoc

17th December

LEVENTHORPE WINES CELEBRATE BBC SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

It’s proving a busy winter for Leventhorpe Vineyard.

Leventhorpe had the great honour of supplying its sparkling wine for the recent BBC 'Sports

Personality of the Year' Awards held at the Sheffield Arena on Sunday 13 December 2009.

Being produced near to where the event took place, the served to welcome guests and VIP's at the reception prior to the evening's events, where it was very well received.

Shortly afterwards, on local radio station BBC Radio Leeds on Monday, presenter Paul Carrington interviewed Oz Clarke who made positive comments about Leventhorpe’s wine and the future of wines in the UK in the light of the changing climate – those that watched Oz together with James May touring Britain saw them visiting George Bowden at Levethorpe on their travels.

George didn’t make it on to the radio show as he was busy serving customers!  As Oz commented - Yorkshire has a great potential for growing more wine as the climate warms.  East Riding has pretty much same soil as Chablis and Champagne.

Oz Clarke will be on our TV screens again soon in a new programme ‘Oz and Hugh Drink to Christmas’ when he and comedian Hugh Dennis taste their way through the best drinks enjoyed over the Festive season – Sunday 20th December at 9pm BBC2.

When asked what he will be enjoying this Christmas, Oz added that he will be having some English sparkling wine….. Happy Christmas Oz!

16th December

OVERSEAS STUDENTS COME TO PLUMPTON TO STUDY WINEMAKING

It is not just budding English grape growers and winemakers that are flocking to Plumpton College to study viticulture and winemaking in their Wine Studies Centre, the only one of its kind in the UK.  Plumpton is now attracting students from overseas, who are taking the opportunity to study cool climate viticulture.

Mr Han Gunseob from Seoul, Korea is studying for a Foundation degree in Wine Production at Plumpton College, UK. Before joining the Wine Production course, Han was employed in the wine trade in Korea. He then studied at the Korea Wine Academy in Seoul.

Han said”,  I was very interested in becoming a winemaker and my tutor recommended Plumpton College as the best place for me to study abroad. I am keen to become a successful winemaker so I am taking my studying very seriously. But I  hope to spend some time  relaxing with my  friends here in the UK in the holiday time

Ms Dimple Athavia from Mumbai, India  is enjoying discovering  the Christmas tree tradition at Plumpton College, East Sussex, UK.

Dimple  is studying towards a BSc (Hons)  Degree in Viticulture and Oenology at Plumpton College, East Sussex. In India, Dimple studied at the Holy Writ International School, before completing her studies in science subjects at Elphinstone College, Maharashtra. Following  wine and student research on the internet, she soon discovered that Plumpton College in the UK offered unique and successful training for careers in viticulture and oenology.  After deciding that a career in the wine trade suited her scientific background of Chemistry, Botany and Microbiology Dimple left the heart of India to join the Plumpton College course. Dimple said”, I am keen to use my science to develop a career as a winemaker. I certainly want to practice in the UK wine industry before seeing what is out there overseas. So far, my academic studies have been excellent, matching with the practicals.  I have just finished a wine sensory evaluation.  I really like tractor driving which is an essential part of the wine production course. But I hope to relax and visit London to see the Christmas sights. ” Dimple hopes to be one of the few women winemakers in the world.

Further information on Plumpton's wine courses is available on www.plumpton.ac.uk

14th December

JODY SCHECKTER UNVEILS WINERY PLANS AT LAVERSTOKE PARK

source: decanter.com

Formula One Champion Jody Scheckter has announced plans to open a winery on his estate, Laverstoke Park, in Hampshire.  He is looking to produce his first biodynamic sparkling wine in 2012 , from his 10h vineyard planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

The intention is to build a complex including a main barrel-vaulted structure with a roof covered in vegetation.

Scheckter told Decanter, 'It's going to be a Champagne, but we can't call it that. I'm going to call it Schampagne. I'd also like to do a red sparkling – the purists would hate that, but reds are healthier than whites.'

The farm now awaits a planning decision from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Full story here

10th November

LEADING WINE BLOGGERS SELECT NEW MENU AT TOP BRITISH RESTAURANT

Some of the country's leading food bloggers met today to take part in a ground-breaking experiment that sought to bring the online world to an offline setting.

At a special lunch, co-hosted by Chapel Down English wines and Roast, a classical British restaurant in Borough Market, the writers of seven influential food blogs were tasked with selecting the dishes that will appear on a unique one-day only menu, to be offered for a special evening service on November 24th.

However, the 'Chapel Down at Roast' set menu will not be listed inside the restaurant. Instead, prospective diners will need to seek out the details of chef Lawrence Keogh’s three-course, four-wine menu via the blogosphere.

Such was his interest in the occasion that Roast’s owner, Iqbal Wahhab, a print journalist by training, attended the lunch in order to meet the writers responsible for changing the face of food journalism.

Frazer Thompson, MD of Chapel Down, explains: "Social media is becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, but we wanted to see what kind of impact it has on people's offline behaviour.

"The success of this menu will show us just how people's habits are changing, and hopefully bring great British food and English wine to a whole new audience."

To make a reservation at Roast, diners will need to call 0845 034 7300 and quote the unique menu code, shown on these sites:

http://www.thelondonword.com

http://www.spittoon.biz or @wine_scribbler on http://twitter.com

http://www.gourmet-chick.com/ or @msgourmetchick

http://www.intoxicatingprose.com/ or @foodguardian

http://eatlikeagirl.com/ or @eatlikeagirl

http://www.gastronomydomine.com/ or @liz_upton

http://winesleuth.wordpress.com/ or @thewinesleuth

5th November

ENGLISH WINE CHRISTMAS GIFTS AT ARTISAN & VINE

Yes, it's that time of the year again...   Christmas is approaching and inspiration for those presents is needed.

Look no further than the Artisan & Vine on line shop, which has just launched a range of gifts for any wine enthusiast.  Being great supporters of English wines, they feature too, from a mixed case selection to a gift box, or why not treat someone with their English Sparkly and flutes box.

London based wine bar and shop Artisan & Vine have held a number of tastings of English wines and their English wines have proved a popular choice of their customers.   Infact, there will be another English wine tasting on 25th November - see their website for further details.

17th October

NYETIMBER WINS TROPHY FOR BEST WORLDWIDE SPARKLING WINE

2009 is shaping up to be an unrivalled year for Nyetimber, Britain’s leading sparkling wine producer.  In the midst of the largest and possibly highest quality harvest yet seen in its 21 year history, Nyetimber’s 1992 Blanc de Blancs has won this year’s  International Wine & Spirit Competition Denbies Trophy for the Best Worldwide Sparkling Wine. This 1992 Blanc de Blancs was only disgorged earlier in 2009.  In the words of the IWSC judges it is “an aristocratic, multifaceted and splendid fizz…simply sublime”.

While taking a break from bringing in the harvest amongst Nyetimber’s rolling vineyards overlooking the Sussex Downs, Eric Heerema, CEO of Nyetimber said “The whole team is as pleased as punch down here. To have been the only producer to win the Trophy on two past occasions was exceptional‘, he continued, ‘but to do so for a third time is of course unique’.  ‘But that in itself means little – what makes me personally so very proud is that the years and years of quiet dedication and pioneering by our winemakers are now being recognised.  We have always judged ourselves by international standards, now it seems others are doing so too.  This is a further major step along our journey to make Sussex world famous for its sparkling wine.’ 

Recently disgorged earlier in 2009 by Winemaker Cherie Spriggs, this Blanc de Blancs has all the Nyetimber hallmarks of elegance and complexity.  Cherie said, ‘What thrills me is that it is Nyetimber’s maiden vintage of 1992  that has scooped the prize.  To achieve such greatness in a 17 year old library vintage requires flawless fruit at the outset.  This is testimony to what I have always known, that Nyetimber is a remarkable place, with potential to rival the very best vineyards in Champagne or anywhere else where conditions favour world class sparkling wine production’.

Current Nyetimber vintages are available in the UK from independent wine merchants, Waitrose and many restaurants and hotels.

16th October

ARTICLE ON SUSSEX WINES

The autumn issue of Sussex Style magazine contains an informative feature on Sussex wines written by award-winning wine journalist Jane Parkinson.  You can download the article (as a pdf document) here.

9th October

MORE HARVEST NEWS FROM AROUND THE VINEYARDS

Bolney Wine Estate (Sussex) has just completed its harvest. Winemaker Sam Linter commented: “We have a bumper harvest here, with some fantastic Indian Summer Weather. Ripening has exceeded our expectations. The red wines are now coming to the end of their fermentation and we are extremely excited by the quality & depth of flavour we are seeing so far.

Still whites and sparkling varieties have clean fruit and with the great ripening conditions that we've had, we are expecting one of our best vintages so far - if not the best, in a bumper year to boot! Yippee!! On a scale of 1 - 10............ if ten is absolutely perfect, we are easily at 9.”

Chapel Down (Kent) are stunned by some of the high quality in the grapes that are coming in. MD Frazer Thompson remarked on his Twitter page englishwines earlier today: “The fruit we are receiving is EXTRAORDINARY! High sugars, good acids and incredible length. This is truly a wonderful year...”

Biddenden Vineyards (Kent) report that their harvest so far has been ‘fantastic’ – lots of good clean fruit, yields coming in higher than normal and very high sugars. Winemaker Julian Barnes is “over the moon”

Jonty Daniels of Astley Vineyard (Worcestershire) is quietly pleased with how his harvest is going, with a higher volume than last year coming in. Based on the quality of the fruit that has already been picked and the sugar and acid levels in the fruit yet to be harvested, “it’s going to be a very exciting year”.

The harvesting has started at Nyetimber’s vineyards. “The figures for this year seem to change daily – basically upwards,” they report. “It’s hard to predict the yields from new vineyards and of course, we're picking from a few for the first time this year. We are expecting a lot more grapes this year! Our winery started a three week 24 hour shift program from Monday morning and we have 100's of pickers coming in every day.”

Ridgeview are starting their own harvest today and will continue on in to next week. We’ll post up progress reports as they come in.

Picture of the week:
Sam Lindo, winemaker at Camel Valley – treading the Rondo, putting his heart, body and soul into his job!

8th October

HUSH HEATH IN DECANTER WORLD WINE AWARDS LINE UP IN SELFRIDGES

The trophy winner in this year's English Wine category of the Decanter World Wine Awards is appearing in a line up of winning wines being shown in Selfridges' Wonder Bar.

Decanter has teamed up with top London store Selfridges to show the line up of 45 Trophy winners from this year's competition over the next two weeks.  Hush Heath Balfour Brut Rose from Kent will be amongst them.

The line up of wines will be served from the bar's Enomatic machines, which are operated by pre-paid cards and allow customers to pour samples of either 25ml or 50ml.

For the full story press here

7th October

UP TO DATE ENGLISH WINE INFORMATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

If you are a Twitter follower, check out the various English wine Tweets for updates on how their harvests are going and general, fun information direct from the producers:

English Wine Producers: englishwine

Chapel Down Wines: chapeldownwines

Camel Valley: camelwinemaker

A’Becketts: abecketts

EWP is also looking for fans on Facebook.  If you subscribe to Facebook, check out the EWP page (search for English Wine Producers) and get links to news items featuring English wine and general snippets of English wine information.

5th October

HARVEST 2009: SNIPPETS OF HARVESTING NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY

• Harvest is well underway at Leventhorpe Vineyard, one of the UK’s most northerly vineyards, and proving to be one of the “best ever” vintages, according to owner and winemaker George Bowden, who reports very high sugar levels in his two main varieties: Madeleine Angevine and Seyval Blanc.  The Seyval will be picked in a week to 10 days’ time.  The grapes are looking “fantastic”.  The cooling nights are proving helpful in keeping the acid levels from falling and controlling fermentation in the winery.

• Harvest started at Three Choirs on 21st September.  The quality in the early varieties (such as Siegerrebe) is very good. Sugars are extremely high, acids well balanced and yields healthy.

• Stanlake Park Wine Estate report a well above average volume, with high sugars and low acid.  “Perfect!” reports proprietor Peter Dart. “This is similar to the levels we reached in 2006 which was a record.  We will be producing double the volume wo what we did last year.” 

• Camel Valley have picked some of their earlier ripening varieties, such as early Pinot, Reichensteiner and Rondo.  “The grapes are fantastic this year,” comments Bob Lindo

• Grape harvesting at Plumpton College has begun using mainly first year students, many of whom have joined from a variety of other careers, IT, teaching, the wine trade etc. The students and staff will be picking by hand, then using the vineyard tractors to transport the crop to the on-site winery and wine science centre, where processing starts, using the latest facilities.  Plumpton College hope to pick at various local vineyards, including those on site. It  hopes to pick some 20 tonnes, producing a record 15,000 bottles. The Estate will have 7 types of wines produced form the harvest,  red, sparkling, whites and rose.

• … and from England’s now most northerly commercial vineyard, Ryedale, who have now picked their early varieties, Solaris and Rondo.  Both varieties have hit high sugar readings with lovely clean fruit.  “Not bad for the frozen north! “ comments vineyard owner Stuart Smith. This is their second vintage, the vineyard having been planted in 2006.

2nd October

ARTISAN & VINE SHOW ENGLISH WINES ON TOP FORM

London-based wine bar and shop, artisan&vine, yesterday held a blind tasting, with the theme England vs Italy.

artisan&vine founder and owner Kathryn O'Mara reported the resuts: "As my customers know, I’m an English wine fan, but my money was secretly on Italy… especially when my beloved COS Nero d’Avola was showing.  I was wrong.  The tasters were near unanimous: England won on sparkling, white & red!!"

The winning English wines included Camel Valley Cornwall Brut, Three Choirs Coleridge Hill and Bolney Wine Estate Pinot Noir.

artisan&vine are holding an England Vs The Rest Of the World sparkling wine challenge on 7th October, featuring Nyetimber, Ridgeview and Camel Valley against wines from Italy, Champagne and Austria.  Tickets are £18 in advance or £22 on the night. Price includes tasting of 6 wines.   For further information contact artisan&vine direct.

artisan&vine are based in Clapham, and are dedicated to promoting and selling natural and local wines.  Their portfolio of English wines continues to grow, currently stocking wines from 8 different vineyards from across England.

8th September

WEDDING BELLS FOR CAMEL VALLEY'S WINEMAKER

Glasses of Camel Valley wine were raised last Saturday, but this time not over another wine competition win, but to celebrate the wedding of winemaker Sam Lindo.

Sam married Kathryn Richards at St Breoke Church, Wadebridge in Cornwall, not far from the vineyard.   Proud father and now father-in-law Bob Lindo, along with his wife Annie, welcomed Kathryn in to the family, toasting her of course with some Camel Valley wine.  "We're thrilled for Sam and Kathryn - it was a wonderful day.  And it's lovely to have another team member at Camel Valley!"

Whilst Sam and Kathryn are off on honeymoon - there is just enough time before the harvest - Bob is holding the fort and keeping the Camel Valley Winemaker Twitter feeds updated - you can read them on twitter.com/camelwinemaker

                          Mr and Mrs Sam Lindo - with a glass of Camel Valley of course!

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7th September

INTRODUCING WISTON ESTATE WINERY

Wiston Estate Winery, based in West Sussex, has just launched their website - www.wistonestate.com.

The website introduces the people behind the venture, the vineyard, which was planted in 2006 with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, the innovative new winery and the contract winemaking services it offers.

Wiston Estate Winery, owned by Harry and Pip Goring, is regarded as one of the most exciting new sparkling wine enterprises in the UK today. The winery was established in 2008 exclusively for the production of traditional method English sparkling wines, principally to offer contract winemaking services to external vineyards but also to create sparkling wines from Wiston Estate’s home vineyard Findon Park Vineyard.

The winery boasts a design unique to the UK. The press room is located on the first floor which enables juice from the traditional Coquard basket press to flow by gravity to the tank hall at ground level. The Coquard press is designed and built in Champagne, and the one housed at Wiston is one of only four of its kind found outside of France. In addition to an extensive range of temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks the winery features a barrel room, insulated lees-aging cellar and automatic riddling & disgorging equipment.

The winemaker, Dermot Sugrue, has worked in Bordeaux and Champagne as well as in the UK where he was winemaker at Nyetimber until 2006. The first vintage at Wiston was 2008, with wines made under contract for several vineyards including Meopham Valley in Kent and Jenkyn Place in Hampshire. The winery's capacity has increased significantly for 2009 in order to make sparkling wines for a further 6 vineyards from throughout the south of England. 

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6th September

SOUTH WEST VINEYARDS ASSOCIATION WINE COMPETITION RESULTS

The results from this year's South West Vineyards Association wine competition have just been announced.  An impressive line up of judges tasted 97 wines from across the South West region, which stretches from Cornwall up to Herefordshire and Wales.  75 wines gained an award, with Astley Vineyard winning the coveted South West Wine of the Year for their 2008 Late Harvest. 

The judges were: Jamie Goode, Margaret Harvey MW, Richard Bampfield MW, Alastair Peebles MW, John Avery MW, and Anthony Manifold.  The judging took place on Friday 5th September at Kenton Vineyard.

The full set of results is available here.

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