Impressed by this new English sparkling wine from Hoffmann & Rathbone. Mine was bottle 84 of just 1500! It’s predominantly Pinot Noir with a bit of barrel-fermented Chardonnay, and it’s…
An English white Pinot Noir and an Aussie Topaque
Headed over to Denbies wine estate today, in Dorking, Surrey, for a meeting of Elevage. Elevage is the organization I’m involved with that runs the International Sparkling Wine Symposium (ISWS)….
An ultra-low production English Pinot Noir
Clearing out my wine racks today to see what’s there and what needs to be drunk. Found my entire production of 2010 Pinot Noir. A single bottle. Let me…
English wine, a pageant and the diamond jubilee
Much against my better judgement, I found myself persuaded to venture into London today for the river pageant celebrating the Queen’s diamond jubilee. I knew it would be crowded. I…
Two very nice sparkling wines: New Zealand and England
Two very nice sparkling wines: one from Kiwi land and one from over here. Both pretty serious, and not expensive. Huia Blanc de Blancs 2005 Marlborough, New Zealand I’d been…
World Malbec Day, an English salute
Day 2 of the International Wine Challenge, and it was a big one. The team I was working with tasted 160 wines today. A lot by any standard, and by…
An English Pinot Noir from Chapel Down
English fizz is getting a lot of attention. What about the table wines, or still wines, or whatever you want to call them? Here’s a Pinot Noir that’s actually incredibly…
Laithwaites Theale Vineyard Sparkling Wine
I was impressed by this. It’s a limited-production sparkling wine from a vineyard at the headquarters of Laithwaites, one of the UK’s most successful wine merchants, located in Theale, near…
Breaky Bottom: an impressive English fizz
OK, we all know how good the famous names of English sparkling wine are: the likes of Nyetimber, Ridgeview and Camel Valley. Well here’s another, less well known name, making…