ENGLISH BLANC DE BLANCS
Blanc de blancs: is it now England’s finest style of wine? I believe so, firmly. The wines I have chosen here are all exquisite. And I could have happily recommended at least half a dozen more, had there been space. Yet 20 years ago it wouldn’t have been possible to run this feature. A few decent English blanc de blancs were emerging (Nyetimber’s first release was a blanc de blancs in 1996), but nowhere near enough to fill these pages. So what has happened to produce this extraordinary burst of wonderful wines?
Stephen Skelton MW, a viticultural consultant specialising in England, believes the warmer climate has led to it. ‘When I started here in 1979, it was very difficult to ripen Chardonnay,’ he says. ‘In fact, until the turn of the century, we just didn’t get the sugar levels needed.’ Now, he says, the acids have dropped, and the sugar levels are way up – a result of more and hotter sunshine, and warmer night-time temperatures.
Still, the acidity – that fresh, crisp, magical tingle at the
