English sparkling wine

Breaky Bottom Vineyard near Lewes, a producer of English sparkling wine

English sparkling wine is sparkling wine from England, typically produced to the traditional method and mostly using the same varieties of grapes as used in Champagne – Chardonnay, Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier. English sparkling wine producers often employ Champagne terminology to describe the styles of their wine, such as "Classic Cuvée", "Blanc de Blancs" or "Demi-Sec".[1]

Prestige cuvées from three English sparkling wine producers: Sugrue South Downs, Nyetimber and Chapel Down.

The terms "English" and "English Regional" as applied to sparkling wine are protected terms under the respective PDO and PGI classifications, although not all producers of sparkling wine in England choose to participate in these schemes. The PDO permits six varietals for English sparkling wine (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir Précoce, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris) whereas the PGI is much more flexible, with around 90 permitted varietals.[2][3][4]

The majority of wine produced in England is now sparkling: in 2017 sparkling wine accounted for 68% of wine produced in England and Wales, or four million bottles, and the three Champagne varieties account for 71.2% of grape varieties planted. There are over 100 wineries in England producing sparkling wines with Nyetimber, Ridgeview, Gusbourne, Chapel Down and Bolney Wine Estate being some of the largest producers.[5]

Early figures for 2018 suggest in excess of 10 million bottles of English sparkling wine were produced.[6]

  1. ^ "English Sparkling Wine Guide: key categories and exceptional examples". Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Protected food names: English wine (PDO)". United Kingdom Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Retrieved 30 Jan 2019.
  3. ^ "Protected food names: English wine (PGI)". United Kingdom Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. Retrieved 30 Jan 2019.
  4. ^ "Wine Standards: Guide to the 'UK Quality Wine Schemes' – SPARKLING WINES" (PDF). United Kingdom Food Standards Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-02-01. Retrieved 31 Jan 2019.
  5. ^ "WineGB Infographics: Latest Statistics" (PDF). WineGB.co.uk. Retrieved 30 Jan 2019.
  6. ^ "WineGB: Twitter". WineGB.co.uk. Retrieved 1 Feb 2019.