I've drank a fair amount, both still and sparkling. Some has been good, especially the sparkling. Most has been mediocre, some terrible. I like to support local producers. I also enjoy a trip to a vineyard and the tasting and the whole experience. I just can't see myself buying an English white as a regular drinker when I could buy a French, Italian or New World White at the same price and get a much better wine.
So what am I missing? Are there hidden gems or is the appeal mainly the vineyard visit and a hint of patriotism?
One day.Originally Posted by gerrudd
Give Global Warming a chance.
In the mean time they are expensive for what they are. And yes, I know, they win trophies, but I am yet to understand why. I like my wines and living in Kent I have tried. I have found some extremely enjoyable wines in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay; in California, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, not to mention many European countries and across the Med. Even Japan has some interesting Koshu white wines.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Nothing - it's an attempt to do something where other geographical regions are better set-up - there is a reason the New World can compete against the French and we generally don't in this area.
A friend of mine is a UK producer - her sales have ramped since certain political events - stuff tastes like **** but good luck to her.
I think there’s a lot of indifferent wine out there and some really nice stuff.
Gusbourne fizz is good and I like some of the Tillingham wines but they are naturals so not everyone’s cup of tea.
Vagabond have a good Aussie wine maker making wine in London (I know him personally) but he makes wine from grapes from all over Europe and I haven’t tried the pet-Nat from English grapes yet.
You don’t have to drink English wine if it doesn’t appeal, here in the U.K. we have a huge choice of wines unlike a lot of Europe where it’s local wines and nothing else.
I don’t personally understand the hype behind English wines. I’ve tried several and haven’t yet tasted one that I thought was anything other than ok at best.
We have a vineyard near us Warden Abbey, which like all vineyards is capable of producing some good and average wines depending on the weather but we do try and support it where possible.
However my current favourite is Prettyfields near Colchester https://www.prettyfields.com/ even their red has been very palatable.
So from what I've tried Chapel Down sparkling rose was excellent. Well worth the money.
On the flip side Ellercombe Sparking Wine was dreadful - like very bad Prosecco and at £23 a pop a huge waste of money.
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As others have stated, extremely overpriced compared to others and a nice earner for UK restaurants promoting/stocking them.
Best I've tried is local to us in Glos - https://www.three-choirs-vineyards.co.uk/
When we visited some years back they were concentrating on Alsace style grapes & white wines which better suited our climate.
I recall the the Bacchus particularly nice.
z
Last edited by zelig; 6th February 2021 at 15:39.
I really like the chapel down sparkling and the curios brew beer is lovely . Got plastered on that at their kings cross bar on a few occasions. Their gins are very nice too.
Nyetimber is very nice too but again is fizz
Haven’t tried too many wines. Bought a couple of bottles of Balfour wine out of marks recently, a pink and a white as I tried the fizz and thought it was nice. Haven’t tried them yet .
I like the regular Chapel Down Brut, as much as I like a Cremant. I opened a bottle of the Chapel Down Sparking Bacchus this evening and it was barely drinkable. I'm in agreement with the general sentiment, we need a few more years of global warming. I'll stick to what I like, enjoy the occasional vineyard visit(when the reopen) and check back and see if Kent is the new Champagne in 2040.
this place is just down the road from me and ive been multiple times for light meals.
https://www.halfpennygreen.co.uk/
the sparkling wines are fantastic vfm
Value for money? @ £20+?
Ok.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
If you like Champagne, English sparkling can be great vfm. A local vineyard to me is the Newhall Vineyard. They do a fantastic traditional method fizz for around £25 a bottle, to my taste buds it’s every bit as good as most Champagnes which makes it a bargain, but obv’s you can buy Aldi Champagne for £12.99 or a reasonable Cremant for around £15 a bottle. But buying local gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
for champagne/cava/prosecco /sparkling wine or whatever you want to call it yes its good vfm , they also have normal wines under a tenner.
Most I’ve tried have been shocking.
I can buy passable/quite acceptable and pleasant champagne for £15. So why I would pay more for something that I don’t like as much I really don’t know.
It's just a matter of time...
This topic reminds me of the 1980s. French wine producers had arrogantly told people this is how wine should taste, then Australian very high quality wine hit the UK market. Took the French about 10 years to wake up, by which time the big French producers started to buy out the Ozzie independents. Since then, quality of Ozzie wines has plummeted as they mix the good grapes with the inferior grapes to produce high vo!ume mediocrity.
English wine marketeers have hyped the market - good luck if you can get away with it but....I can live with mediocrity, but I'm only going to pay £5 a bottle for it
Last edited by Suds; 6th February 2021 at 22:43.
I've had some nice wines from the Nutbourne Vineyard in Sussex, especially the Nutty Blush which is really very nice.
https://www.nutbournevineyards.com/
They also own a couple of restaurants in London.
My impression is the sparklings are pretty good. We did a tour round a a Cornish vineyard maybe 20 years ago liked the samples and bought a bottle. When we got home and tried it it was corked! Never bothered with an English wine since 😀
There's some lovely sparkling wine coming out of Hampshire. Hattingley Valley's stuff is excellent.
"A man of little significance"
Yes, we've tried quite a few of theirs. The boss likes some of them, but it's red for me whenever possible. I've never found red wine better than French red wine.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
& I much prefer Italian and Australian reds, which led to many arguments with en ex French girlfriend, who would state that “ everyone knows that the French make the best wine in the world”! Well they might, but it’s not my preference!
It's just a matter of time...
We have a local vineyard at Renishaw Hall (English Wine Project) near Sheffield, situated in a former walled garden. Produces small quantities of fizz and red/white wines. I can recommend the fizz and white.
Not cheap compared to stuff you can buy in the supermarket or wine merchants but the quality is excellent in my opinion.
i'm in agreement as i love Italian and Aus wines - not forgetting New Zealand
my somewhat limited experience of English wines especially champagne types is not good - far too expensive and our climate just does not produce grapes that are needed
i have never tasted anything from the UK that compares with Dom Perignon , Krug or Crystal - sorry
at the cheaper end Cava Brut wins my vote
Agree on new world reds being both good & great value. I do miss the trips to the vineyards in Auz.
Presumably, you mean English sparking? Nyetimbers top range is in the same circles as its french equivalent (pricepoint).
Nyetimber entry-level beats Cava, English wine has come a long way. There are ofc loads of rubbish wines but the same can be said of France. After all LVMH on the one hand gives us Dom Pérignon & Krug but then also puts out Moet which 99% is trash and overpriced.
If we look at Dom & Krug. Their entry is not what their brands are about, it's the high-end bottles that really give them their vaulted praise. We cannot expect English sparking to be at that level yet. In the same way, 90% of people are unaware of anything outside of the entry bottles. Likewise, grower champagne's, say Jacques Selosse or Salonare way above anything we have in England, I'd argue that they are also better than the mid & low ranges of those 3.
It was mentioned already. Chapel Down Kit's Coty is a step up from their entry range. It does not break the bank either.
I’m no expert but Camel Valley fizz is quite nice.
We always choose Nyetimber Rose or Brut over the usual common champagne houses unless it is Bolly, Verve or the higher end like Dom. It tastes great even if it is never super cheap.
For still table wine I like the Chapel Down Whites such as Flint Dry or Bacchus. Their rose is OK but pricey.
We used to live in Lamberhurst which had a vineyard and was/is part of Chapel Down. In those days a bottle was about a fiver and it was excellent value. It slowly creeped up to about 10 and we thought it was still good. The problem now it is over that cost and so there are many new World wines that are excellent value for around the same or less money.
Saying that I would say our average spend for a bottle nowadays is between £15-20 as we go for quality now rather than the quantity when we were younger!
We did a very good guided comparative tasting between the English offerings (still and sparkling) and their equivalent from Northern France and other cooler growing areas.
In terms of quality it stood up very well indeed.
But was universally about 50-100% more expensive per bottle on an equivalent basis.
So you paid more and got lower quality, whilst supporting the UK growers, or pay the same and got a better European wine.
I fully understand that it is a nascent industry over here (at scale) and needs more economies of scale to work on its pricing, and I will continue to buy some UK wine for the occasional bottle.
But regular drinking? No, no yet.
D
That sums up my feelings better than I expressed them. I plan to support local vineyards. I really enjoyed a trip to Sedlescombe in October. Lunch was delicious and wine good. But no way a daily drinker. I made the Chapel Down Bacchus sparkling drinkable with a sugar cube, cognac and Angostura bitters. The English Sparkling cocktail. Given the current situation, felt very prohibition.
This is a local vineyard to me and I have to say is bloody awful. I thought the bottle was corked. Midlands wine ain't great
https://www.gbvg.uk/vineyard/grace-dieu-vineyard
Had some stuff years ago down do rest way and their parsnip wine was nice. Sweet and v drinkable
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We have been supporting our local guy’s since they set up four years ago.
https://flintvineyard.com/
Ben and Hannah are just a lovely couple with a real passion.
Their Bacchus and Pinot Noir is up there with the very best.
Give em a go.
Pitch
Me neither but I agree with you, not because it’s local to me, but it’s a lovely drop - especially the Pinot Noir. Rathfinny isn’t shabby.
I’m a real lover of English still wines- and in my experience the quality levels are pretty high. I also drink plenty of French, Italian etc but to me there is something very unique & instantly recognisable about English wines.
Favourites are Camel Valley (Cornwall), Oatley (Somerset) and Sharpham (just down the road from me in Devon). We served Camel Valley Atlantic Dry at my daughters wedding a while back and it won a lot of converts.
Obviously not to everyone’s taste but they offer something different and delicious
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