I have drunk lots of 'fizz' recently. The same question seems to always crop up. Is English sparkling wine any good vs French Champagne (of course Champagne can only be from Champagne in France, but some producers in the USA still use the term anyway )?

Well in general this is how my subconscious seems to assess bubbly wine.

First is the look of the stuff in the glass. The more refined the glass the better the anticipation. Tall sparkling crystal flutes that balance well on the table so as not to make me nervous, but float effortlessly from hand to mouth. The high sides should caress the bubbles into a synchronous streamed display of elegance, the lead in the crystal providing rough nucleation points for the bubbles to form and rise up in long orderly queues, never tiring. Once ascended the aroma is released. Plain old glass is a little too smooth and sometimes lacks the rough catalyst to get the best from the bubbles. Some people 'rough up' the bottom of glasses with a knife to improve the performance of cheaper juice.

Wide shallow glasses (the 'coupe' glass) are a real flash in the pan when it comes to bubbles. They normally have the effect of leaving you very quickly with a drink that resembles ordinary flat wine. The shape of the glass used to be very fashionable and is said to have been modelled on the breast of Marie Antoinette, so it remains for those of you who appreciate a yarn and drink very quickly.

The bubbles should also be small and perfectly formed, to provide the maximum amount of aroma capture to burst on the surface, the small fluted glass crown concentrating the effervescence, delivering an intense hit.

I am not really bothered about the colour of the liquid.

The aroma has to grab me, and draw me in. A whiff and let my mind catch up and decipher the peculiarities buried inside. The first sip is all important. For me not too dry and acidic, but also not too sickly sweet. The balance here is so crucial. Alcohol levels are not usually that high, around 12%ABV in my experience, and this makes all the other constituent parts shout a bit louder, so they must be kept in check.

It should be served cold but not so cold that the taste is muted. More than a few hours in the fridge is too much.

So there we go.

How about this English stuff? Well the real answer is that if you like it as much then, yes it is at least as good as Champagne. In technical terms lots of our fizz contains the same grape blends (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier) as the big French Champagne houses. It always surprises people that red wine grapes are used in Champagne. Yes, the skins are where the colour is, no what they contain. There is blanc de blancs (just white grapes, pure Chardonnay) or blanc de noir (just the red rapes , Pinot Noir and Meunier) and rose (either added red Pinot Noir wine, or longer exposure of the red skins during a process called the saignee method).

There are around 400 vineyards in England and of these some choose other grapes for sparkling wine that will have very different characteristics like Muller-Thurgau or Bacchus, as these grow more easily in our climate. So you will note a marked difference to Champagne.

English bubbles are mostly produced in exactly the same way as 'Champers' which involves secondary fermentation in the bottle itself amongst other techniques. Interestingly we (Christopher Merret) originally invented this 'Methode Champenoise' and has resulted in producers in England wanting to use the term 'Merret' to define quality sparking wine.

So the only questions that remain are about climate and soil. The soil is much the same chalky stuff as in Champagne, so that is not a factor. The weather could be, but don't forget that the grapes do not have to be too ripe. They need to retain that acidic edge and not produce too much natural sugar. The little climatic journey north of Champagne to our vineyards across the water is not that much of a big deal.

Here is the evidence of the quality of our sparkling wine - Sussex grown Nyetimber's Classic Cuvee 2003 recently beat the French in an international competition. There is also loads of other exciting chatter about the caliber of our sparkling wine at the moment.

So next time you have the choice of French or English, instead of being seduced by big branded Champagne houses, why not source local stuff, as it may well be even better.

Have your say

Name (optional):
Email (optional):
Website (optional):
Message: