Hi I'm constantly master of wine and It's time for another battle today they Fought dozens of Wars over the centuries But today it's time to settle the Anglo-french dispute in a slightly Unexpected way in these black bags are Two English sparkling wines and two Champagnes and after this plant tasting I'm going to decide who actually Produces the best sparkling wine let's Go [Music] Champagne is the king of bottle Fermented sparkling wine there I said it But there are new contenders to the Throne and one has been making the Rounds a lot in recent years compared to The centuries of tradition and champagne English sparkling wine is a fairly Recent invention the new wave if you Want to call it that of Vineyard Planting started in the middle of the 20th century and today they're around About 200 wineries working on 3700 Hectares of Vineyards in England just For context that's not a lot the region Of champagne alone covers 34 200 Hectares so roughly 10 times of what you Find in the whole of England more than Half of The Vineyards in England were Planted over the last 12 years and the Formerly widespread Workhorse or hybrid Grape variety Solaris bakos and Sevilla Were widely replaced by chardonnay pinot
Noir and Pinot munir the latter three Great varieties are of course also the Most widely planted grape varieties in Champaign and also the climate and some Of the soils such as kimberidian Limestone are similar to Champagne the Coolant often wet climate in England is Pretty good for the production of Sparkling wine but these conditions are Also pretty tough if you want to produce Wine commercially you know in 2012 I was Actually living in London and I remember Really well how the Press was describing The terrible growing conditions in The Vineyards and how some wineries were not Harvesting any grapes due to poor Weather nevertheless more and more English producers have started making Their own sparkling wine and today we're Going to find out whether they can rival Or even defeat the king of sparkling Wine so Leon ordered four sparkling Wines for me and they are labeled 1-5 Because I couldn't find bag number four So if you have seen it please comment Down below I'm going to blind taste them Side by side so let's see whether I can Find out which one is which so let's Pour and taste the wines There we go so right off the bat there's A huge difference in terms of colors so This is why number one two three and Five or four whatever you want to call It but as you can see this is like a
Salmon pink color this is bright Yellow this is really dark reddish color And this is A little bit more golden in color not That this necessarily tells me all that Much about the wines but There are big differences I would Actually say that the color in wine Number three is a bit weird it's it Stands out I mean this is not the most Typical sparkling wine color it's pretty Dark for a sparkling champagne style one Flavor wise they are actually pretty Diverse very interesting this one why Number one has quite a lot of complexity Intensity in their flavors of brioche Coming through a little bit of Strawberry a little bit of rhubarb so Yeah it's quite quite appealing one Number two is much more fresh it feels Like the youngest wine out of the bunch And the one that didn't have a lot of Contact with the lease so it's more Lemon zesty quite fruit driven there's Also previous character but it's not Overpowering that's for sure why number Three is quite fruity As well but there's there's quite a lot Of strawberry there quite a lot of Cherry flavor there's also some brioche Characters some dough character coming Through and why number four is for me The most classic in a way it feels it Smells of the lemon zest it smells of
Those freshly baked brioches it also Smells a little bit Of ripe Apple again nose wise I think They perform on a similar level I think The middle two wines are a bit well a Bit weird in a way so this one due to Its color and its dark fruit character Also the intense cherry fruit flavor Is not necessarily what I would think of If I would think of a sparkling rose Champagne style wine and this is well a Little bit more fruity a little less Serious I guess in sparkling wines in Bottle fermented sparkling ones you Definitely want some brioche character And intense brioche flavor is often seen As a sign of quality and here you don't Really have intense brioche flavor I Didn't say anything about the Bubbles But they are fairly similar in all for Wines so they are fine they are delicate They are intense there's quite a lot of Bubbliness Um Yeah There's not much more I can say about The bubbles on the pellet there are also Interesting differences the first two Why number one and two are actually a Bit lighter a bit fresher quite a lot of Acidity quite a lot of liveliness well While number three and why number four a Bit more round and concentrated there's More concentration there
A little bit more on body so this would Suggest to me that wine number three and One number four are actually from Champagne because if I remember right Then the wines from England tend to be a Bit lighter a bit more what people say Wines from Champagne used to be like 30 40 50 years ago before climate change Changed those Dynamics but this is not Necessarily always a given the fact that It's difficult to grow grapes in England Also means that the yields tend to be Fairly low compared to Champagne so Sometimes the wines in England due to Lower yields actually have quite a bit Of concentration while poor champagne Can be a little bit diluted if it's Really harvested at very high yields so Well it's I'm not 100 sure where I'm Going to end up with those four wines so This tricky but I have to make a Decision my favorite ones out of the Tasting actually the first and the last I really like the complexity and well The multitude of layers here in this Wine and I quite like the concentration Complexity on the nose but also on the Palette that wine number four shows The middle two are also really good Sparkling wines but I prefer those two So I'm going to give wine number one 91 Points I'm going to give one number four 92 points I think wine number two is for Me an
89.1 and wine number three is a 90.1 but My task was to identify where which one Is from so let me start why number three Is actually a very distinctive style it Could be from England because it's a Little bit out of the box but I actually Think I know which one this is I think This is the Tetons Jose which is made by Using quite a lot of red wine in the Blend so they use Pinot Noir made as a Red wine in order to give it this color This concentration and so on and so Forth so this is my first champagne now Let's move on to the other Rosie I think Leon wouldn't have put two Jose ones From Champagne into in this tasting but I actually think this could be from Champagne it's really well made it's a Beautiful wine with lots of complexity But I'm going to say this is from England so this leaves me with those two Wines and I'm going to start with wine Number two I actually think due to its Lightness its crispness its freshness And its absence of intense yeast flavors This is from England This is obviously a bit of a Controversial argument because you could Say that in England you can age one for However however long you want on the Lease But due to its crisp and fresh acidity I Actually think this is from the cooler Climate region I.E England and that
Leaves me with why number four or five And I actually think this is from Champagne it's complex it's Multi-layered I believe this is a really Beautiful sparkling wine from the Champagne region I don't think it's like a top-notch wine From any of the producers in Champaign I Actually think it's like the brute the Standard wine of the house but it's Really well made so let's start off with Wine number three the one where I said This is not just champagne Jose Champagne but it's titanji Rose Champagne Let's see Oh That's it To be honest this is a bit of a party Trick this while is very distinctive in Its style so it's not that difficult to Identify it If you have tasted it before so let's Move on to wire number one which I said Is an English sparkling wine Rose and it Is In English sparkling wine Rose so this Is the coats and Sealy and I believe That Christian Celie the person who is In charge of lots of famous Estates in The wine world is involved in this Product it's called metod whatever that Actually means and it was a wine from Hampshire in England so the wine is a
Blend of Pinot Noir and Pinot milieu so There's no Chardonnay involved here and I think it's really well made it's Beautifully complex and quite complete So a pretty nice one so let's move on to Wine number two the one where I said This is from England the sparkling wine From England a well-made sparkling wine But more of a fruit driven Style Foreign Champagne I actually thought this was From England I mean I thought it was a Good one but not like An outstanding sparkling wine and this Is actually one of the more famous Estates in Champaign in my defense this Is why it is actually the official Supplier to the queen or the king Nowadays so there's a strong connection You know between England and this one But I was wrong so this means this one Is likely the English sparkling wine and Let's see what it is I'm really curious now English sparkling wine from new Timber I Believe it's called knee Timber and this Is one of the most well-known producers In England they are really kind of Famous for producing beautiful sparkling Wines and to be honest this one was the One that impressed me the most in this Tasting so going back and forth between Those mines I actually have to say I'm Very impressed by the English sparkling
Wines in this tasting this was a Fascinating tasting if you think now That you can make a Big Bargain by Buying English sparkling wine as opposed To Champagne that's not necessarily the Case the night Timber and the polo G are Roughly at the same price so around 45 50 US dollars while the coats and Sealy Cost around 50 US dollars and the Titanji was a around 70 80 US dollars so They are all roughly in the same price Category so not necessarily it something You can make a Big Bargain on but it's Definitely something worth discovering So the question in the beginning was can English sparkling wine Dethrone Champagne and in this tasting they Definitely did two beautiful wines that Performed really well they were not Words apart with these Champagnes but I Think they showed better than the Champagnes and they were more to my Palate this is an indication of where English sparkling wine could be heading And I'm certainly going to try more of These Wines in order to kind of yeah Stay in the loop but I'm not going to Stop drinking champagne that's for sure So thank you for watching if you enjoyed This video then please like it down here Subscribe to my channel if you haven't Done so already my question of the day Is have you tasted English sparkling Wine let me know what you think of those
Wines down below I hope I see you guys Again soon until then Stay thirsty [Music]