2010 Wiston Estate Brut Blanc de Blancs West Sussex England (White Label)

The 2010 Blanc de Blancs has a complex bouquet: malic at first with green apples, later hints of white chocolate and white peach fruit. The palate is marked by bracing acidity but retains excellent balance. Green apples as you might predict with yellow plum and a hint of apricot, leading to a very harmonious and attractive finish. I envisage this giving several years of drinking pleasure. (NM)

Five years on the lees. More bready than the NV, perhaps even a hint of ginger but also a nice dusty/aspirin note. Intense, yeasty and full-flavoured on the palate, ripe citrus with a touch of honey. Impressive intensity and even better harmony than the NV. 17/20 points. (JH)

Many people believe the tale that a monk called Dom Perignon invented the method of producing sparkling wines in Champagne. However, genuine historical evidence shows the technique was actually invented in England. Some 30+ years before sparkling wine even appears in French history, English scholar Christopher Merret presented a paper on the topic to the Royal Society in 1662. That was 8 years before Dom Perignon traveled to Champagne, 20 years before the French made their first sparkling wine and 60+ years before the first Champagne house was created. Anyway, history aside, the point is that expertise in bubbles is nothing new for the English. However, estate-grown English wines are now finally being taken seriously by the wine world. They have been winning international awards and regularly beating their French counterparts in blind tastings similar to those victories achieved by California wines in the fabled Judgement of Paris in 1976. This is not surprising, really, when you consider that the vines grow in a very similar climate a mere 200 miles from the heart Champagne. Many of the soils share the same deep chalk vein that colors the white cliffs of Dover and gives Champagnes their distinctive flavor. This chalk soil lends the wines of England a vibrant minerality similar to their French cousins. This wonderful vintage Blanc De Blanc from Wiston Estate is a perfect example; 100% Chardonnay, grown from chalk soils, and spending 4 years on the yeast lees. I would put it against the best Champagnes of the world without any worry of embarrassment. Top-class.