WTN: Nice UK fizz

Finally some wine. It's been mostly beer with colleagues or dry evenings for me recently, so it was nice to have a bit of good fizz. Though calling a UK fizz good will inevitably seem controversial to some. Which is a shame: I thought this was very enjoyable.

2009 Ridgeview Cavendish - England, West Sussex
30,60€; 12,5% abv; 44% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir & 29% Pinot Meunier; 8 g/l sugar. I am always amused by what I read about UK sparklers. It always seems to be a variant of this quote: "It's the price of basic Champagne and of similar quality. So why buy it? I'll buy basic Champagne instead." And then, if one is of a pointy disposition, one will give a score in the low to mid-80s. I prefer to say that neither Champagne nor UK sparklers provide great value for money, but I find it silly to discriminate against the UK stuff if one admits to it being of similar quality. Now, for what's it worth, I really enjoyed this bottle and actually found it superior to many of the basic Champagnes available over here. It has a rather elegant, strongly bread-like aroma, with some really attractive steely, floral character I always associate with Chardonnay. Crisp and citric, high in acidity, focused and delineated. Not much fat around these bones, but I like this style of sparkler. I enjoyed this very much.

I prefer to say that neither Champagne nor UK sparklers provide great value for money, but I find it silly to discriminate against the UK stuff if one admits to it being of similar quality.

I pretty much agree, and do have a few bottles of English fizz in my "cellar", perhaps more than Champagne at the moment. But on the other hand I get the impression that Champagne is perhaps more reliable. Apart from anything else, as far as I know all English sparkling wine is single-vintage, and vintages vary a lot at this latitude.

BTW you have to be a bit careful with terminology, Otto. The Quality stuff is English Sparkling Wine (or Welsh, but I am not sure how much of that is made). You can also get sparkling British wines. The use of the term British, as opposed to English or Welsh, implies it is made from imported must. Concorde, for example, is a sparkling British wine. I have not tried it for a long time, but even as a student, when I wasn't particularly into wine, I tried a glass of Concorde and vowed never to drink it again! Hopefully Concorde is not exported. (UK is not an officially recognised term for wine - and neither is Scottish as there is no commercial wine production there.)

On the reliability front. Ridgeview are all vintage wines from their own estate, so they are very reliant on the weather and there is vintage variation.

I was at a tasting this week with the winemaker who was asked about them making a NV and he replied that they just don't have the reserve stocks; they sell out every vintage and can't meet demand. A lot, I think he said 30%, is exported.

English wine is a legal term to identify wine made from grapes grown in England and Wales, British wine is a legal term for wine made in UK from imported must or dried grapes.

English Sparkling Wine is a mouthfull but two suggested names 'Merret' and 'Britagne' haven't gained traction.