English Wine Week: The best English wines on offer as chosen by our wine expert Christine Austin

Last year’s summer was excellent for ripening grapes, with the harvest producing enough crop for 20 million bottles from around 4,000 hectares of vines.

Despite Yorkshire’s own developing vineyards now starting to make an impact on the UK’s overall production, the majority of vines are planted in the south of England.

Kent, West and East Sussex, Hampshire, Essex and Surrey add up to around 70% of the vines while Wales is developing its vineyards and there is an experimental vineyard somewhere in Scotland. It is expected that UK vineyard plantings will expand by around 50% over the next 5 years.

England (and for simplicity I am include Welsh and even the Scottish vineyard in this) is majoring on sparkling wines, with almost 70% of production as sparkling wine and 30% as still.

The question I am most frequently asked about English sparkling wine – is it as good as champagne? The answer is clear. Some of the wines I have tasted this week are a lot better than many champagnes, although it is not a straight comparison.

English wines have a purity of style and the freshness of an English garden. The ones mentioned here will definitely provide an alternative to Champagne for any summer party of occasion. They are not the same, but most use the same types of grapes and the same method of production.

The majority of English sparkling wine is made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier using the same long, traditional in-bottle fermentation method as that famous place across the channel. Even the soil is much the same.

The chalky soil that is the bedrock of the champagne region extends under the channel and pops up in places across the southern part of England.

Naturally the French have been making decent fizz for centuries so you might expect them to be ahead in the quality game, but English producers have caught up quickly, realising that ageing in bottle gives the wines depth and complexity.

I have tasted through dozens of English wines, both still and sparkling, in the last few days. Here are some of the best that you should head for,

Balfour

It is worth explaining some of the names and numbers you see on these wines. Balfour is the name of the owner, Richard Balfour-Lynn, Hush Heath is his estate, near Staplehurst in Kent and 1503 is the age of the manor house on the estate.

With around 53 hectares of vines, plus buying contracts with other vineyards nearby, Balfour has managed to make some seriously good wines that crop up on many shelves and one of them is a really good red wine – Pinot Noir. Marks and Spencer has the 2022 Balfour Pinot Noir (£22), which shines with red cherry and strawberry fruit with a smooth texture. This shows that there may be more to English wines than fizz, whites and rosés.

Also from Balfour is their 1503 Albariño 2023 (Majestic £16.99 on a mix six deal). We are used to seeing Albariño from Rías Baixas, and even California, but this is definitely a first for England. Delicate and floral on the nose with white peach notes and a clean, fresh finish. This will have your dinner guests guessing.

Chapel Down

First planted back in the 1970’s near Tenterden in Kent, the wines of Chapel Down have become established on most supermarket shelves.

With 300 hectares of vines, they make some excellent still and sparkling wines.

Flint Dry 2022 is a still wine, made from a basketful of grapes with Chardonnay as the main component and Pinot Blanc and Bacchus plus a few percent of Germanic sounding grapes adding all-important aromatic notes. This is a dry, crisp wine with apple and pear fruit that works well as an aperitif (Waitrose down from £14.99 to ££12.49 until 2 July).

Their Bacchus 2022 is full of spring flower aromatic notes and is totally dry (Majestic £12.99 on a mix six deal).

Amongst the sparkling wines, head for Chapel Down Rosé for red berry fruit and a balanced citrus finish, currently at Booths down from £33 to £28 until 2 July.

Pommery

England must have potential as a wine-making country if one of the large Champagne houses is interested in investing here.

Pommery – the Champagne house of the same name - has been working with Hampshire winemakers for a decade, and now produce two sparkling wines under the label Louis Pommery England.

The white is available at Sainsbury (£29.50) but my favourite, the delicious, wild strawberry and cranberry-filled Brut Rosé is difficult to find, apart from a website www.marasby.com at £36 a bottle.

Maybe one of our Yorkshire merchants could pick up a case or two and tell me when it is in stock. I’ll let readers know.

Simpsons

Ruth and Charles Simpson used to make wine in France, but they saw the potential of English vineyards and decided to move back home.

Now with vineyards on the North Downs in Kent they produce a delicious unoaked still Chardonnay with rounded, melon and citrus fruit and a balanced finish. (Waitrose down from £16.99 to £12.74 until 2 July).

They also make a stunning Pinot Noir Rosé (Waitrose down from £14.99 to £9.89 until 2 July). This is one of the best English rosé still wines on the market with a Provence-pale colour, red berry fruit, edged with lime and grapefruit zest. Both taste wonderful with a sunshine lunch.

Supermarket must-try wines

Asquith Gardens English Wine Asda down from £18 to £15 until 17 July

Rounded and toasty, aged 5 years in bottle.

The Uncommon Bubbly White 2023, Waitrose £5.95 for 250ml can or 4 for the price of three

Perfect for picnics, this is a lively, fresh-tasting English wine with bubbles. Just enough in the can for two to share.

The Best English Sparkling Grand Reserve Brut 2010, Morrisons £24

The classic trio of grapes, aged to give flavours well beyond its price point.