The roof at Battersea Arts Centre, home of this week’s WineGB tasting
A quick one today; I’m deep in it. Rather like the harvesters in Champagne at the moment (who I’ll be joining next week), there seems to be an insurmountable amount to tackle. A long row, with some selecting to do.
Heatwaves at the beginning of September let us entertain cozy, autumnal thoughts without having to deal with actual autumn. There’s something hazily dreamlike about this suspension of the British meteo-pessimism; yes, we’ll sweat our pants off, baste unwilling children in suncream and try to do battle with Victorian buildings designed to hoard every joule of energy sent from our fickle star, but, just this once, we won’t complain.
Accordingly, wines need to feel summery, but not too summery. If we act like it’s autumn, we’ll enjoy the fact that it’s still hot. There will be no ice cubes, no pale rosés. There might be blanc de blancs, but it needs to have a dark side.
A couple from England, too - picks from this week’s WineGB tasting. Where internationally available, click the wine name for a wine-searcher listing to find it near you.
(For those interested in English wines, I’m working on a ‘directory’ for England alongside Champagne for paying subscribers - watch this space)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Six Atmospheres | Champagne & Sparkling Wine to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.