94 BOTTLES OF (SPARKLING ENGLISH) WINE ON THE WALL

It is rare that commercial English viticulture and Stephen Skelton MW are not mentioned in the same paragraph, if not opening sentence, which is why, around this time last year, I called Stephen and discussed my intention to open an exclusively English wine shop. We ended the conversation with him telling me about his annual English sparkling wine tasting, which happened to be taking place the next day. He didn’t extend an invitation and I can still recall that sense of deflation and aching disappointment. They were going to taste 56 English sparkling wines and I had spent the last however many months physically going to vineyards to taste a quarter of the award winners that were going to be showcased- Camel Valley was a four hour train journey each way for a 45 minute meeting (which was worth it)!

Stephen is no-nonsense; you have to earn an invitation or, as was the case with us, open the first exclusively English wine shop in London, successfully trade for almost a year, win a couple of awards and wait for someone else to drop out at the last minute.

So, not only had I secured an invitation, but this year there were a staggering 94 wines to taste blind: 10 Blanc de Blancs, 7 Blanc de Noirs, 14 Rose, 32 Blends and 31 New Comers. Three Champagnes where thrown into this mix, Lanson NV Black Label Brut, Sainsbury’s Duval-Leroy and Nicolas Feuillatte as well as the Australian Domain Chandon Green Point. (Lanson came in the bottom 10 with only 13 points.)

How to prepare for an event of this magnitude? One tongue in cheek suggestion was to wrap my teeth in cling film – THANKS @vinosity.

English sparkling wine poses a particular challenge to blind tasters: not only is it particularly high in acidity, but its aromas range from strong hedgerow with a certain style of Seyval Blanc, to delicate floral wisps and lingering brioche dough with traditional Champagne varietals and varying dosage. The order of wines can easily overpower one wine to the next and judging by Giles Fallowfield’s facial expressions I could tell which section of the table was especially astringent before I had reached it.

It is for this reason that Stephen suggested we not taste in any particular order and I took a break from an established award winning table of 63 wines to taste the “newcomers” half way through. Although it was not expected we taste all 94, I was there to look for new wines and test my favourites blind; away from the rolling vine vistas, grape eating fox anecdotes and romance of starting my own vineyard.
When the wines were unveiled I was delighted to discover I had correctly identified six wines we list in the shop. That said, I mistook the Duval-Leroy for Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2001 and two wines I rate very highly in the shop (both with high acidity and low residual sugar – which often perform less well in blind tasting) I gave abnormally low marks to. A third, of which we list the previous vintage, I am hoping will have aged better in the bottle when it comes to our consideration whether or not to list.

It was particularly interesting to see how close the judges’ results were and I was delighted when my newcomer favourite, English Oak’s Chinkapin Rose 2009, ranked 23rd. I confess that two out of the three Champagnes not scoring well reinforced my belief that people drink commercial Champagne – and taste everything else that sparkles.

I stuck around after everyone had left and asked Stephen what we had learned from the morning. I felt rather light headed at this point, despite having used the spittoon. He responded philosophically that this was the very question we had come together to answer. I patted myself on the back. I had asked the correct question.
Unfortunately, I did have a few misgivings, finding myself wondering whether it were possible for even the most accomplished blind tasters to do justice to all the wines, given not only their sheer number but the particular difficulties mentioned above. The first 40 certainly felt the freshest and most complex. I wish I had more time to go back to the wines and reflect on my scoring and notes.

I therefore returned to Twitter after the event and asked for the industry’s thoughts on large tastings. Personally, I prefer smaller tastings of around 12 sparkling to 30 still wines. I also like to discuss wine and found myself in a room of celebrated wine tasters I desperately wanted to exchange notes with; if not my own notes, feedback from our customers with whom we taste most of the wines on a daily basis. I certainly wanted to hear their thoughts.

One Twitter contribution was that Effervescence du Monde taste 20 sparkling wines in a morning, then have a long lunch and return the next day (@PlumptonBSc_V_O). This makes perfect sense to me and I like to imagine they all sit and discuss their scores over lunch, which would provide great feedback to the winemaker. @greatrixBr pointed out how important the serving temperature of sparkling wine is for acid, sugar and mousse, which is why Wine Pantry has invested in By The Glass and PodBar machines that preserve the wines and maintain optimum temperature. Does wine 94 have the same advantage as wines 63, 32, 17 and 11 after 3 hours tasting? Probably not.

On the other hand, most of the wines entered would not be tasted by the likes of Jancis Robinson, Suzie Barry, Michael Edwards and Giles Fallowfield, were it not for the concentration of that one sitting. There is an awful lot of wine with which to compete for attention and ask top experts to devote their time to.
I have concluded that it is a balancing act and that if anyone can achieve it, it will be Stephen Skelton. Effervescence du Monde expressly limits the number of wines tasted by each judge in “sensory isolation” and with controlled “rhythm of tasting”. The latter sounds rather clinical but, assuming I can wrangle another invite, I will take note from the judges who marked a territory in the room and concentrated their attention to a selection of wines. Maybe I can bring my sleeping bag and tooth brush! Hopefully by Stephen’s 4th tasting I’ll have had the opportunity to taste all the wines in advance and host a tasting to which I can invite Stephen and my fellow judges.