To Lords for the Three Wine Men tour and a bit of brand support for the Balfour 08 and to see whats gong on with Sparkling English Wines. Oz Clarke and Olly Smith are very much in evidence at the first session, enthusastic and knowledgeable in their support of English wine.
It perhaps should not have been a surprise that not every punter there had tasted English sparkling wine and that brand recognition was somewhat shakey , Nyetimber not surpisingly was the most known and requested for tasting, Gusbourne perhaps with a little help from Olly Smith seems to have moved up the ladder. There were 14 wines on the Sparkling English Wine stand and as most of the wines sold by them have been through quite a strict tasting panel the quality was high. Of the 14 only 1 of the wines, Will Davenport’s organic Limney was made from Reicensteiner , every other wine was made from the classic champagne varietals. Prospective producers should take note.
Aside from the Balfour 08 which is now beginning to show and drink very well, the newly released Nytimber 2004 and Rose 2007 were very good( I am sure the dosage has been tweaked on the rose since I first tasted it?)
