The best champagne and sparkling wines for Christmas 2020 Cavas, cremants, champagnes and English sparklers to suit every occasion and price range By Victoria Moore 30 Nov 2020, 4:35pm The 2020 competition was judged over two days last month in London, employing experienced sparkling wine specialists and Masters of Wine, who were: Patrick Schmitt MW, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, and Simon Field MW. Nyetimber’s West Chillington estate may be in Sussex, but it could easily be mistaken for a quaint French vineyard with its sunny, south-facing vines and grand manor house. jQuery(document).ready(function($) { The ‘lees’ are yeast particles in the wine that add a little creaminess and flavour. Moët & Chandon 2008 Grand Vintage Brut; How to Buy Sparkling Wines? The North of this popular island still retains much of its original Spanish charm. Sticking with France, if it’s got to be Champagne there aren’t many to be found under £20 but Aldi’s Veuve Monsigny Brut Grande Réserve is a great option. Here are 10 to seek out, in alphabetical order. General Quality. $(document).on('keypress', '#comment', function(){ This Coeur de Cuvee is one to watch for the whole market as the first ‘super premium’ English wine. Thirty years ago there were no champagne grapes growing in Britain, but they’ve flourished to the extent that even venerable champagne houses are now joining the party. In fact, according to Vivino's 2019 wine trends research, English bubbles are just growing in popularity. Being a Brut style – in contrast to the more common sweeter ‘Extra Dry’ type of Prosecco – this Massotina fizz does have a noticeable dryness, giving plenty of refreshment after all the ripe orchard fruits. After two full days tasting fizz from right around the world, it was the Cava from the cellar of Can Sala that achieved the highest overall mark from the judges – making it this year’s Sparkling Wine Master. }); It’s zesty and refreshing with an intense biscuity flavour underneath and a crisp, long finish. The overall tutti- frutti flavour is vibrant, but still well-balanced. A tempting shade of pink, it offers distinctive redcurrant and cherry notes with intriguing hints of anise. Best prosecco and sparkling wines Aldi Angel and Four Masterstroke. If you are looking for a really fine fizz and you want to surprise your guests, … ft = new Date(); So, you can expect flavours of pastry, apple, and chalk, along with the sharp, taught character you get with English sparkling, which is what makes it so mouthwatering. $(document).on('focusout', '#comment', function(){ English sparkling wine specifically has been highly praised for its quality, collecting three Platinum and six Gold medals in the 2018 Decanter World Wine Awards. This Hampshire vineyard’s sparkling rosé scooped a gold at this year’s International Wine... Hope and Harrow brut reserve NV. The resulting drink is loaded with delicious just-picked fleshy peach and ripe pear with a lovely lingering dry slightly chalky finish. This week’s wine of the week is a bit of a mystery. Langham Wines, a Dorset-based winemaker, has been crowned International Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year after seeing off competition from other top producers around the world. There are just 1,600 bottles, so it would make a winning present for an aficionado. Tattinger was James Bond’s champagne of choice – he was particularly fond of the 1945 vintage – and has appeared in several Bond films. Pleasingly golden in colour, it both looks and smells irresistible, with tangy citrus aromas and hints of spiciness to add plenty of interest. Pommery is the first to release its English sparking wine this spring, to be followed by Tattinger. About English sparkling wine. The Tesco Finest Franciacorta DOCG Brut (£15) was scored at 75, after judges hailed the “clean, fresh” sparkling wine as a good choice for those who like “gently frothy” bubbles. '); It’s an exceptionally good English sparkling wine which Morrisons has bottled under its own label for the very reasonable sum of £20. All the sparkling wines below achieved a Gold medal or higher in this year’s competition, which saw every entry judged by Patrick Schmitt MW, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, and Simon Field MW. 100% Chardonnay from the 2014 vintage, it’s nutty, fruity and fresh with just a touch of honeyed development, and, while not cheap, it’s a wonderfully indulgent drop for the price. Harrow & Hope. After two days spent assessing samples from a broad array of places in one of the biggest sparkling wine tastings in the world – and the only one to sample all types of fizz side by side with no knowledge as to source region or producer – we have listed the highlights. Please visit The Global Masters website for more information, or please call +44 (0)20 7803 2420 or email Sophie Raichura at: sophie@thedrinksbusiness.com, Your email address will not be published. Apr 28, 2019 - Explore Lucy-Ann Prideaux's board "Best English Sparkling Wines" on Pinterest. Our Sparkling Rosé is also NV, and is made from differing blends and vintages of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot meunier. Cava de Paraje Calificado, it is a great wine from top vineyards in the region, and, due to the intensity of the fizz, and the richness imparted by the lengthy ageing process, it is sold with no dosage – in other words, no sugar is added to the wine, meaning it is a Brut Nature. This was the better performing of two relatively newly released English sparkling wines from Morrisons (the vintage 2010 version lacked the drive and determination of this youthful NV). Morrisons The Best Vintage Cava Brut: 75/100 £8.25 Co-op Irresistible Prosecco: 74/100 £8.00 Lidl Winemaker's Selection Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, 2017: 74/100 £8.99 Vintage champagne is made from one specific year, and is only made when the wines are of particularly high quality, and they can reach stratospheric prices. The judges (left to right): Patrick Schmitt MW, Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, and Simon Field MW. In December 2015, Champagne Taittinger announced it was buying a vineyard in Kent and would produce an English sparkling wine. $('#stay').val(ft - st); Sieur d'Arques Grande Cuvée 1531 de Aimery Languedoc-Roussillon, France $16.99. 2009 Nyetimber, Blanc de Blancs, Sparkling, Sussex – a 100% Chardonnay with over ten years age showing how quality English Sparkling Wine can mature well, just like Champagne. Uncork one of these beauties…. Its British bubbly is ‘England Brut’, made at the Hattingly Valley Winery in Hampshire. All of Harvey Nichols’ own brand booze is well-chosen and good value, and the fizz is no exception. The likes of Ridgeview were already beginning to beat the French at their own game in blind tastings – but this was the first time since the British invented the stuff that we began competing on even the same playing field. Gusbourne Brut Reserve. Twenty years ago, when that vintage was grown, there were only a handful of English winemakers taking it seriously – and being taken seriously in return. Made from Chardonnay grapes, it has an unusual mineral freshness with hints of apple and nuttiness, and a complex finish. I tasted just under 50 wines from around a dozen estates between April and June 2020. }); Gaining a Gold medal, this fizz from the 2014 vintage, dominated by Chardonnay, is delicious and typically English in style. Of the home-grown producers, Nyetimber was the first to experiment. So this is an expensive one, but is it worth it? Indeed, sampled blind in the Global Sparkling Masters 2020, it was assumed by the judges that this was fine, if noticeably fresh, Champagne. This British wine considers itself truly a ‘labour of love’ and the product of family … If you want to know what top class Prosecco tastes like then this is a great place to start. Hattingley Valley (Hampshire) Started by Simon Robinson in 20118, Hattingley Valley specializes in producing sparkling wines. Although its winemaking method means it doesn’t have the bready, nutty characters you find in traditional method fizz, such as Champagne, it delivers something else: fresh, aromatic, juicy fruit, from peach and pear to lemon and lime zest, complemented by a lovely mouth-filling creamy textured fizz.

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