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An English sparkling wine has been named one of the best in the world at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards, as red, white and rose wines from the UK have bagged top awards for the first time.
While British wine was looked down upon by critics for decades, changing acidity levels of soil where grapes grow in the UK means homegrown wine now rivals that of France, Spain and Italy.
In total, 143 UK wines picked up gongs at the awards with one from Kent being awarded the ‘best in show’ with praised for its ‘citrus purity, a seaside freshness, and an unmistakable stoniness’.
Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2018 was given a a best in show accolade, while winemakers across Hampshire, Sussex and Kent also saw their wine pick up gold medals.
The £65 Chardonnay was noted as having ‘remarkable assurance and accomplishment’.
Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2018 was given a a best in show accolade, while winemakers across Hampshire, Sussex and Kent also saw their wine pick up gold medals
Ridgeview’s Rosé de Noirs 2018, which also cost £65, picked up a platinum medal (left), Hambledon Vineyard’s Premier Cuvée Brut NV (£55) picked up a gold medal (right)
Elsewhere, Ridgeview’s Rosé de Noirs 2018, which also cost £65, picked up a platinum medal.
The East Sussex winery uses Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes and was praised for its ‘full palate, full of flavour, an oaked rosé in sparkling form with resolved tannins’.
Hampshire wines also performed well, picking up five gold medals for Hambledon Vineyard’s Premier Cuvée Brut NV (£55), Candover Valley Wines’ Brook Brut NV (£33), and Raimes Classic Brut 2018 (£31).
Nethercote Hill Pinot Noir-Rondo, at £17 (left), picked up a silver award while Candover Valley Wines Candover Brook Brut (right), got a gold gong
Two wineries in Kent also picked up Gold Medals, including Chapel Down’s Kit’s Coty Coeur De Cuvée Extra Brut 2016 (£36) and Woodchurch Classic Brut 2017 (£33).
Of the UK’s 143 wins, seven were awarded to red wines – including Ridgeview’s Pinot Noir Reserve Brut at £57 and Nethercote Hill Pinot Noir-Rondo, at £17, which both picked up silver awards.
The master of wine Simon Field, regional chair for the UK at DWWA, said: ‘The increase in both volume and quality of the still wines submitted, their provenance as varied as their quality was consistent.
‘The quality of the sparklers, secondly, continues to impress as the category takes on maturity; as the wines and winemakers alike take on a little more age it becomes increasingly clear that the long-held faith in such things has most definitely not been informed by misguided patriotism.’
The Decanter Awards is now in its 20th year, and has become the most respected wine competition in the world
A total of 236 judges from 30 countries judged the awards, including 53 masters of wine and 16 sommeliers.
The success of English wine follows the International Wine Challenge, where an English White Trophy was awarded to Lyme Bay Winery for its Martin’s Lane Chardonnay 2020 And Devon’s Lympstone Manor Estate took home the English Red Trophy for its Triassic Pinot Noir 2020.
It’s the first time that still English wine has been recognised for both red and white.
Helen McGinn, one of the six Co-Chairs of the International Wine Challenge told FEMAIL: ‘England, particularly regions in the south, has been internationally recognised for the production of world class sparkling wines for some time now.
‘In recent years, England’s still wines have also come on leaps and bounds and it is great to see both reds and whites recognised with trophies in this year’s challenge.’
