English sparkling wine producer cancels 2012 harvest
Nyetimber
First it was bacon shortages leading to soaring prices, then potatoes in short supply, now it's the turn of England's wine producers to suffer after a summer of chronically poor weather.
Leading English sparkling wine producer, Nyetimber, has just revealed that it's cancelled the entire 2012 grape harvest owing to the shocking conditions over summer.
The West Sussex-based Nyetimber revealed in a statement, "the quality and volume of the 2012 harvest does not meet the required standard."
Cherie Spriggs, Nyetimber winemaker, said, "The decision to not make wine from 2012 is a difficult one, not just for me but for our whole team. However, we all know that maintaining quality is paramount. My first obligation as the winemaker is to ensure the quality of Nyetimber's wines, and we have collectively come to the decision that the grapes from 2012 cannot deliver the standards we have achieved in the past and will again in the future."
Nyetimber
No grapes will be harvested at Nyetimber in 2012, it was confirmed
But it's not all doom and gloom - the summer has seen a real boost in demand for English sparkling wine. Laithwaite's Wine English sparkling wine buyer Becca Reeves says, "The coming-of-age of English fizz coincided with some UK events that were truly worth celebrating this summer. The Olympics and the Queen's jubilee drew the world's gaze to [UK] home-grown products as well as [our] personalities, and English sparkling wine is a worthy recipient of global attention.
"Fizz-producing areas of England are remarkably similar in climate and conditions to Champagne, which means we can produce seriously high-quality sparkling to rival the best-known champagne. Even the experts can struggle to differentiate between English sparkling and champagne when they taste it blind! UK producers use the same grapes, the same classic champagne methods and have the same exacting standards of production as the French, so it's no surprise that champagne wineries from across the Channel are now eyeing up English vineyards to buy."
It is to be hoped Nyetimber and English wine will fare better next year.
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But there talking about plonk. What a pack of pretentious wannabes.
'
No offense : ~ )
Keith Roberts, if you can taste the sulfide and how a wine was bottled, I suggest that you join the wine trade, as even they cannot tell the latter!
As much as I love havign our own vines growing in the UK I have to admit the climate is simply not appropriate. Even with same vines, techniques, yeast and bottling as champagne we will never get anywhere near to their quality. I can see the pigeons enjoying my vines more than me.
Got an idea: why not import grapes from Catalunia and Champage and then just concentrate on the methods! problem solved.
A great problem with many wines - both here and overseas - that they are hot bottled and sulphur is added for shelf life - riuns the wines. A cold bottled wine matures in the bottle and is by far the better taste.
The majority of people cannot tell the difference and drink it.
To me hot bottled wines are undrinkable.
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