English Wine

[Brigand]

These past few years I've become a bit of a wine lover, and although I'm nowhere near being some kind of expert, I can appreciate a good wine.

I'd like to try some English wines, but I don't seem to be able to find any in the supermarkets.

Does anyone know if Sainsburys/Waitrose/Tesco or Asda generally stock any English wines? Those are the big supermarkets in my town and we don't have any proper wine merchant shops here like I've seen in surrounding villages.

White is my preferred, but any will do; any suggestions anyone?

[Nobby Diesel]

www.english-wine.com have a section about where to buy.

[Noger]

Waitrose should do Denbies.

Their Chalk Ridge 2011 Rosé has just been released and is really really good. Am slightly biased in the fact that I was drinking it last night watching the pink sunset over their vineyards...but it will change your view of English Rosé. Lovely stuff.

Edited by Noger on Friday 6th July 11:09

[Bullett]

Waitrose are normally pretty good for this type of thing. They certainly had a selection of English fizz the last time I looked. You have Chapel Down in Kent and with the 'local' policy of Waitrose I'd be surprised if they didn't have some of that (pretty good as well)

[mattdaniels]

Brigand said:

These past few years I've become a bit of a wine lover, and although I'm nowhere near being some kind of expert, I can appreciate a good wine.

I'd like to try some English wines, but I don't seem to be able to find any in the supermarkets.

Does anyone know if Sainsburys/Waitrose/Tesco or Asda generally stock any English wines? Those are the big supermarkets in my town and we don't have any proper wine merchant shops here like I've seen in surrounding villages.

White is my preferred, but any will do; any suggestions anyone?

Surely living in Kent you don't need supermarkets, you can just drive out to the vineyards and buy some ?

I discovered a vineyard in Northampton last year during a food show and have had some very nice whites from it. http://www.fleurfields.co.uk/Home.htm

[Brigand]

In an ideal world I'd buy everything locally rather than a supermarket, but I don't get the chance to go off exploring the countryside very often. I've not lived here long.

Thanks for the info guys, I'll have a mooch around Waitrose and see if I can find those suggested wines.

[prand]

I've got a couple of bottles of Nyetimber sparkling that both Waitrose and Majestic sell. I'm saving them for when the weathr gets better (might be waiting a while). The queen drinks it so it can't becomplete rubbish! Blanc de blanc is 24.99, special cuvee is 34.99.

[Mobile Chicane]

Noger said:

Waitrose should do Denbies.

Their Chalk Ridge 2011 Rosé has just been released and is really really good. Am slightly biased in the fact that I was drinking it last night watching the pink sunset over their vineyards...but it will change your view of English Rosé. Lovely stuff.

Edited by Noger on Friday 6th July 11:09

Oooh, oooh. I'll be treating myself to some of that.

My general fizz of choice is Denbies 'Whitedowns' - around £16 or so - it knocks any champagne at that price point into a cocked hat.

[prand]

Brigand said:

In an ideal world I'd buy everything locally rather than a supermarket, but I don't get the chance to go off exploring the countryside very often. I've not lived here long.

Thanks for the info guys, I'll have a mooch around Waitrose and see if I can find those suggested wines.

What's your location? There might be some local wineries worth a visit to buy direct though you may still get better deals from big retailers who will snap up the lions share of a year's production. Smaller wine merchants or delis may have deals with their local producers to sell locally, just depends where you are near.

[AlfaPapa]

I'm a big fan of my local vineyard:
http://www.halfpenny-green-vineyards.co.uk/show.ph...

Their 'standard' Penny Black is stocked in the local Waitrose, but their others (Tom Hill's a favourite) aren't.
My friends and I booked a vineyard tour and wine tasting for my birthday the year before last, it was a cheap (until we all loaded up baskets in the shop) and enjoyable day out.

[Brigand]

prand said:

What's your location? There might be some local wineries worth a visit to buy direct though you may still get better deals from big retailers who will snap up the lions share of a year's production. Smaller wine merchants or delis may have deals with their local producers to sell locally, just depends where you are near.

I'm in Ashford.

I have looked at a wine tasting day recently, there's a vineyard not that far from me, I ought to go over there to at least buy a few bottles.

[prand]

Brigand said:

I'm in Ashford.

I have looked at a wine tasting day recently, there's a vineyard not that far from me, I ought to go over there to at least buy a few bottles.

Great part of the country for wine then! You could do a lot worse than starting your seach with Biddenden which is down the road, and then Chapeldown a bit further away in Tenterden. Enjoy!

[Bobrick]

I had a bottle of Chapel Down Flint Dry http://www.chapeldown.com/our-wines/range.aspx Tuesday night in Jamie Olivers place in Winchester, was only £17.

It was similar and possibly better than some of the more expensive New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc's I've tried and it's from your part of the world.

[prand]

prand said:

Great part of the country for wine then! You could do a lot worse than starting your seach with Biddenden which is down the road, and then Chapeldown a bit further away in Tenterden. Enjoy!

Here's a useful article - this should give you more than enough to start your search!

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/trail-of-th...

[Brigand]

prand said:

Here's a useful article - this should give you more than enough to start your search!

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/uk/trail-of-th...

Ah, good find there Prand, seems like a good excuse to explore the countryside in the Merc on a sunny day and get a few bottles of plonk whilst I'm at it.

Roll on some sunshine on my days off now!

[FLGirl]

prand said:

I've got a couple of bottles of Nyetimber sparkling that both Waitrose and Majestic sell. I'm saving them for when the weathr gets better (might be waiting a while). The queen drinks it so it can't becomplete rubbish! Blanc de blanc is 24.99, special cuvee is 34.99.

I went to a Nyetimber tasting recently, and loved the blanc de blanc, though the cuvee is very nice. Being Sussex based, they basically share the same soil as France. They are very highly regarded.

Also, if you do end up travelling around and can make Sussex, the English Wine Centre in Alfriston is beautiful and really worth a visit: http://www.englishwine.co.uk/

[tvrforever]

Simply superb dry white wines here http://www.camelvalley.com/ - award winning regularly...

[Noger]

Mobile Chicane said:

Noger said:

Waitrose should do Denbies.

Their Chalk Ridge 2011 Rosé has just been released and is really really good. Am slightly biased in the fact that I was drinking it last night watching the pink sunset over their vineyards...but it will change your view of English Rosé. Lovely stuff.

Edited by Noger on Friday 6th July 11:09

Oooh, oooh. I'll be treating myself to some of that.

Don't dilly-dally. The Chalk Ridge won a Gold at the IWC last year, only Rosé ever to do so. If they win something again it will disappear like it did last year.

[duncancallum]

I've got a couple of bottle of Camel Valley.

Its worth a visit to the vineyard in the summer just to sit there and drink. Its possibly one of the finest spots in the UK to have a drink in.

[5potTurbo]

There are a few good vineyards in Hampshire...

Wickham:
www.wickhamvineyard.com

King's Somborne:
http://www.ukvines.co.uk/vineyards/somborne.htm
(These are sold in Waitrose, but they seem to sell out VERY quickly!)

Neither of these producers are listed on the previously posted English Wines site.

ETA: I bought some wines and bubbly from both porducres and did a tasting at work with my multi-national colleagues - who know their wines farbetter than I - and they were seriously impressed!

Edited by 5potTurbo on Monday 16th July 16:15