Fancy another?

On 'drinkability' in English Sparkling Wine

It’s English Wine Week!

Or, for me, English wine month!

I have been tasting, and visiting, a lot, in preparation for another report coming out in the US for The Wine Advocate. I have been rating English wines for a while - most notably for the large-scale Tim Atkin reports on England in 2022 and 2023 - but I still find it harder job than Champagne. Why is that?

Hi-drinkability; dosage trials and current wines as Balfour Winery last week

Let’s take a real-world scenario. I have a very solid, diverse wine-drinking circle. Many of them are regular English sparkling wine buyers (and even tourists), and between us we even have a decent stock of older English sparkling that does get wheeled out from time to time. Every year the quality ceiling rises, and amongst this European circle, devoid of any naturally-enthusiastic Brits, the opinion of the wines has consistently grown.

The other week we cracked a few good bottles. Eventually, I poured a particular English sparkling wine which notable voices have highly praised as one of England’s best. Would my drinking buddies be impressed?