Sunday Drinking: 25 May

English wine to Paris, English fizz beats champagne, shameless podcast pluggery and events, dear boy.

It’s been an exciting week for English wine. The London Wine Fair put on a Battle of the Bubbles pitting champagne against the rest of the world and the top two places were taken by English wine. These sort of things have been going on for a long time now, since the great Judgement of Parsons Green back in 2013 but I think this new one is significant for two reasons.

Firstly, the price of the wines. This wasn’t Moet vs Hambledon. The competition was Dom Perignon, Comtes de Champagne, Krug and Winston Churchill and the top two wines were ambitiously priced English prestige cuvees: Nyetimber 1086 2010 (£150) and Gusbourne 51 Degrees North 2016 (£200). There was a lot of scepticism from people when they were released - was English wine really good enough to justify the prices? But this shows that they can more than hold their own against the best of France.

The second notable thing about the judging was that I took part alongside people who are vastly more experienced at such things like Tom Hewson, Decanter’s fizz lord, and many many Masters of Wine. I thought the Gusbourne was English but assumed the Nyetimber was champagne when I tasted them blind. I rated both highly, in my top five, though my favourite was a real French champagne: Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru VP 2016. The Roederer Estate Quartet from California was also showing really well, it came in the overall top ten, and it’s only around £35 a bottle. So perhaps the real winner here is America.

Coals to Newcastle

In more man bites dog news, there’s a pop-up restaurant coming to Paris featuring British chefs alongside the finest wines from England. Called Brit Pop, it’s being put on by a young writer called Josh Dell with the support of the British Embassy in Paris and will take place over two evenings on 1st and 2nd June at Au Passage in the 11^th arrondissement. The chefs are Angelica Golten (July, 40 Maltby Street, Brawn) and Elly Polhill (Fitzroy). Their food will be paired with wines from Danbury Ridge, Domaine Hugo, Hundred Hills, Leonardslee, and Tillingham. A mouth-watering line-up. Tickets can be found here www.britpop.wine. Josh writes:

‘British wines are rarely found on wine lists globally, let alone the UK. To this regard the idea of creating a pop-up space that gives diners outside of the UK the chance to experience the wines alongside British-inspired dishes emerged. All too often British wine is sampled for the first time at giant exhibition halls amongst two zillion other wines or at a reception where you have no background information other than that the fizz you’re drinking being British.’

According to Dell getting the wines to Paris and dealing with the customs has been a nightmare. Steven Spurrier had a similar problem when trying to import English wines to serve at the British Embassy in Paris for a dinner with Georges Pomidou and Queen Elizabeth II. He was told bluntly “Le vin anglais n'existe pas!”

Events, dear boy

With English wine week coming up on 21-29 June, I’m doing some events of my own:

Sunday 22nd June at 1pm - event at Cornucopia, 90 HIgh Street Tenterden, Kent I’ll be talking and signing books. I think there will be wine. Contact: gea@raffmanandhuckster.com for a ticket.

Saturday 28th June - Winelands Festival in Lewes, I’ll be there from 1-5pm signing copies of my book. You’ll need to buy a ticket to the event which features wines from Henners, Gusbourne, Artelium, Wiston and many more.

Writing this month

It’s been a busy month on the Substack with posts on a rather dowdy English estate that’s now making some exciting wines, Lebanese wine, the decline of the great publishing lunch, the difference between professional tastes and normal people’s, the Indian cult of Johnnie Walker and inspired by a trip to Porto, something on how tourism changes a place.

I was in Porto recording the final episode of the Intoxicating History podcast with Tom and Adrian Bridge from Taylor’s Port, who sponsored the series and organised the trip to Portugal. A big thank you to them and do have a listen to the show which is a fascinating insight into the history of Port and Anglo-Portuguese relations. We’ll be recording a new series shortly. And apparently will have a Youtube channel soon.

For the Spectator I reviewed Angels in the Cellar: Notes From a French Vineyard by Peter Hahn which I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did. The jaded Anglophone businessman finds peace in a rural idyll genre is a crowded one but Hahn writes with charm about making wine in the Loire. I did not enjoy Keith McNally’s self-pitying memoir I Regret Almost Anything. But many people I respect liked it, so maybe give it a go for yourself. I’ll put both these reviews up on the blog for everyone to read at some point. In The Critic I wrote about how wines have gotten lighter and fresher in recent years and whether the trend has gone too far. Nobody wants an 11.5 per cent Barossa shiraz.

Wines of the month

Right this is already far too long, but there’s time for some very quick recommendations. Someone got in touch after the Lebanon wines and asked which ones I liked so here’s a very brief list of some of my favourites at the affordable end of the scale. Vintages might vary but these are all wines I have had a few times so I think you can buy with confidence.

Ksara Le Prieure 2021 (£15.86) - entry level wine from Ksara and still probably my favourite from the range. A classic cinsault-dominated Bekaa blend.

Oumsiyat Syrah 2020 (£15.51) - spicy, floral and very distinctive. Also highly recommend the assyrtiko from this producer which is ridiculous value.

Musar Jeune Rose 2022 (£16.95) - The Jeune range offers some of that wild, oxidative Musar magic but at a bargain price and in more accessible form. This is a great pink for those bored of Provence. The red is great too.

Domaine des Tourelles Cinsault 2021 (£19.95) - Even more than Musar, this wine with its heady intoxicating flavours of rose petal and cinnamon seems like the essence of the Bekaa Valley. One of the world’s great wines.

That’s it. Bon weekend!