Ridgeview

During a recent wine road trip, the gregarious Jimmy Smith, aka The Wine Guy, and I stopped off at Ridgeview in East Sussex on the day of the Olympics opening ceremony, to quaff a few of England's finest sparklers, two of which are featured in this video – Ridgeview's flagship fizz Bloomsbury Brut and quirky sparkling red Pimlico. Chin chin!

5m bottles of English fizz to be made in UK by 2015

Production of English sparkling wine in the UK is set to hit 5m bottles by 2015, according to Ridgeview winemaker Charlie Holland. “It’s a nervous and exciting time for English sparking winemakers – sparkling wine now accounts for 50% of plantings in the UK,” Holland told the drinks business at the London International Wine Fair last month.

There are almost 400 vineyards in the UK now, almost double that of ten years ago. But despite the recent boom, Holland stressed the importance of distinguishing English sparking wine from Champagne. “We have a unique terroir that makes English sparkling wine special. It’s more expensive to produce than Champagne, the cost of land is higher and yields are lower.

“It’s a fallacy to say you can’t ripen grapes in England. We’re a very cool climate region, but this allows for a long growing season, helping grapes develop full phenolic ripeness, a full flavour profile and natural sugars,” he said, adding, “English sparkling wines have a lovely leanness and freshness, with signature citrus flavours and naturally high acidity, which is crucial for sparkling wine.”

In terms of ageing potential, Holland admitted that because the winery was only founded in 1994, he doesn’t know how long the wines will last. “I tried the 2000s recently and they still taste so young and fresh,” he said, revealing he would consider offering late disgorged versions of some of the cuvées in the Ridgeview range as the wines age quickly under cork. He also revealed that vine age is incredibly important for English sparking wine, and that at 17 years old, the Ridgeview vines are in their prime.  

“English sparkling has had a lot of good press, and consumers want to find out what the buzz is all about. It also fits with the trend for buying homegrown products,” he said. The Ridgeview range is named after London boroughs, such as Knightsbridge and Fitzrovia, as a tribute to Christopher Merret, the 17th century English physician credited by many with inventing sparkling wine before French monk Dom Pérignon.  

Holland is keen for “Merret” is be used as catch-all term for English sparkling wine. “Merret has been put forward but the topic is still under discussion. I’m hoping we’ll come up with a word for English sparking wine soon, as it doesn’t exactly roll of the tongue,” he admitted. Despite the winery’s success in the UK, exports now account for 20% of Ridgeview’s sales. “Exports are a massive thing for us. We’re seeing great success in New York, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia – there isn’t the same stigma there for English sparking as we’ve experience in France, Spain and Italy,” he said.

Asked whether he’d ever consider a non vintage, Holland admitted that he doesn’t have enough reserve wines to be able to make one. “We’re very much a vintage-based property. Every year has a story to tell and we’re keen to express that, but we work hard to try to make a similar tasting product each year and have to adapt our winemaking to the specifics of the vintage." 

Holland revealed that Chardonnay “grows brilliantly”, but that Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier were both “swines to grow” and very “sickly” grapes. Trying to get a decent crop from either is challenging – Pinot Noir is the most expensive grape to buy, and hardest to get hold of,” he said. 

English wine tasting

We all know about the merits of English sparkling wine – Ridgeview Estate's Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs 2006 recently won the UK Sparkling Over £10 Regional Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards, making it a contender for the Sparkling Over £10 International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards ceremony dinner on 1 September, where it will be competing on a level playing field with heavyweight vintage Champagnes.

Sparkling wines aside, when my flatmate Jimmy Smith, who runs the West London Wine School in Fulham, mentioned he was hosting a Best of British wine tasting, I was the first to sign up, excited about trying the still wines on offer.

A modest and manageable eight wines were on show – four whites, one red and three sparklers. We seem to be experiencing something of a wine boom in England – planting is at an all time high. The 2009 figures show 1,215 hectares under vine, with Champagne grapes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay being the most widely planted, followed by trendy grape Bacchus, named, of course, after the Roman god of wine.

A whopping 75% of England's vineyards are in the south, clustered around Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Although winemaking in England dates back to AD43, when the Romans brought vines to Britain, it's only over the past 20 years that we've started to be taken seriously as a quality wine producing country. And things are on the up, with both foreign and local investment, a surge of skilled winemakers coming up through the ranks, and the effects of Global Warming, England is emerging as a serious player in the wine world.

There are currently 381 vineyards in England, stretching as far north as Yorkshire, and 116 wineries producing around 2.2m bottles a year, and a record 3.2m in 2009. Jimmy's tasting began with Stanlake Park Regatta White 2007, a blend of Ortega (named after the Spanish liberal philosopher José Ortega), Madeleine Angevine and Schonburger. The stunning, sprawling Stanlake Park manor house wouldn't look out of place on the Left Bank. The wine however, failed to impress. It had some attractive green fruit and crisp acidity, but was too light bodied to get me excited.

On to wine 2; Denbies Flint Valley NV from the Surrey-based winery boasting the biggest single vineyard in the UK. I have to admit to being both proud and nostalgic about tasting this wine. I was born ten minutes from the vineyard in Godstone a year before it was founded in 1984. There is something wonderful about trying a wine from where you were born. I felt the same pride (albeit disproportional) as natives of Bordeaux and Champagne do about their wines. A blend of Reichensteiner, Seyval Blanc and Chardonnay, it had a slightly oily texture, with a flinty, mineral core and sharp green apple and citrus notes.

Two Chapel Down wines were on show – Bacchus 2009 and Brut Sparkling NV. With 19 vineyards scattered across Kent, Chapel Down has won a slew of awards over the past few years. Along with Ortega, Bacchus is making a name for itself as an exciting variety to watch. The pronounced nose showed passionfruit, nettle and lime, while the sharp palate was filled with puckering lime and gooseberry - we just might have found England's answer to Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

The only red of the night, Bolney Estate Dark Harvest 2008, came from Bookers in Sussex. Made from the early ripening Rondo grape, with a small amount of inky Dornfelder thrown in, it was liquid proof of how far we've got to go with our reds. It tasted like a church – dusty and musty, but there were faint, pleasurable hints of Pinot Noir through its smoke, spice and soft red fruit.

We ended with a trio of sparklers – Chapel Down (as previously mentioned), Somborne Valley Rosé 2006 and, for the grand finale, Nyetimber Classic Cuvée 2005. Sharing Champagne's clement climate and limestone and chalk soils, England has the perfect terroir for sparkling wine – production is set to double in 2010, from 3m to 7m bottles a year. The Somborne had an odd, almost cheesy nose, but a wonderfully elegant palate of apples, strawberries and raspberries, with a creamy, lemony mousse. But the Nyetimber 2005 stood out like a diamond in the dirt. A rich golden hue, if I were to get this in a blind tasting, it would be almost impossible not to place it in Champagne. The nose sang of rich autolytic notes - biscuit, toasted almonds and brioche. The palate was rich and creamy, like a plate of hot buttered croissants.

The tasting has given me a lot to think about. Not only are we now making sparkling wines that can hold their own against the best vintage Champagnes, we seem to have found our own homegrown version of super seller Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in Bacchus, and a rising star in Ortega. There is so much to celebrate in English wine right now - the future's bright.