English Fizz better than Champagne?

Hosted by Stephen Skelton MW, a group of sparking wine luminaries recently met for a blind tasting of England's best fizz as well as some well known Champagnes from France. The tasters were (in alphabetical order): Susie Barrie MW (Winchester Wine School proprietor who wrote her MW dissertation on champagne), Dee Blackstock MW (champagne and sparkling-wine buyer for Waitrose), Sue Daniels (MW student and wine technologist for Marks and Spencer), Michael Edwards (journalist and author of several books on champagne), Victoria Moore (journalist, wine columnist for the Daily Telegraph), Jancis Robinson OBE MW (journalist and wine polymath), Julia Trustram Eve (English Wine Producers) and Stephen. 

The results were as follows:

Ranking	Average scores	Vineyard	Wine	Vintage	Varietal blend	Retail price
1	17.17	Ridgeview	Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs	2007	Chardonnay 100%	£21.95
2	16.82	Ridgeview	Grosvenor Blanc de Blancs in Magnum	2000	Chardonnay 100%	£63.00
3	16.65	Sainsburys	Etienne Dumont Rosé (Maison Burtin)	NV	???	£18.99
4	16.64	Gusbourne Estate	Brut Reserve	2006	Chardonnay 46% Pinot Noir 41% Meunier 13%	£21.99
5	16.5	Nyetimber	Nyetimber Rosé	2007	Chardonnay, Pinot Noir	£34.95
6	16.46	Ridgeview	Bloomsbury	2008	Chardonnay 54% Pinot Noir 26% Pinot Meunier 20%	£19.95
7	16.43	Plumpton Estate	The Dean	NV	Pinot Noir 90%, Chardonnay 10%	£20.00
8	16.42	Sainsburys	JS Blanc de Blancs (Duval Leroy)	NV	Chardonnay 100%	£18.49
9	16.36	Moet & Chandon	Brut Imperial	NV	Pinot Noir 50%, Chardonnay 10%, Meunier 40%	£30.99
10	16.32	Sainsburys	Defontaine Premier Cru (Maison Burtin)	NV	Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Meunier	£19.99
11	16.25	Plumpton Estate	The Dean Blush	NV	Pinot Noir 94%, Chardonnay 6%	£20.00
12	16.2	Chapel Down	Pinot Reserve	2005	Pinot Noir 70%, Pinot Blanc 30%	£24.99
13	16.05	Nyetimber	Classic Cuvée	2006	Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier	£25.99
14	15.92	Laithwaites	South Ridge Cuvée Merret (RidgeView)	2008	Chardonnay 60%, Pinot Noir 28%, Meunier 12%	£19.99
15	15.86	Jenkyn Place	Jenkyn Place Brut	2006	Chardonnay 61%, Pinot Noir 23%, Pinot Meunier 16%	£25.00
16	15.81	Hush Heath Estate	Balfour Brut Rosé	2006	Pinot Noir 55%, Chardonnay 40%, Pinot Meunier 5%	£26.99
17	15.8	Davenport	Limney Estate Blanc de Blancs	2005	Reichensteiner 100%	£16.50
18	15.78	Camel Valley	Pinot Noir Brut	2009	Pinot Noir 100%	£24.95
19	15.73	Nyetimber	Blanc de Blancs	2001	Chardonnay 100%	£28.99
20	15.7	Breaky Bottom	Cuvée John Inglis Hall	2006	Seyval Blanc 100%	£20.05

It is clear that the best UK sparkling wines can now more than hold their own with champagne.

Feeding the Vines

Alex and Philip distributing the nutrients by hand

During last year's growing season it was obvious that we had a number of mineral deficiencies in the vineyard evidenced by discolouring of the foliage. For example magnesium deficiency turns pinot leaves red and low levels of Iron result in yellow leaves on the Chardonnay. This was confirmed by soil analysis which identified low levels of Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Manganese, Molybdenum and Sodium. Whilst Boron levels were adequate its availability will be restricted due to the high pH of the soil caused by high levels of Calcium.

The main concerns are the Magnesium deficiency and the need to maintain adequate Boron which has a very significant role in bud formation and pollen production and viability. Together with Calcium, Boron also helps form strong cell walls enabling the vine to withstand disease. It also enhances the uptake of Potassium and Magnesium and is a basic contributor in nucleic acid, carbohydrate and protein synthesis.

Being organic we have to be very careful about what we use on the vineyard, but we have obtained permission from our certification body Organic Farmers and Growers (OF&G) to use soil applied Boron, and Sulphur which will also help lower pH levels and improve Nitrogen assimilation. Our agronomist, John Buchan recommended 25kg/ha of Sulphur, 10kg/ha of Boron and  125kg/ha of Magnesium.

As the vineyard has been so wet we have had to apply everything manually by walking up and down the rows scattering the granules by hand!

Preparing for Frost

This time of year the major issue for many vineyard managers is frost. As mentioned in previous posts, frost can have a devastating effect on a vineyard, especially in spring after bud break. Last year a nearby large vineyard lost nearly 70% of its crop as a result of exceptional frosts in May!

One of the downsides of global warming is that bud break now often occurs earlier in the year because of warmer temperatures in February and March and the vines are therefore more susceptible to spring frosts in April and May. This year is a good example with our Pinot varieties probably about 3 weeks ahead of where they would normally be. Last year the late frost in May went right the way through the vineyard. It wasn't a disaster for us as we weren't expecting any fruit in 2010, but it was certainly a wake up call.

This year we are experimenting with a number of measures to reduce the risk of frost damage. We are primarily focusing on the first 5 acres we planted in 2009 (Block A) as we hope to get our first harvest from this block later in the year. Our experiences in the next couple of months will help us to develop a plan for the whole vineyard for future years.

So what are we doing? Well first of all we have pruned the vines leaving long canes which we will prune further and tie down after the main risk of frost has gone. Frost damage will occur first at the end of the canes which can later be discarded, hopefully leaving the rest of the cane healthy. We have also left pruning the new blocks until later for the same reason.

Orchard Burner with Boujies in the rows

We have purchased a static Frost Guard machine which will be placed in the centre of the Block A. This is effectively a outdoor convection heater which warms a radius covering 50% of the block. We also have 20 orchard heaters for the bottom of the vineyard and 180 Boujies (large candles) which are going to be used to protect the outside rows and the corners.

Finally we plan to spray the vines with a valerian solution (biodynamic preparation 507), both before and after a frost. Valerian is a liquid made from the flowers of the herb valerian. It works by stimulating the plant's metabolism, effectively warming it up from the inside.

Valerian

Apart from the pruning process and the Valerian, none of this is very environmentally friendly which bothers me, but hopefully we will only have to use the various burners infrequently. At the end of the day the vineyard has to be economically sustainable.

We now also have a weather station which earlier this week reported a ground temperature  of minus 5C. We have configured it to send us text messages to wake us from our slumber once the temperature gets below 2C. If that happens in a couple of weeks time I will be out on the vineyard with Alex in the middle of the night lighting the orchard burners and the boujies......and praying!

Winter Pruning

Pruning is the main task in the vineyard during winter. This can begin once the leaves have dropped and therefore normally starts in late November and continues through to February.

There are many methods for pruning and training vines which is normally determined according to the climate and the variety of grape being grown. Different systems can help to increase exposure of the foliage to light, improve air movement through the leaf canopy (and therefore reduce the risk of mildew and botrytis) and control vigorous vines that produce too much foliage and not enough fruit. This is all part of canopy management, which refers to how the architecture of the leaf canopy can be manipulated in order to beneficially alter the microclimate around the vine.

In the UK the training system mostly used is cane pruning where the vine is pruned back each year to the trunk, leaving just one or two canes from the previous year, which then produce many more fruiting canes during the growing season. A spur from the trunk is also left (cut back to two buds) to produce new replacement canes for the following year. This is also known as the "Double Guyot" system. In the photograph above the canes have been left intentionally long until after the risk of frost in the Spring as buds will form at the end of the canes first. Once the risk as gone these will be cut back to 5 or 6 buds.

The new vines that were planted last May will be pruned back to just two buds above the graft to encourage root growth and produce a strong new shoot which will form the basis of the trunk for the following year.

So far we've pruned about 3,000 vines - only 18,000 to go!