English Wines

A book review of, “Vines in a Cold Climate”

by  |  20-07-2023

The wines produced in the United Kingdom may sometimes lack for sun, but they certainly don’t lack for media coverage and in turn, books written about them. For such a young wine region (truly serious... more »

“British Sparkling Wine”, a name for all, a name for none?

by  |  10-05-2023

Given the recent Coronation, it only seemed fitting to take a look at one of the long-unresolved issues for the wines of Great Britain… In the last twenty years, British sparkling wine (or its longer,... more »

How the bum was won

by  |  09-06-2022

It started as a simple proposition. Mike Boyne of Bin Two in Padstow, England contacted me a few weeks back and asked if I’d be interested in tasting the third edition, of his now-legendary pét-nat... more »
Photo by Gutter & Stars

Exceptional English Chardonnay

by  |  17-02-2022

Sure, still whites made from Chardonnay in the UK have been around for a while, but now it’s a variety that’s definitely found its voice. While grown in the country for some time, my first... more »

In The Glass: Sugrue – The Trouble with Dreams 2010

by  |  30-12-2020

Let’s just take a moment, inhale deeply and envision the spring of 2016. I don’t work at Facebook, so I don’t know where you were, but I remember very well where I was. It was... more »

A book review of “English Wine”

by  |  01-09-2020

Four years ago, during the International Cool Climate Wine Symposium in Brighton, England, I attended an English still wine tasting led by Oz Clarke. It was fascinating to see the state of the increasingly-popular English... more »

Renaming English Sparkling Wine

by  |  02-02-2017

As of late there has been a bit of circulation in the wine trade about “English Sparkling Wine“, well, the name anyways. It’s a name that seems has been come about to as a compromise... more »

All the bubbly fit to drink

by  |  26-01-2017

The clouds part when the middle of January presents itself. This is of course only in the figurative sense as literally, the weather is quite squalid, but this moment of clarity is due to reaching... more »
Photo by Julia Claxton

English still wines, on the other hand

by  |  23-06-2016

Given that today is the so-called, “Brexit” vote, it’s probably only fitting to talk a bit more about the wines of England that I tasted during the ICCWS 2016 in Brighton. After all, if the... more »

Tasting the newness of English Sparkling Wine

by  |  08-06-2016

If you were to go back in time 20 years ago and ask a much younger version of me what I thought about sparkling wines, my reaction wouldn’t have been amazing. If you were to... more »