Zoe Strimpel

A sceptic’s guide to English wine

Which bottles are worth popping on New Year's Eve?

  • From Spectator Life
[Alamy]

Being in possession of a well-kept secret is every wine-buyer’s goal, not least because uncorking an unusual find impresses even the snootiest of guests. English wine-makers have long been trying to break up any residual secrecy about the worthiness of their wines. Not quite new world, not quite old world, English wine was always going to fill an odd space in the market. 

Confession: I never buy wine from the British isles. Almost anything else has always struck me as both better value and nicer to drink.

And then I met Matt Hodgson. Hodgson runs Grape Britannia, a modest but expert shop and bar in Cambridge that sells only English wine (plus some Welsh and one from the Scottish borders). Hodgson, who is Cambridge University’s tax adviser and has a degree in maths and philosophy from Oxford, decided that he would try to persuade me that English wine was worth buying. Better than worth buying: a must-buy.

‘Unconstrained by regulations, it can produce the most champagne-like of sparklings, or the most English of fizzes; burgundian whites, delightful mash-ups of continental grapes; bold rosés, reds with energy and enormous potential,’ he tells me. ‘If there is one reason above any other that I have tethered myself to this nascent, vibrant industry, it is that anything goes – in terms of style – which keeps me interested, day in, day out.’

I went along to Grape Britannia to see if Hodgson’s enthusiasm was merited. We had a tasting session where we were joined by a student anarchist, a former Lib Dem MP and a professor of classics. Here is what we drank, and what I thought of it. (It’s worth noting that Grape Britannia is packed with excellent possibilities for original and classy vinous gifts, so is worth a visit quite aside from my variable assessments.)

Sparkling

Everflyht, Sussex, £28

We began with this fizz from the South Downs, composed of pinot noir, organic pinot meunier and chardonnay.

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