Chapel Down Blanc de Blancs 2009, England, 12.5% (£30, Wine Pantry and Chapel Down) It was a sunny evening with friends and we had a few wines open to go with tapas. None of them could stand up to the beautifully spicy pan-fried whole mini chorizo. 'Funnily...
Empress Ale A smartly packaged, gently carbonated new ale designed to be paired with spicy food, primarily Indian. The idea was born, apparently, out of craft beer fan Surj Virk's, 'sheer frustration of not having an alternative to lager when visiting Indian restaurants'. Apparently he spent a year...
Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2009, England (£35, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Farr Vintners, Lay & Wheeler) Very refined, accomplished and elegant fizz from the producer that really kick-started the modern English sparkling wine scene. This point was made particularly vividly because, at the same tasting, we were treated...
It’s hard to believe that, in just over 25 years, the English sparkling wine industry has come so far. Only in the late 1980s were Chardonnay vines planted alongside Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier in West Sussex by a pioneering couple from Chicago determined to...
Panto-themed culinary chaos with lashings of fine wine...
Susie recommends 25 top value sparkling wines in Decanter magazine...
Swords, shields and sparkling wine in the Surrey Bacchus Half Marathon...
Susie & Peter's top three tips for your summer wine...
Visiting the new kid on the Hampshire wine block...
So just how good is English sparkling wine? Over to Susie...