sparkling



Vilarnau Cava Brut Reserva NV, Catalonia, Spain (£11.99 Ocado, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Oxford Wine Company, Jolly Vintner, Bona Fide, Wine Direct, Cheers) Smells ripe and quite fleshy, with toasty notes giving some mature authority, then rich flavours of lemons (fresh and cooked) and more of that toasty element, quite broad-shouldered […]

Vilarnau Cava Brut Reserva NV, Catalonia, Spain




Exton Park ‘Britagne’ Rosé NV, Hampshire, England (£29.95 extonparkwines.com – additional stockists on their website) I like the crispness and the apple (fresh and cooked), citrus and red berry flavours, and there’s a smoky bacon note here too, but I’m slightly concerned by the cheesy/lactic that note developed after I’d […]

Exton Park ‘Britagne’ Rosé NV


Exton Park ‘Britagne NV Brut, Hampshire, England (£26.95 from the vineyard) Keen, clean young style, with green apple, citrus and slightly stewed rhubarb flavours, a touch of the sweet and sour here. Maybe needs a little more time to calm down as the sour edge is a little prominent at […]

Three English Sparkling Wines


Christmas morning fodder? Champagne Thiénot Brut Rosé Édition Limitée NV, France (£40.49 Champagne & Châteaux) Quite a rich, yeasty, almost creamy young wine with crisp citrus and apple to the fore, and hints of darker fruit – cherries and raspberries, plus an almost Cab Franc-like blackcurrant leaf character – in […]

Champagne Thiénot Brut Rosé Édition Limitée NV, France