Sparkling English Wine

Photo courtesy of Anthony Budd @ Blackboys Vineyard

We have had a fairly sleepy start to the year, with few events and gigs out in the cold. Other than keeping an eye on the freezing prunings taking place the country over, we’ve been trying to keep ourselves warm in the cosy offices of Sparkling English Wine HQ…

Kingscote Sparkling English Cyder is going down well, especially as the sun starts showing it’s friendly absent face. You can currently find it at the following restaurants and bars:

The Shed Restaurant, Notting Hill, London

Cat Inn pub and restaurant, West Hoathly, Sussex

Ten Green Bottles, Brighton

Middle farm, Sussex

The English Wine Centre, Sussex

With spring just around the corner, and a hint of sunshine (well, here’s hoping!) we thought we’d say hi and let you know of our exciting new Sparkling English Wine Club’s second installment with wines from producers all over the south of England.

For those of you who are yet to subscribe, this next box has some stormers of wines in it…

From Sussex we’ve got Henners’ Brut Vintage 2009, and Nyetimber’s brand new Blanc de Blancs 2007; From Hampshire, the delightful Meonhill Reserve NV; Dorset gives us English Oak’s Engelmann Cuvée 2009; as far west as the Wye Valley, Castle Brook Vineyard provides their perfectly developed Chinn Chinn 2006.
And for our pink in the box, we’ve got Sharpham’s sumptuous Sparkling Pink 2009

Castle Brook Chinn Chinn

English Oak Engelmann Cuvée 2009

Henners Brut Vintage 2009

Meonhill Réserve NV

Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2007

Sharpham Sparkling Pink 2009

By joining the Wine Club, you will receive a selection of six sparkling wines on a quarterly basis, allowing you to discover new gems. We know the wines we sell are of superb quality, owing to our Sparkling English Wine blind tasting panel involving MWs and other industry experts…

You’ll also benefit from a wealth of information on each wine and producer including tasting notes and biographies.

To take advantage of the Wine Club, click here to find out more info and subscribe.

Nyetimber’s brand new Blanc de Blanc 2007

Nyetimber have released their 2007 Blanc de Blancs, which we were lucky enough to be a few of the first to try this wine when it was launched at January’s London Collections Men’s Fashion Week. This is one of the best Blanc de Blancs vintages I have tried from Nyetimber. That’s following some superb vintages from 98, 01, and 03. The 2007 will continue to develop in the bottle of the course of the next few years and will just get better and better. Stock up now is my advice…!

Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvée 2008 is reduced for a limited time to only £23.50!

We have limited stocks, so make sure you get your orders in before Christmas, and don’t miss out on this amazing price!

Be one of the very first to try this brand new release vintage from English sparkling wine supremos, Nyetimber!

Nyetimber’s most recent release offers a beautiful wine with 4 years bottle ageing. The Classic Cuvée 2008 is a fresh and vibrant wine with a lovely amount of fruit, but at the same time, that classic Nyetimber style. The nose has a delicious buttery nose with fresh citrus and melons. The palate opens with a fabulous mousse that is very round. A delicate citrus undertone is ballasted by creaminess and melon. The wine has an excellent length with perfect balance and a long finish.

Orders of six or more Nyetimber will come individually boxed in lovely Nyetimber gift boxes!

What better to find in your Christmas stocking than a half bottle of Nyetimber‘s fabulous Blanc de Blancs 2006?! At a special Christmas price of £15.99 per half bottle, why not take advantage and start the celebrations on Christmas day with some of England’s best fizz…

The trademark standard of Nyetimber is more than present in this delightful little bottle. The biscuity nose is ballasted by the perfectly formed little bubbles. The palate is, as would be expected with a Chardonnay based wine, fresh, good strong acidity, and and is reminiscent of lemon cheesecake. The finish is long and well balanced. This wine is a lovely slice of English paradise!

It’s unfortunately been a while since we last updated you on the happenings at Sparkling English Wine HQ…

Jeremy hosing down the press after another pressing late into the night...

We had harvest in October, which despite some producers in West Sussex deciding not to harvest this year, there were grapes of excellent quality further East. Essex, Kent and some areas of East Sussex had some superb fruit. Not to mention areas in Dorset and Hampshire too. Quantities were low, but quality in some cases was excellent. We started our second vintage of Kingscote Sparkling English Cyder pressing a blend of four varieties this year: Cox, Bramley, Johnagold and Russett. The already fermented juice tastes amazing (better than 2011, if that’s possible) in the exact blend as pressed…

The Sparkling English Wine tasting panel in action...

We conducted one of our regular blind tasting panels to add new wines to the site a few weeks ago at the brand new tasting room facility at Sparkling English Wine HQ at Kingscote Vineyard in Sussex. Many of the wines tasted were additional products to existing producers’ ranges, including Strawberry Hill Vineyard‘s Blanc de Noirs, RidgeView Estate‘s Ridgeview Merret Bloomsbury Cuvée 2010, Nyetimber‘s Classic Cuvée 2008 and the exciting new Demi Sec NV, Furleigh Estate‘s Blanc de Blancs 2009, Court Garden Vineyard‘s Classic Cuvée 2010, but we have also added a new producer and their wine to the site: Henners, from East Sussex, have produced a delightful wine, their Brut Vintage 2009. Each of these wines were passed by the panel which included Nancy Gilchrist MW, Owen Elias, winemaker extraordinaire and Julia Trustram-Eve, English Wine Producers. These new wines will all be available from the site in the next week or so…

Oz Clarke waxing lyrical at the Sparkling English Wine stand

We just came back from a fantastic weekend of tasting in Manchester. The reception of the range of English sparkling wines we showed at the two day Three Wine Men tasting event was immense. Oz Clarke, Olly Smith and Tim Atkin, were, as usual, fully behind the wines on

The lovely Vicky from Hush Heath and Jeremy pouring to the crowds

our stand. We are always pleased to help educate the wine-consuming public in the ways of English sparkling wine. We showed wines from RidgeView Estate, Nyetimber, Furleigh Estate, Jenkyn Place Vineyard, Bolney Wine Estate and a special guest appearance from Hush Heath Estate (special owing to the attendance of Vicky Ash, the winemaker at Hush Heath, who helped pour the Balfour Brut Rosé 2009 all weekend!). We’re going to be doing the same thing all over again this coming weekend, this time at Lords Cricket Ground, London. So if you fancy sampling some of the super wines we sell, and maybe even picking up some Christmas celebration wines, you know where to come…

September has been one of our busiest months to date, with countless events at which our new mobile trailer bar has had its first outings. Beginning with a weekend at Kew the Movies, Luna Cinema’s open air cinema screenings of classic movies at Kew Gardens, we served Bolney Wine Estate’s Lychgate Red 2009 and Lychgate White still wines, Chapel Down’s Curious Brew English Lager and Nyetimber’s Classic Cuvée 2007 and their brand new demi bottles of Blanc de Blancs 2006 to over 6000 people over three nights…

The Sparkling English Wine mobile bar at the Tower of London

We also attended and served wines at a very prestigious event held at the Tower of London – Heroes at the Tower is an armed forces charity event, raising money for Coming Home and Combat Stress charities. With our mobile bar (see image above) in the courtyard, where performances of The Ceremony of the Keys and a selection of numbers from cast of Les Miserables took place, we also had a second bar in the New Armouries. Wines served were Nyetimber’s superb Classic Cuvée 2007, Stopham Estate’s Pinot Blanc 2011, Gusbourne Estate’s light, fruity and subtle Pinot Noir 2010, and Hush Heath Estate’s delicate and juicy Nannette’s English Rose 2010,. All the wines went down supremely well and when matched with the canapés prepared by Sarah Symington Catering, paired perfectly.

Our next event was Kew the Movies at Wakehurst Place. Not as well attended as the Kew Gardens’ screenings, but still a beautiful location to spend the evening serving great English wine and beer.

The Luna Cinema screen at Wakehurst Place (the bar is just visible to the right!)

If that weren’t enough, we’re at the Three Wine Men tasting roadshow at Lord’s Cricket Ground this coming weekend, with Oz Clarke, Olly Smith and Tim Atkin. For those that are interested in tickets, we are giving away two sets of tickets to any of the sessions (Saturday am / Saturday pm / Sunday). Just like our post on our Facebook page to be in with the chance of winning!

We have been fortunate enough to have been asked to provide a range of top English wines at an exciting and exclsuive event at the Tower of London.
Heroes at the Tower is a prestigious charity event organised to celebrate British military tradition, coupled with the finest English wine and food, taking place on Thursday 13th September. The evening has been organised to raise money for the charities Combat Stress, Coming Home and The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula.

Guests to the charity event (including HRH Prince Michael of Kent), will be hosted by the Constable of the Tower of London, General The Lord Dannatt and will enjoy a display of British tradition at its finest including:
- A private viewing of the Crown Jewels and The Ceremony of the Keys
- A performance from a leading West End Musical accompanied by the Pikemen and Musketeers from the Honourable Artillery Company organised by Chance Organisation

At the heart of the entertainment will be the food and drink for guests to enjoy, with the unique chance to sup some of the finest and award-winning wines from England and taste a delicious array of canapés specially prepared using only the best British ingredients. The catering has been organised by Sarah Symington Catering and we are supplying a superb range of wines for guests to drink throughout the evening from one of our two bars.

The wines to be served to guests at the event, include:

English sparkling wine champions Nyetimber‘s superb Classic Cuvée 2007,

As well as a range of excellent quality still wines including:

Stopham Estate’s aromatic and refreshing Pinot Blanc 2011,

Hush Heath Estate‘s delicate and juicy Nannette’s English Rose 2010,

Gusbourne Estate‘s light, fruity and subtle Pinot Noir 2010.

We are hugely excited about this amazing opportunity for English wine to be served at such a prestigious event to all the guests.

Tickets are priced at a reasonable £95 a head, and are very limited. In order to not miss out please email for information on how to purchase for this once in a life time opportunity…!