taste
A Proper Toast for Baby Sussex THE RISE OF ENGLISH SPARKLING WINES BY D. D. R I C E
W
ith anticipation around the birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first child at a fever pitch, one thing is clear: the arrival of the newest royal ought to be celebrated with English Sparkling wines. Haven’t you heard? English Sparkling wine (ESW) is having a moment. It’s not just Restaurant Gordon Ramsey and Buckingham Palace that are serving it up these days, but plenty of Manhattan restaurants and wine stores are featuring the British bubbly as well. In the 30 years since Nyetimber produced its first sparkling wine from their Sussex vineyards, demand for ESW has never been higher. England’s Wine and Spirits Trade Commission is predicting ESW production will double by 2022 to around 10 million bottles. According to Simon Robinson, chairman of Wines of Great Britain, two thirds of ESW is consumed within Great Britain with the remainder exported to the US, Japan, Australia and Scandinavia. And, in a telling sign of validation, Champagne houses like Pommery and Taittinger have planted vineyards in Hampshire and Kent putting them on track for production in 2022.
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In the US, the English fizz has found an impressive niche in popular restaurants like the Grand Central Oyster Bar and Hamptons’ mainstays like The American Hotel. Whole Foods is featuring the Hattingley Valley, Classic Reserve in 420 stores across the US. With exciting developments like these the ESW industry now faces a new challenge, that of ensuring a steady supply to their dedicated vendors going forward. This past year the wine gods appear to have interceded on their behalf; 2018 was a record setting vintage in both abundance and quality putting the industry in a jolly good position to extend its “moment” into the next decade. What makes ESW so successful? Global warming for one thing. It’s generally agreed that the warmer temperatures have boosted ripeness levels and done much to elevate English viticulture. The South of England is also endowed with the same Kimmeridgian chalk soils as Champagne (visualize the White Cliffs of Dover and you’ll understand). These mineral rich soils are modern day repositories of ancient sea beds which form a geological chain from Chablis to Champagne to Sussex. Many aficionados attribute the high percentage of Grand Crus along the chain to the composition of the soil. As vitis vinifera grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot
Meunier thrive in the soils of southern England, the UK appellation has become a serious producer of sparkling wines. Tim Farrell, wine buyer for Brooklyn Wine Exchange, who carries Exton Park Vineyard’s NV Rosé from Hampshire, says that ESW has several important factors going for it: climate, soil composition and higher acidity levels which put it on trend with the increasingly popular “grower” Champagnes that showcase a dryer, tarter style. The timing is perfect since sales indicate that American consumers are developing a taste for higher acid wines. Tim cautions however that in the $36 - $55 range ESW is in direct retail competition with the Champagne industry which represents the most sophisticated marketing juggernaut in the world. (Cavas, Proseccos and other popular non-Champagne sparkling wines generally sell for closer to $20 a bottle.) Recently professional Sommelier, Gordon DuGan, from the wine team at The Lobster Club, and other wine enthusiasts gathered to taste examples of the bubbly currently available in the US. We found the English style to be well balanced and marked by a brilliant fresh acidity. Although many of the English bottles tasted were comparable to their French forbearers, as a whole they did not