English sparkling wine to celebrate the Jubilee

With the Platinum Jubilee around the corner, it feels ridiculous to reach for Champagne when we have properly world class fizz on our doorsteps. English sparkling wine has come of age with even the most ‘basic’ bottles now really packing a punch in terms of flavour and complexity. This is thanks partly to more and more stocks of ‘reserve’ wines, which is wine from previous vintages held back deliberately to add to more recent, non-vintage blends. These older, reserve wines tend to add the toasty, brioche and apple pie crust notes to sparkling wine that we have come to love in the traditional method of sparkling wine. Here are some top English sparkling wine picks that should be on your radar.

Hampshire

Hattingley Valley, Classic Reserve

Hattingley Valley winery is found in rural Hampshire where the first vines were planted in 2008 and the first wines released in 2013. Made by multiple award-winning female winemaker Emma Rice with 53% Chardonnay, 31% Pinot Noir and 16% Pinot Meunier grapes, the Classic Reserve is Hattingley’s most widely available and most loved wine. A non-vintage sparkler based on the somewhat challenging 2015 vintage, this is the wine that gives you a true flavour of the Hattingley house style: Golden with fine bubbles, elegant notes of brioche, nougat and a touch of oak with a characteristic hedgerow note on the finish.

Find it at Waitrose for £30 a bottle.

Hambledon Classic Cuvée

Established in 1952 by Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones, Hambledon is England’s oldest vineyard and can be found nestled in the home of Cricket at Hambledon in Hampshire. Their Classic Cuvée is again, a blend of all three traditional grapes, (56% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir, 17% Pinot Meunier). Grapes are handpicked on the estate and this cuvée uses the 2017 harvest as a base with 20% reserve wines added, giving it the characteristic toasty richness that Hambledon has become famous for. Hambledon also does fantastic tours, tastings and events. 

Find it at Majestic for £34.99 (or £23.99 as part of a mixed 6 case)

Sussex

Rathfinny Estate Blanc de Noirs 2018

Rathfinny has an enviable position on the sunny, south-facing slopes of England’s South Downs in Alfriston, Sussex. It has quickly made a name for itself as one of England’s finest wine producers. Blanc de Noirs is a sparkling wine made only from black /red grapes which in this case are Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and these wine grapes came from just one single harvest in 2018, which has been dubbed the vintage of the decade. Rathfinny has a style that is rich but precise with a fantastic, lean, mineral character. Seriously elegant and will keep for a while. Rathfinny is another great place for a vineyard picnic too!

Find it at Lea & Sandeman for £38.95 (or £36.95 when in a case of six) 

Kent

Balfour Brut Rosé 2018

A renowned winery located on the Hush Heath Estate in Kent, the Balfour sparkling brut rosé was the first ever English wine to win a gold medal and the Trophy at the International Wine Challenge. This 2018 vintage wine is only ever made in tiny quantities from a single vineyard and it has a special story. The estate has belonged to the Balfour-Lynn family for three generations, but it was Richard and Leslie’s idea to plant vines at Hush Heath in 2002, with a view to making a pink sparkling wine like their favourite ever Champagne: Billecart Salmon Rosé. Their thinking was “If we can’t sell it, we’ll drink it”. But they did sell it and the rest is history. It’s a great place for lunch and a tasting with a lovely walk around the vines and the apple trees too. 

Find it at Waitrose for £39.99

See what else Helena has been tasting with talkTV here.

Fantastic Wine Gifts, Subscriptions & Experiences

We love our wine and have been spoiled for choice this year with the wonderful bottles we have tasted. Here’s a selection of some fantastic gift packages, experiences and subscriptions that really caught our eye and out taste buds, that have that extra wow factor, making them the perfect wine gift.

Wine Gift Packages

Feel Good Grapes: Brilliant Biodynamics Box

See for yourselves the upside of this winemaking ethos with this curated collection of 6 biodynamic wines. It feels great to know that the winemakers are bending over backwards to get life back into their vineyards, but it also means you get to taste fabulous, vibrant wines.

Find here: £100

Hattingley Valley - Trio Gift Box

A hatt-trick (see what we did there?) of outstanding, award-winning sparkling wines from one of the countries most awarded wineries. It includes the Classic Reserve, the Rosé 2015 and the stunning Blanc de Blancs 2013. Together, these would have been £133.50 so there’s a great saving there too. The perfect present! 

Find here: £96.47

Bellini Case  - The Wine Society

The world’s oldest, not-for-profit wine club The Wine Society is offering a huge range of gift packages, from their ‘Christmas tidings’ case, to the ’Champagne and Chocolates Case‘ and this, the ’Bellini Case‘. The Bellini case includes The Wine Society’s own excellent quality, family-produced Prosecco, together with both a rhubarb and a white peach fruit nectars from the Van Nahmen range.

Find here: Full range of gifts from £22 to £145

Celebrity Wine & Food Hampers

Pop icon Kylie Minogue and Graham Norton have released their first-ever Christmas Hampers. Kylie’s “Wild Rosé” and “Lovers” hampers feature her best selling wines, alongside culinary delights and gifts hand-picked by the Kylie herself. Graham’s Christmas hamper is for white and bubble lovers, celebrating his best-selling Sauvignon Blanc and Prosecco, accompanied by delicious food. 

Find here: From £125.00 

Barbadillo En Rama Sherry Gift Set

Pastora Mananilla Pasada En Rama is no ordinary Sherry. It was resurrected by Barbadillo back in 2015 to replicate what Sherry used to be traditionally. Bottle ‘en rama’, which means raw, this Manzanilla has had no filtering or finishing, so it keeps as much flavour and freshness as if it had just been drawn straight from the cask. You’ll get a bottle of Barbadillo Pastora En Rama, two tins of delicious Perello Gordal Pitted Olives, two sherry glasses and a gorgeously retro style box, where you can use the lid as a wall hanging! 

Find here: £35

Subscriptions

Port.Club Port subscription from Churchill’s

Port is not just for Christmas! Port.Club from Churchill’s is the ultimate gift subscription for the port curious and port lovers alike, offering a delicious, decadent quarterly surprise. Included in the membership is access to unique travel and educational experiences both in Portugal and online. The Port Packs all come with one everyday port, one special occasion port and one unique club port, selected and blended by Churchill’s founder and head winemaker Johnny Graham. As a special launch offer, anyone who buys a membership will receive one additional pack to gift to someone for Christmas worth £70! It’s an awesome way to get into one of the world’s finest and most underrated wine styles in a relaxed, totally accessible way. 12 months price £240. Quarterly price £70.

Find here: From £70

LITTLEWINE Club

This brand new company was formed by established wine trade members with a passion for organic and naturally made wines. They’re offering 4 subscription packs from £50 a month: Roots, Grower, Backstage Pass and Cosmos, with added perks such as access to winemaker tastings. Little Wine use eco-conscious packaging and gift-wrapping too, which is a bonus for us and the earth!

Find here: From £50 a month 

C&B Wine Odyssey

From one of the UK’s oldest established wine merchants who really know their stuff, send someone on a wine odyssey, with 6 bottles delivered straight to the doorstep on a pre-selected day of the month and the choice of 6 or 12 monthly payments. Subscribers also have access to tasting notes, recipes, producer videos and lots of other fun and educational content.

Find here: £160 & £240

Experiences

Champagne Experience Gifting Vouchers

Searcys have launched a range of 30-plus gift experience vouchers for use across their iconic venues, from dinner at the Gherkin, afternoon tea at Blenheim Palace or lunch at the stunning Bath Pump Rooms, among other venues all over the UK. From beautifully gift boxed single bottles of champagne to extravagant staycation tasting experiences, there’s a huge range for an epicurean. See all their gifting options and experiences below.

Find here

Wine Tasting Tour & Experience at Oastbrook in Sussex

Oastbrook is next to Bodiam Castle in the beautiful countryside of south-east England, where Wine Tasting & Vineyard Tours take place from spring to October 2021. Every tour includes a couple of hours with your very own winemaker guide, America, taking in the stunning boutique vineyards and organic farmland. Each experience rounds off with a tasting of Oastbrook wines in the heart of the picturesque Estate with complimentary handmade local cheese, biscuits and chutney. Book the tour or get the gift voucher for £25pp from Oastbrook.com. You could add a bottle of their Sparkling Rosé 2014 too for £38 while you’re at it!

Don’t forget to check out our Christmas wine, gin and whisky recommendations!

English Sparkling Wines to Rival Champagne: Names You Need To Know

Words by Helena Nicklin

This article produced by Helena was originally written for and published by Luxurious Magazine in January 2020.

You may have heard about the rise of English fizz; you may still be sceptical, but having kept a close eye on the industry over the last sixteen years, I can tell you that we’ve now, officially, nailed it. Our relatively new English wine industry has observed the successes and failures of hundreds of years of winemaking globally, waiting patiently until the time was right; until temperatures had increased just enough to put England on a par climatically with the world’s most famous sparkling wine-producing region. In some parts of the English south coast, the soils are almost identical to those of the Côte des Blancs in Champagne. Couple that with an almost identical climate in places, the same grape varieties, same ‘traditional method’ used, cutting edge equipment, experienced winemakers and vines that are finally coming of age and you’ll see precisely how we are now creating world-class bubbles to rival Champagne and in some cases, dare I say it, outclass it.

The best way to learn about wine is to taste it, so here are a few of the biggest names in English sparkling wine that you absolutely need to know, along with some of their more exclusive, limited-edition wine offerings to seek out.

Jenkyn Place Blanc de Blancs 2015 – Hampshire

If you’re looking for quintessentially English charm, Jenkyn Place, owned by the Bladon family in the North Hampshire Downs, has it in spades. While the family has been making wine with the classic Champagne grapes (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) since their first vines were planted in 2004, this ‘blanc de blancs’ (with sparkling wines, this usually means made with 100% Chardonnay) is the very first Chardonnay-only wine, thanks to the exceptional quality of the harvest; they didn’t want to blend it! Think ultra-fresh citrus balanced by ripe orchard fruit and shortbread notes with rich, creamy bubbles. An elegant English rose of a wine. RRP £38 from www.jenkynplace.com

Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2014 – Kent

As far as awards go, Charlie Holland, winemaker for Gusbourne, has been cleaning up over the past few years. Gusbourne’s wines are consistently excellent with a tell-tale purity that sets them apart from their peers. The blanc de blancs is the flagship wine of the estate, made with 100% Chardonnay and aged for at least forty two months on its lees (the dead yeast cells leftover from fermentation) to give biscuity notes and a rich, creamy texture. This 2014 has an incredibly complex palate packed full of candied fruit and notes of hazelnut and baked apple with a refreshing, mineral core. Fabulous. RRP £59 Gusbourne Website

Hattingley Valley King’s Cuvée 2013 – Hampshire

Another much-loved, family-owned winery in Hampshire that since the very early days have also been winning countless awards. The winemaking team lead by Emma Rice, often like to use a bit of oak for added spice, texture and toastiness and this extremely limited release is no exception. A blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, the wine was barrel fermented and then aged in oak, giving it a weighty feel and a palate rich with sweet spice, waxy lemon peel and fragrant, red apple skin notes. Will age beautifully. RRP £80 Hattingley Valley Website

Harrow & Hope Blanc de Noirs 2015 – Buckinghamshire

This bijou, family-run winery is still pretty new (just 7 years old), but wine has been in the blood of winemaker Henry Laithwaite his entire life. After travelling the world learning how to make it, Henry and his wife Kaye decided to settle back in England, finding an ideal spot in the Chiltern Hills to create their own world-class fizz. While still young, these wines have caught the attention of the top wine writers for their elegant purity and exceptional ageing potential. ‘Blanc de noirs’ means ‘white from black’, i.e. white wine made with black (red) grapes only, and while the 2015 is starting to open up now, with its cool minerality and tangy, red fruit notes and spice, if you lay it down for another year or so, you will see it truly blossom. RRP £38 from Harrowandhope.com

Pink English Fizz

Ambriel Rosé 2014 – Sussex

There’s something unique about the wines from Ambriel – a relative newcomer on the English wine scene. Based on the sunny South Downs in Sussex, Wendy and Charles Outhwaite have swapped a hectic, legal life for a slice of countryside heaven, complete with tiny sheep (ouessants) who graze between the vines during the winter. Ambriel bubbles have the class of champagne with an undeniable English accent thanks to a slightly unusual way of making sparkling wine, using skin contact rather than blending red wine with white. The result for The Ambriel Rosé 2014 is vibrant, ripe and juicy wine, packed with wild strawberry fruit and a moreish leafy aroma. Wendy describes it as ‘an English garden party in a glass’ and I wholeheartedly agree. I had to double-check the price as it’s worth twice this… RRP £26.95 from Corney & Barrow

Hambledon Premiere Cuvée Rosé – Hampshire

Hambledon, to my mind, have been leading the charge in Hampshire, if not the whole of England, with richer styles of sparkling wines that have been grabbing headlines. Having released their elegant, classic cuvée rosé last year to great applause, this year’s offering is a quirky, very limited edition of pink made with 100% Pinot Meunier – the grape that even in Champagne is usually only used in blends and even then, only in small quantities. Deep pink, almost red in fact, with an intriguing, smoked meat quality balanced by ripe, morello cherry notes, this sparkler is bone try with a wonderful sappy texture and toastiness. Beguiling and unique, you could easily match this with meat dishes too. Grab a bottle if you can find it! RRP £69 from Hambledon Vineyard Website

Why English wine is your new go-to, luxury drop

If the English wine industry were a car, it would be a Jaguar. Fact. Gone are the days when it would be likened to something more akin to Del Boy’s Reliant Robin. If it were an actress, it would be Emma Watson: youthful, but already accomplished and still with a tonne of potential. It’s an incredibly exciting time for English wine, but what makes it suddenly so good? Why is it so expensive and which are the regions and the producers to look out for? Here’s everything you need to know about English wine with some fabulous bottles to seek out…

Written for Luxury Lifestyle Magazine