CALL me a loon but I woke up this morning and thought it might be a wheeze to try to persuade the readers of The Herald to give Sassenach wines (not their official title) a go.
Yep, the Scots make the world's finest whisky, with the Irish a close second, the Welsh are great with sheep and cheese and the English...well, let's just swallow it and accept that they make some cracking wines.
Actually, many of the English sparkling wines are world class and one or two of the still whites and roses are knocking on the door of greatness but the reds are generally lagging far behind. Many of the reds I've tried are as rough as a badger's backside so for the sake of our taste buds, let's stay pale.
One of the things that puts people off English wines is that they tend to major in grapes that most of us have no experience with such as sylvanner and bachus, but these days you are as likely to see a superb variation on chardonnay as anything else, not to mention that much of the bachus-dominated wines are superb.
Expect bone, dry highly aromatic wines with crisp refreshing acidity that are superb aperitif wines but even better partnered with fish or light meat dishes. Expect to pay premium prices as well.
Balfour Hush Heath ‘Liberty’s Bacchus’
A gorgeous nose of fresh cut grass and orange blossom leading into a dry, crisp refreshing apple-dominated palate. The finish is long and clean and I'd imagine this would be absolutely perfect with a fresh crab salad in the summer.
Grape Britannia online £17.99
The Wine Society's English White
If you love sancerre but don't like the price then ditch it and buy this instead. Its floral on the nose with crisp citrus and gooseberry flavours on the palate. Well done to the Wine Society yet again.
Wine Society £8.50
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