English wines of the year

As I’ve been drinking so much English wine in researching my book Vines in a Cold Climate, I thought I’d round-up some of the most interesting, unusual and delicious ones I tasted this year.

It’s traditional at this time of the year for wine writers to do a round-up of the best bottles they had in the year. These are often parades of rare and expensive wines usually, if Instagram is a reliable guide to other wine writers’ lives, consumed over long lavish lunches. My end of year round-up is going to be a bit different because a) I don’t get invited to these lunches b) it’s a bit boring for readers to be told about a load of wines that they almost certainly will never be able to try.

Instead I’m choosing some of the most interesting wines I tried this year while researching my book. Yes, I’m writing a book. Have I mentioned that yet? It’s a look at English wine called Vines in a Cold Climate and it’s about 99% done and due out August 2023. Now I did try some excellent sparkling wines from the people who you would expect like Nyetimber, Ridgeview and Gusbourne. They are all consistently good producers. But the ones I’ve chosen were the surprises, wines that are a little different to the English norm or are wines that you really wouldn’t expect to try in England, like really good reds. English wines are never going to be cheap but I’ve tried to pick a few fairly affordable ones. 

So without further ado, here are 12 wines that show how exciting and varied English winemaking is at the moment.  I hope that most of them are still available.

Reds and pinks

New Hall Barons Lane Red 2021 (Cambridge Wine £13.99)

In some ways this is quite an ordinary wine. If you had this by the carafe in a wine bar in France, you might not even comment on it. But the fact that someone can make this in England from a bad vintage like 2021 and knock it out for £14 a bottle shows the huge potential in red wines in Essex. The blend includes pinot noir, zweigelt and even the dread rondo, and results in a ripe, fresh, zingy sort of red. Drunk cool out of a Duralex tumbler I found it irresistible. I can’t wait to try this in the warmer 2022 vintage. Lucy Winward from New Hall above.

Danbury Estate 2020 Pinot Noir (Grape Britannia £36.99)

The visit to Danbury Estate in Essex was one of the highlights of the trip. This ambitious estate has transformed expectations about what can be done with red wine in England. This is beautifully ripe with bright red fruit, you would never guess it’s from if you tried it blind. Yes it’s expensive but I think it’s worth the money if you compare it to Burgundy. It’s really very very good.

Summer Red Westwell 2020 (Cambridge Wine £20.99)

I think England’s signature style should be a kind of red that’s really a rose, or vice versa. Rather like a traditional clairet from Bordeaux. During my research for the book I had quite a few extremely delicious very very pale reds. This was one of my favourites, made from a blend of pinot noir and pinot meunier with a little chardonnay in there (see back label above.)

Gutter and Starts Shadowplay Pinot Noir 2021 (Gutter & Stars £30)

See above for the style. This is a beautiful wine, incredibly pale but not short of flavour and not a trace of green or underripness. The visit to Chris Wilson’s tiny winery under a windmill in Cambridge was another highlight of the book. This comes from Essex fruit, I think. His chardonnays are also excellent.

Balfour Mary Rose Rose 2020 (Balfour £40)

Winemaker Fergus Elias clearly had a lot of fun with this rose aged in French and American oak. The style is Provence meets white Burgundy with some red Burgundy in there too. It’s very expensive, £40 I think, but it is very very good with ripe raspberry fruit and none of the grassiness you sometimes get in an English rose. It’s very pale but there’s lots of red wine character here.

Still whites

Lyme Bay Chardonnay 2020 (Master of Malt £21.95)

English chardonnay is coming on in leaps and bounds from producers like Danbury Ridge in  Essex, and Gusbourne, Chapel Down, and Simpson in Kent. Lyme Bay is based in Devon but buys the fruit from this from Essex. This is packed with ripe Granny Smith apples, it’s ripe and mouthwatering. The Martin’s Lane single vineyard bottling is even better but it seems to be gone. 

Blackbook Mix-up 2021 (Black Book £19)

In all the excitement about French varieties in England like pinot noir and chardonnay, it’s great that there are some producers who see the potential in England’s old viticultural heritage i.e. unsexy German varieties like muller thurgau and reichensteiner. This is miles away from the off dry wines of old, it’s bone dry, peachy, refreshing and extremely good value for England. Winemaker Sergio Verillo (above) is based in Battersea and buys grapes from Essex and Kent mainly.

Flint Bacchus Fume 2021 (Flint £22.99)

I have to say I’m not the biggest bacchus fan, those big green flavours aren’t really my cup of tea but this oak-aged example, don’t worry it doesn’t taste oaky, from Flint in Norfolk has made me see the potential in the variety. Rather than going for a Marlborough sauvignon all stops pulled up out style, this is more reminiscent of Sancerre. It’s subtle, one of those wines that reveals itself after time open. The ordinary bacchus is good too. 

Artelium Pinot Gris (Grape Britannia £20.99)

Pinot gris has masses of potential in England, producing a wine with some of the refreshment of a nice pinot grigio from northern Italy but with the depth of flavour of Alsace. This is full of green apple and spice. Artelium is a new producer but the still wines are made by an English wine veteran, and one of the funniest people I spoke to for the book, Owen Elias, who was formerly at Chapel Down and Balfour.

Sparkling

Langham Estate Meunier 2018 (Langham £47.99)

English sparkling wine is generally of a high standard but they can be a bit, how can I put this… boring. This is one for those who want something a bit different. It’s made by Tommy Grimshaw (above) using wild yeasts from the least popular of the three champagne varieties, pinot meunier. The result is something that tastes one moment of bruised brown apples, and the next like a sparkling palo cortado sherry, if you can imagine such a thing. 

Everflyht Rosé de Saignée 2019 (Grape Britannia £40)

Another fun English sparkling wine. Whereas most roses are made by adding red wine to white wine, this is made from skin contact from red grapes, .60% Pinot Noir and 40% Pinot Meunier. It tastes of vivid raspberries on the palate with some woody oaky flavours and a little tannin. This is not a polished champagne-wannabe but it’s not wacky either. Really gorgeous and so good to have someone doing something a bit different in English wine even if the name sounds like a make of squash racquet.

Breaky Bottom 2010 Seyval Blanc (Breaky Bottom £79)

Another one that shows what can be done with the unfashionable varieties. This is 100% seyval blanc, a variety that Owen Elias says tastes of cabbages and potatoes. But in the hands of the master, Peter Hall, you get citrus fruit, saline notes, leafy herbs, green apple, and then freshly-baked croissant on the finish with a cream texture. It’s a distinctly English style.Still an absolute baby, this taste like it’s going to last for years.