Top English Wine Week Picks
We’ve been celebrating English Wine Week HARD at Skin+Pulp HQ! Here are mine and Jenni’s top picks.
Jenni’s English Wine Week Top Picks
Chapel Down, 2020 Chardonnay
Filled with flavours of an English orchard, with apples and pears. A subtle minerality and a lasting finish. A sought after English still wine and something good to come out of pandemic-filled 2020. More info.
Hush Heath Balfour English Sparkling (exclusive for Tesco):
On the first sip it’s crisp, refreshing acidity flooded with lemon and lime. The bubbles dissipate softly and you’re left with creamy apple pie on the finish. More info.
Hush Heath Balfour English Still Bacchus x Chardonnay 2019:
Elderflower from the Bacchus dominates this still English wine, but it’s complemented with a roundness and weight, with subtle peach flavours from the Chardonnay. More info.
Hush Heath Balfour English Sparkling Rosé (exclusive for Tesco):
Beautiful. Strawberry and raspberry, with dried apricots. A delicate fizz and berry filled flavours all the way to the end of the lengthy finish. More info.
My English Wine Week Top Picks
Balfour Blanc de Noirs 2018
A blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (75% and 25%, respectively) from the bountiful 2018 vintage, this is Balfour’s first ever Blanc de Noirs. Made without malolactic fermentation, this wine is crisp and precise, with bright notes of fresh strawberry, zingy lime and a definite “oyster shell” characteristic, as winemaker Fergus suggests. More info.
Busi Jacobsohn Rosé 2018
Newbies on the English wine scene, Busi Jacobsohn make unique, clean-tasting, fruit-pure wines. Their rosé was the bigger surprise: fresh, savoury and herbaceous, this wine is all forest fruits and salinity, making it a great foodie wine. More info.
Dalwood Dry White 2019
A blend of Madeleine Angevine, Solaris and Seyval Blanc, this Devonshire vineyard makes minimal intervention wines with a sense of place. Gorgeously floral on the nose and brimming with orchard fruits, this is the English countryside in a glass. Fantastic zippy acidity. More info.
There’s so much excellent English wine out there now and we’re pleased to include still wines this year, as well as the much-admired sparkling wines. Please let us know if you’ve discovered any English wine gems! List compiled by Sophia Longhi of @skinandpulp and Jenni Allen of @oliveandthevine.