BRITISH BUBBLY BESTS FRANCE

CALL IT THE JUDGMENT of Paris . . . British style. In April, France’s top wine judges rated English sparkling higher than Champagne in a blind tasting. A selection of English sparkling wines, divided into three categories and tasted blind with comparable Champagnes, resulted in the English coming out on top in two, with the third category ending in a draw. Many of the French tasters – some of the highest regarded experts in the country – believed that the English wines they were tasting were actually Champagnes. “We couldn’t have expected the tasting to go so well,” said Matthew Jukes, the British wine writer who helped organize the historic event along with the UK’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association. “In all my years writing about wine, I never would have believed that top French palates would take English sparkling wine for Champagne – it really is immensely exciting,” he said. Among the successes was a £4O (US $58) bottle of 2OO9 Nyetimber sparkling wine produced in West Sussex. Nine members of the 14 member panel thought it was better than a £65 (US $95) bottle of Billecart-Salmon Grand Cru Champagne. Similarly, when a bottle of 2O11 Gusborne Rosé went up against a NV Ayala Rosé Majeur from Champagne, nine preferred the Gusborne and five picked the Champagne. Half the tasters thought the English wine was Champagne.

Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said it was “a ground-breaking” moment for the country’s sparkling wine. “We have successfully slayed the myth that English wine cannot compete with the best in the world,” he said. The tasting comes at a time of growing excitement in the English wine industry as more and more vineyards are planted across the country. Last year, applications to develop UK vineyards grew by 4O%, and Taittinger became the first Champagne house to invest directly in planting in Britain, buying 17O acres of land in Kent. While English wine still only accounts for around 1% of wine sales in the UK, production rates are on the up, with the five million bottles produced annually now expected to grow to 1O million in the next four years.