English wine: More good news

Good news about English wine keeps coming in, beginning with optimistic reports from several vineyards about the high quality of the harvest. . .

       This summer I visited Steven Spurrier and his wife Bella in Dorset, coincidentally on the day Steven was going over to Furleigh Estate to taste the final blend of his and Bella’s Bride Valley sparkling wine, which had been resting there in bottle for more than a year, while undergoing secondary fermentation. I was happy to go along. (Here they are afterward, contented.)

I’d never been to the winery, which has a tasting room that would rival anything in the Napa Valley, as well as lovely wines. I can say the same for Steven and Bella’s—freshness and elegance were the words that came immediately to mind. Afterward, we walked through the Bride Valley vineyard with Bella, quite relaxed now in her role as vigneronne after a couple of good harvests in a row; the view of their village below, and their house, was postcard-perfect. The wine will be released soon.

       Another notable sparkler is from Davenport, a winery in East Sussex, which I encountered on the wine list at Fera, in Claridge’s—bracing and delicious. It’s also made from organically farmed grapes. Will Davenport took the organic plunge just over 10 years ago, and it’s paid off. For example, his Horsmonden Dry White (named for the vineyard in Kent where the grapes are grown) just won the well-established (28 years!) and prestigious Soil Association Organic Award.

       Finally, London Cru, a winery based in London that makes wine from grapes purchased in various countries (but which isn’t allowed by the Food Standards Agency to say which countries or even which grape varieties on their labels), has made their first buy of English grapes, 3,000 kilograms of Bacchus from Sandhurst Vineyards in Kent. “This is the year to do it,” said winemaker Gavin Monery. As the grapes are local, the wine should be allowed to be labeled with locality and variety.

English wine harvest 2014 looking good

Furleigh Estate, in West Dorset, is expecting its best-ever harvest this autumn, anticipated to be twice as large as the previous record yield, in 2010, as a result of two consecutive years of great summer weather, which enabled vines to thrive. Rebecca Hansford, owner of Furleigh Estate, said: “We are so excited about this year’s bumper harvest. A dry Glastonbury Festival and a warm Wimbledon are usually reliable indicators that the grape harvest is going to be good, so we’ve had high hopes. We are so fortunate that the English climate has been kind to the vines this season!”  I called around, and several other English winemakers said the same thing, so this could be the break-out year. (By the way, Furleigh Estate is where Steven Spurrier’s new sparkling wine, Bride Valley, was made. I visited the estate this summer and tasted the wine, which was quite impressive; more on that very soon.

English wine: sparkling results

Production figures for the 2010 harvest in England have just been announced by the English Wine Producers; 30,346 hectolitres were vinified, equating to just over 4 million bottles. This is the highest volume ever produced, breaking a previous record of 3.5m bottles.
       The increase reflects the rise in planting over the last five years. Since 2004, vineyard hectarage has increased by nearly 75 percent, to 1323.5ha. (This figure understates the true position, as official figures do not account for all the hectarage planted but not yet in production, which, it's estimated, will add another million bottles to the total in a few years.)
       Sparkling wine leads the way. In 2009 approximately 50 percent of total production was intended for sparkling wine, and based on the level of growth of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier plantings over the last five years, the trend will continue: These three varieties account for almost 50 percent of the total area.

Another glass of white. . .

Three times in the last week, in general-news stories, there have been passing mentions, usually scene-setting, of white wines. Once upon a time, the reference would have been Chardonnay; now, suddenly, it’s Pinot Grigio. A harbinger, or a benchmark?
       In advance of the royal wedding, The New York Times ran a story on English sparkling wine, noting the remarkable success of Ridgeview, which won an overall gold medal at last year’s Decanter World Wine Awards. It seems that global warming is creating real possibilities for the future.
       Meanwhile, I’ve discovered another: Coddington Pinot Gris, which could also have been called “Pinot Grigio,” as that’s a legal option. The vineyard and winery, established just over 25 years ago, are in Ledbury, just a bit northwest of Cheltenham. They sell by mail order and to a few restaurants. The Pinot Gris is in the style of Friuli, dry and lightly peachy, crisp and lovely. I wish the sparkling-wine producers well, but I’d sure like to see more of this, too.

Getting warmer

For those of you still skeptical about global warming, I offer three little words: English Pinot Noir. For years, English vineyards have struggled along in their cool climate without an abundance of sunshine, producing wine from hybrid forms of early-ripening, mostly white grapes; often the wines have been sparkling, where the tartness of less than total ripening could be considered a virtue. It was easy to be a skeptic.
       Last year, there were rumors that it had all begun to change, with the 2008 vintage. An English Pinot
Noir, from Bolney Wine Estate, in Sussex, trumped a red Burgundy in a televised tasting; other