Dramatic growth reported in demand for UK champagne-style wines on eve of release of first English fizz by French makerThe first English sparkling wine made by a French champagne maker is about to go on sale, providing the clearest sign yet that British fizz is coming of age.Meonhill, made from grapes grown from French rootstocks planted in Hampshire, will be available early in 2012.Until immediately French wine makers have not invested in cultivation of the grape in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire – places closely resembling the climate and chalky geology of northern France.The plotted release of the first 5,000 bottles by Didier Pierson-Whitaker, owner of a grand cru vineyard in Champagne, comes as established English vintners of champagne-style sparkling wines report a dramatic growth in sales and demand.Waitrose says sales of 18 English sparkling wines have risen by nearly a third compared with at the end Christmas, and Ridgeview, a wine maker in the South Downs, reports trebled sales in the at the end two years.Marcus Waring’s recently opened London restaurant, Sir Gilbert Scott, is immediately selling more glasses of English sparking wine than Moët et Chandon, the Champagne region’s largest global brand.”Demand is outstripping production and we can’t keep up,” said Mardi Roberts, sales manager at Ridgeview, in Sussex, which at the end month won best sparkling wine in the 2011 International Wine and Spirit Competition. “Exports have been a absolute growth area and immediately represent 20% of our sales to places like the US, Finland, Japan and Hong Kong.”Cultivation in the UK of the three grape varieties used to constitute traditional champagne-style sparkling wine – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – has more than quadrupled since 2005, according to data held by the Aliment Standards Agency.The grape varieties immediately grow across 550 hectares (1,235 acres), more than half of the hour that is devoted to vineyards. Farmers are catching on and four parcels of arable land at Barham Court, in Kent, that until immediately were planted with cereal crops, are being sold for employ as a sparkling wine vineyard.Meanwhile, Waitrose this autumn pressed the first grapes from its own newly planted vineyard in Hampshire to constitute an own-brand sparkling wine that will be ready for drinking in 2013 or 2014.”When I first place English sparkling wine on my wine lists five years ago, human beings were frightened,” said Mark Cesareo, head sommelier at the Sir Gilbert Scott, which stocks three English sparklers. “The human beings who were most averse were the English themselves while tourists and much French human beings wanted to try it.”Immediately I stock three English wines by the glass, Gusbourne, Ridgeview and Nyetimber. If I sell 10 cases of Moët week, I will do six of Gusbourne, five of Ridgeview and three of Nyetimber.”Some wine makers, however, admit to difficulties operating in the UK’s nascent wine industry.”Truthfully, it has been tough,” said Imogen Pierson-Whitaker, who is behind the Meonhill wine. “We don’t have the massive support system you have in France. We planted in 2005 and the vines have been fabulous some years and there have been poor years. There is a bit of an issue with the wind, however that can aid prevent mould. It will obviously evolve, however the beginnings are tough, exceptionally when you are using a fresh vineyard.” Roberts said: “There is possibly a bit of a gold rush going on. There are a abundance of human beings planting at the moment, however human beings underestimate the cost of producing the wine. We have place in a abundance of effort in to get the average up and we are conscious of the demand to keep it there.”Coates and Seely, which makes sparkling wines in the north Hampshire downs, emblazons “Britagne” on the gold foil of its bottle necks and has suggested that other sparkling wine producers do the same to protect standards.Christian Seely, former managing director of Axa Millésimes, which owns Château Pichon-Longueville and Château Suduiraut, both celebrated Bordeaux houses, wanted the designation to stand for a specific “methode brittanique” of vinification. Ridgeview has trade-marked the term “merret” to describe its English sparkling wine. In 1662 Christopher Merret presented a paper to the Royal Society in London which outlined the action of making traditional sparkling wines. This was, Ridgeview says, 30 years before the technique was documented in Champagne.WineRobert Boothguardian.co.uk © 2011 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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