The days when your sparkling wine choices were simply champagne, prosecco or cava are long gone. Pét nat (naturally lightly sparkling French wines), col fondo (a very specific way of making Italian sparkling wine) and even ‘a glass of Sussex’ are now menu options at most bars and restaurants. English sparkling wine, the official and particularly uncatchy name for those produced here, has made waves in the industry in the last decade–and nowhere more so than Sussex.
Last year, the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) gave Sussex wines a Protected Designation of Origin status, singling them out amongst the rest of those produced in southern England. It's like Champagne or Rioja – a status that delineates how a Sussex sparkling wine can be made and makes Sussex a serious contender on the wine scene. What this means is that, in order to have the PDO on the label, wines produced here must be made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir Précoce, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris and adhere to a set of rules in terms of acidity and other technical components.
Most English sparkling wines are made from the same blend of grapes as Champagne: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. That, plus the fact that climate change has given the south of England ideal grape-growing temperatures for these varieties while in turn heating things up in France, is why they so often come head-to-head and people wonder if in fact the UK is producing better sparkling wine than the most famous region of them all: Champagne.
It is, of course, a question of taste but ask the experts and the resounding answer is ‘not yet’. That's not to say they dismiss Sussex sparkling wines – quite the opposite – but at this moment in time, nothing can overtake Champagne when it comes to quality. Sarah Knowles, Master of Wine and the Champagne buyer for The Wine Society says of the debate, “Sussex is a fantastic place to make exceptional sparkling wine. The quality we are seeing can absolutely be compared to good Champagne. However to suggest that Sussex could be the “new Champagne” is to underestimate the strong position that Champagne is in."
This position is down to a few things: history, marketing and the aforementioned climate. Though people say that global warming has shifted the ideal grape growing climate to the UK, the reality is not quite so true and as Sarah explains, “Champagne has been experiencing a run of more consistently good to excellent vintages (warmer in the summer, and drier at harvest) over the last decade, whereas England, being that bit more marginal, has had a few quite tricky vintages over the same period.”
Climate is important because it dictates the acidity of a wine – acidity being a key factor in ‘wine speak’ for a top quality product. If it's too hot, the grapes risk over ripening and becoming too sweet. Too cold and the producer needs to add more sugar than the PDO would allow. It's a true science and a good sparkling wine needs refreshing acidity but also depth.
Calum Syrett, Sommelier at Noble Rot, notes that, “as similar as the climates are in Sussex and Champagne, they aren't exactly the same, and a lot of a wine's character comes down to the smaller microclimates within the overall climate. Without generalising, English wines tend to be a little bit leaner, crisper, more green and citrusy, whereas Champagnes can often be richer, more textural and autolytic (all the biscuit/pastry notes that come from ageing the wine on the dead yeast cells)."
As Matthew Horsley, Master of Wine and Sarah's counterpart as English wine buyer for The Wine Society further explains, “Sussex tends to be slightly lower in alcohol with higher, fresher acidity, whereas Champagne tends to be a bit richer and concentrated on the palate thanks to the use of high-quality reserve wine in their NV (non vintage – meaning a wine made from harvests across different years, whereas a ‘vintage’ wine uses only grapes from one year) blends and the consistency and ageability of their vintage offerings.”
For now, the climate still favours Champagne but as wine writer, author and expert Henry Jeffreys cautions, “the only thing that might overthrow Champagne is if it becomes too hot to grow grapes with the necessary acidity to make first class sparkling wines.” Meanwhile, he says of Sussex's offering that “producers are getting better at managing acidity through techniques such as oak ageing meaning less or even no sugar is needed to balance the wines.”
Henry does still sit on the side of the debate that Sussex cannot yet stand up to Champagne, saying, “Champagne is just too entrenched, too good at marketing and too big”. It's something all the wine experts agree on, but they are also unanimously fans of Sussex sparkling wine and see huge potential in it. It's simply a fact that Champagne vines and producers have been going for hundreds of years and have perfected their systems, whereas English wine is still a fledgling offering on the market.
Calum agrees, adding to Henry's point, "whilst Sussex has come close to replicating Champagne - and this has been an incredibly useful marketing tool - it's hard not to default to Champagne for a big occasion, because that's just what has been done for years and years. There's such a history of luxury and celebration there.”
On the business end, Sarah notes that, “the long history that the Champagne houses have mean that they have built-in risk management within their production. From the dominance of non-vintage production, enabling winemakers to blend across stylistically different years, to the common use of three grape varieties grown in different sub-regions further allows a house to create a recognisably consistent style year after year. Ultimately Champagne can be seen as a fine wine unicorn, crafting highly complex, age-worthy wines from vineyards that produce relatively high yields, which unfortunately English winemakers can only dream of with yields often half the size.”
Calum predicts a positive future for Sussex sparkling, countering that "the quality is already there [though he acknowledges the reputation isn't], and it's only going to get better and better as the climate heats up and more players enter the English wine game.” He continues, “more makers leads to mechanical developments, more research, new viniculture and viticulture methods, as well as a better understanding of how English wines age.”
At the end of the day, for Matthew, “both are premium products made with the same grapes and using the same production method, often from similar soils. As a buyer I think there’s great value to be found in Sussex, so I am always looking to capitalise. However, there will always be a booming market for premium Champagne.” On the value point, Henry is in staunch agreement: “I definitely think that if you're looking to spend £30-50 on sparkling wine, southern England is hard to beat.” For him, however, “it's really a general south east England thing rather than anything intrinsic to Sussex” and adds that “the problem with singling Sussex out is that many producers such as Nyetimber and Ridgeview also use grapes from outside the county in some of their wines or there's Gusbourne in Kent which uses Sussex grapes in some of its wine.”
For Calum, it's less about comparison, and more about “noting the wine's individual characters.” A strong advocate for the virtues of English sparkling, particularly Sussex-based produce, he sees huge potential for the area. “Sussex is undoubtedly producing some of the most exciting wines in the world. Instead of looking to recreate something akin to the most prestigious sparkling in the world, there's been a movement towards producing wines that reflect the land from which they are grown. English wine has now got to the point where it's amazing in its own right–irrespective of whether it's exactly like Champagne."
It's hard to beat Champagne and while for the everyday drinker, the differences may be subtle, Champagne and Sussex sparkling wine do differ. The buttery, brioche notes that you find in champagne aren't present so much in English wines, which err on the tarter, crisper side. They may be made with the same grapes, but when it come to grape growing, the smallest differences in terroir and climate can make a vast change. It ultimately comes down to taste and budget; your money can go a lot further on something a lot better with a bottle of Sussex.
Ultimately, as Calum says “once English wine gathers a slightly cooler reputation than it currently has, then I have no doubt that it will rise to the heights of Champagne. It's not ‘uncool’, but it perhaps needs a few youngsters to enter the scene and start pushing it as an alternative. It's ideal that the vineyards are right on our doorstep here in the UK, so we can go visit them and understand the land and how these wines are made. I believe it's wine tourism that will convert everyday wine drinkers to English sparkling. It's just going to take a bit of time.”
