English Sparkling Rose

Hi All

My blog today is a complete change of plan on what I was about to publish today. All will become clear below…..

As lots of you that know me through twitter, I am partial to say the least, to Italian wines. Although this is no where near exclusive (bought 18btls yesterday & only 2 Italian!) it is my main “go to” country for wines. This is basically because I try and spend as much time in Italy as I can, its great diversity of wines and also because my mother in laws family live on the Amalfi coast.

However I love wine no matter where the origin is as long as its GREAT WINE!

4 or 5 years ago I tried a few English wines (I REALLY WANTED THEM TO BE AMAZING!) but was never really that impressed. So this year I decided to revisit………… Oh boy how wrong was I!

Last year I had some Nyetimber Blancs de Blanc 09 & was very impressed, then at the beginning of April 2017 went to the Cheltenham wine festival where I sampled (it was released that weekend) the 2010 Nyetimber BdB. On Tasting I was thinking …. are they really making this quality in the UK?? Well hold the front page the English are!

From my Nyetimber 2010 BdB tasting notes: Obs. Very Pale golden colour, tiny bubbles. Nose: Apples, Citrus & floral. Palate: This is where the wow factor arrived, the mouth feel was incredibly soft with citrus but then toasty too. Finally the finish elegantly goes on & on. You can also taste the terroir with definite mineral in the background. Great Wine.

Last week I went to the Decanter “THE GREAT SPARKLING EXPLORATION” in Westminster, LONDON and had some fabulous fizz from all over the world including ENGLAND. I won’t go into these right now as this piece was originally for my blog today which will be posted in the next few days.

Ok now you get to find out what I have be wittering on about for the last few paragraphs and why the title of this blog is English Sparkling Rose.

Yesterday the weather was far from brilliant, (hey its the UK what a surprise) so my wife and I decided to go down to the Cotswolds, (check out http://www.cotswolds.com/ to see why we go) which is only 40mins from home, for a wander and some lunch.

Well we decided to go to “The Village Pub” for lunch, yes its actually called this. Its in the tiny village of Barnsley, not far from Cirencester. We managed to get a table even though the place was packed. (note to self….. RESERVE TABLE next time to avoid possible disappointment)

An amazing burger being delivered to an adjacent table so my lunch= SORTED before seeing a menu. So I concentrated on the wine list. Their wine list is well above average for a pub and I had almost decided, just waiting for Margaret to chose what she was eating, when I saw an English Sparkling Rose. A Sparkling Rose would not be a norm for me however, I was reading www.rockingredblog.com that morning and learnt it was #NationalRoséDay so Michelle this one was down to you. Great blog thanks for the inspiration.

The chosen wine was Poulton Hill Estates English Sparkling Rose, made 4 miles from where I was sat in this fabulous country pub. So a no brainer, local Vineyard, #NationalRoséDay and because fizz on a Saturday lunch time should be added to every wine drinking countries constitution as the LAW.

Wow…. That’s what my wife first said after we clinked glasses, hang on give me a chance! I still had my nose in the glass as usual. WOW…….. that wow was me. In the glass its pale pink, Summer fruits on nose. On the palate its Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry… Its summer fruits heaven. But not jammy without balance, there’s also mineral, lavender & violets with perfect acidity and a beautifully balanced dry finish.

Before I go, the Food and service at “The Village Pub” was excellent. Cheers. On leaving the barman asked if I had enjoyed the wine, which of course I replied fabulous! The vineyard had been with him the day before to sample their great still wines. He had a bottle of their Bacchus open from the day before and of course I blagged a taste. Beautifully crafted but that’s for another day.

I am hoping to visit Poulton Hill soon & will then give you all the run down on these super wines.

So Poulton Hill, I take my hat off to you and your fabulous English Sparkling Rosé

From Poulton Hill Vineyards Website:

Originally, Poulton Hill Estate was a farm. Today, it’s a small, friendly, family-run vineyard with lots of experience and lots of ambition.We converted the original Cotswold stone barns into a family home and in 2010/2011 planted our 8,800 vines, which can produce up to 20,000 bottles per annum. We also produce English spirits, all from grapes harvested by hand. Our vision is to expand the vineyard with new planting in 2018 into our west field.

http://www.poultonhillestate.co.uk/wine/ & https://twitter.com/PoultonVineyard

Mentions during the blog:

Nyetimber: http://nyetimber.com/ & https://twitter.com/Nyetimber

Michelle: from https://rockinredblog.com/ & https://twitter.com/fiery01red

Decanter: http://www.decanter.com/wine-events/ & https://twitter.com/Decanter

The Village Pub: http://www.thevillagepub.co.uk/ & https://twitter.com/The_Village_Pub

Cheltenham Wine festival: http://cheltenhamwinefestival.com/ & https://twitter.com/CheltWineFest

Cotswolds Tourist info: http://www.cotswolds.com/

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