As purple pagers may have read in
Can a wine be both weak and wonderful? I have been looking for examples of lower alcohol wines and thought that England would be ideally placed. As it turned out, thanks to the chaptalisation habit, it was not as easy I thought but I put out a call to England's vignerons and here are some of the resulting suggestions for wines at 11% or less. I have added tasting notes to those I have tasted. The best place to buy them is usually the vineyard but you can also try
www.englishwineproducers.com.
I'll be publishing a more comprehensive report on English wine on May 26 but in the meantime you might also be interested in this thread on the members' forum about
English and Welsh vineyards.
This blend of Pinot Noir with 28% Reichensteiner is lovely. The Pinot really stands out with great perfume and it's very clean. A fair price too.
I found this blend of Reichensteiner and Bacchus grapes a bit heavy and not quite dry enough to be sold, as it is, as a dry wine. I liked their bone dry
Oxford Rosé 2005 at £8 however.
Lambourne, Phoenix £8.99 (10.3%)
www.lambournevineyard.co.uk
Wickham Vineyard, Rosé (mainly Dornfelder grapes) £6.75 (11%)
Pinot Gris 2005 £7.95 from Virgin Wines Online (10.5%)
Pinot Gris 2006 £7.95 (10%) from the following:
Burdfields Country Market, 64 High Street, Mill Lane, Billingshurst, West Sussex tel 01403-784445
The Farmer's Cart, Towthorpe Grange, Towthorpe, York, Yorkshire, Y032 9ST tel 01904-499183
Middle Farm, Firle, Lewes, East Sussex tel 01323-811411
The Royal Oak, The Street, Poynings, East Sussex
tel 01273-857389
Tulleys Farm, Turners Hill Road, Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex tel 01342-718472
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