The time has come to beat the drum for South West wine producers. The Food Connections Wine Fair offers a chance to meet local growers and vintners making a big splash in the world of wine. Here, Guardian wine critic Fiona Beckett selects the pick of the bunch:
There was a time when English wine was a bit of a joke. The sort of bottle you would only be tempted to try if you found yourself near a winery on holiday but would never put on your dinner table at home. Now even the French are treating English vineyards with respect with major champagne producer Taittinger investing in a Kentish vineyard.
The big success story has been sparkling wine - in the south of England we have similar soil to the ‘Champenois’ as they grandly like to call themselves and it’s got to a stage where can be hard to tell the two apart. English sparkling wine producers picked up no less than 14 gold medals in the International Wine Challenge last year - an impressive tally by any standards.
While the main focus of attention has been on the south-east of England here in the south-west we have our own share of talented producers. Taste Furleigh Estate of Dorset’s toasty Classic Cuvée or Smith & Evans’ Higher Pot Somerset Pinot Chardonnay from Langport in Somerset for instance and you’d be hard pushed to tell it from champagne.
The fact that English vines are reaching maturity is giving the wines greater depth and complexity - though don’t expect to get them on the cheap. Vineyards cost a fortune to plant and the specialist equipment needed to make top sparkling wine is no cheaper here than it is in France.
Other producers aim for a more distinctively English style - fragrant and fruity rather than rich and toasty like Aldwick Farm’s 2013 Jubilate with its clean, refreshing green apple flavours and Wraxall’s delicate wild-strawberry scented Somerset rosé.
English whites too have a distinctive elderflower character that goes perfectly with the delicious young spring vegetables we get at this time of year. Or with that fresh local goats cheese you buy at the farmers’ market. Look out for Bacchus, a hybrid variety which tastes similar to sauvignon blanc. Over on the Cornish coast Camel Valley makes a delicious one or try the light, crisp Sutton Ridge White 2015 from the Yeo Valley, a blend of Bacchus, Seyval Blanc and Phoenix. And - not Bacchus but Kernling (yes, these grapes *do* have unfamiliar names - the really delicious, lush Leonora from Oatley Vineyard, also in Somerset
And if you’re a rosé fan you no longer have to rely on Provence for your summer drinking. There’s a home-grown one just outside Bristol. Try Ingrid Bates delicious 2015 rosé from her Dunleavy vineyard , shut your eyes and you could even imagine you’re on the riviera. Well, that’s if the fabled west country rain holds off …
Fiona Beckett writes a weekly column for the Guardian and has her own website matchingfoodandwine.com. The best wines in the West are yours to enjoy at our Wine Fair.