It feels like English Wine Week gets bigger and bigger every year. As we come to the close of EWW 2024, there has been more noise about English wine than ever before. Social media has been alight with producers, communicators and organisers all talking about our great wines and producers. I kicked off the week presenting five wines from the Vineyards of the Surrey Hills at the Albury Estate Summer Festival. There, I introduced still and sparkling wines from Surrey to over eighty consumers; it was a most rewarding experience and great to see so much interest and passion for our home-grown wines.

During the week I have posted a series of videos looking at some of the latest English Sparkling Wine releases on the GBW Instagram channel, and so the round-up features all of these wines, plus a few more recent highlights.

This month’s selection includes the inaugural release of Leonardslee Brut Rosé 2021 (£45.00), which is unique with its addition of Pinotage in the blend. A new-look Bluestone Prestige Cuvée 2019 (£45.00) and Roebuck’s latest Classic Cuvée 2018 (£38.00) both impressed, as did the brilliantly vivid English Oak Quercus Blanc de Blancs 2020 (£90.00).

Two other Blanc de Blancs stood out, including the unique Albury Estate Biodynamic Wild Ferment 2018 (£49.95) and the ever-reliable Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs (£45.00). Highweald’s Brut Reserve NV (£48.00) marks another quality release for this emerging talent. Finally, I ended on something colourful and fruit-forward; Railway Barn (£22.50) from New Hall is a playful sparkling Rosé to enjoy in the summer sun, which thankfully has finally arrived this week too!

Leonardslee Brut Rosé 2021

Leonardslee has to be one of the most ambitious new English Sparkling Wine producers on the scene this year. This is the second estate launched by respected entrepreneur Penny Streeter OBE, following her takeover and development of Benguela Cove Wine Estate in her home of South Africa.

Leonardslee is rooted in history and hospitality, with the Grade II listed Leonardslee House and Mannings Heath Golf Club both part of the operation. The estate now also accommodates 38 acres of vines, and this month saw the release of their very first wines.

Beautifully packaged, all this exuberance and fanfare would be wasted if the wines were not up to scratch. Fortunately, they are excellent. This rosé is the jewel in the crown right now and is a blend of 56% Chardonnay, 31% Pinot Noir, 3% Pinot Meunier and, uniquely, 10% Pinotage.

This is an elegant, classy offering, with an abundance of red fruit dancing around the nose and palate. Suitably fruity, it’s packed full of strawberry and raspberry with a delicious ripeness and softer creamy textures. There’s also a hint of darker fruit, and a lightly candied, floral tone.

Bluestone Premier Cuvée 2019

Sporting a stylish new look that is, in my opinion, a huge improvement over the previous branding, this Premier Cuvée is the latest flagship release from Bluestone in Wiltshire. The wine made from the first vintage of fruit from their own vineyard, which was planted in 2016.

The blend is 48.5% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir and 18.5% Pinot Meunier, with 7% reserve wine. The red fruit makes itself present in the glass, as the wine has a gloriously golden hue to it.

On the nose there are classic aromas of apple and citrus fruit, with a decidedly nutty, bready nuance. There are also hints of roasted almonds and a touch of stone fruit.

While the wine has gone through full Malo, it’s got the same linear, driving acidity that the previous release has, making it a great choice for those that love the fresher side of English Sparkling. To counter the acidity, there are riper flavours of peach and apricot, and a nutty pastry complexity on the finish.

Roebuck Classic Cuvée 2018

Roebuck has been around for a good few years now, and they’ve maintained their name for providing sumptuous, aged and complete English sparkling wines.

The latest Classic Cuvée comes from the great 2018 vintage, and is made from 47% Chardonnay, 42% Pinot Noir and 11% Pinot Meunier with four years on lees and another under cork.

The nose offers pleasing aromas of orchard fruit and blossom, with hints of warm brioche, buttery croissant and a hint of toast.

The palate impresses with its soft mouthfeel, a mixture of baked apple, peach and pear, with the warmth of brioche and buttered bread. It’s rich and rounded, but there’s a brilliantly bright acid line that cuts through it, leading to a lightly saline finish – think lightly salted toasted sourdough bread.

This is a superbly balanced wine at an attractive price.

English Oak Quercus Blanc de Blancs 2020

Prior to this IEWA Gold Medal winning wine, I have somehow not crossed paths with English Oak for quite some time. However, I was delighted to have a chance to sample this brilliant Blanc de Blancs.

This is their barrel-aged approach to 100% Chardonnay, and it’s absolutely banging. Not shy in the glass, the wine’s golden hues jump and leap out of the glass with a rich, fruit-forward nose. There’s baked apple, white peach and nectarine, and these aromas are lifted by hints of toffee fudge, caramelised pastry and vanilla spice.

Despite its youth, the ripeness and quality of the Chardonnay here over-delivers. The acidity is bold and direct, but the fruit is all buttery apple, caramelised peach and honeysuckle.

This feels like a brilliant wine at the beginning of a very exciting life ahead – one to lay down and revisit in years to come.

Albury Estate Biodynamic Wild Ferment 2018

As one of England’s few biodynamic vineyards, this rare release from Surrey’s Albury Estate is something even more unusual. With biodynamic growing being employed in the vineyard, in order for the wine to be labelled as sparkling itself it has to be fermented using yeasts found naturally on the vineyard.

It’s a risky endeavour, especially in England, but persistence pays off for Albury, and in great years they release their Biodynamic Wild Ferment. This wine is their latest edition, a Blanc de Blancs from the 2018 vintage.

This is a rare chance to try a 100% Chardonnay wine from Albury (their main line BdB is a blend of Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc), but in 2018 the stars aligned, and this beautifully fragrant wine was born, with aromas of ripe apple, honeysuckle, lemon and hints of honey.

The palate is a little understated – I think this has a long life ahead of it – but the purity of the fruit shines through. There’s bright crunchy orchard fruit and zesty lemon, but with bursts of stone fruit and a hint of almost tropical fruits.

Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2016

Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs is no stranger to me. It’s almost certainly the English wine that I’ve tasted the most bottles of and have some of my fondest memories of – the 2009 remains to this date one of my all-time favourites. So, a new vintage is always something I look forward to.

The nose on the 2016 is very typical of previous Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs, with a lovely rich peach and baked apple fragrance in addition to almond croissant, biscuit and just a hint of honeysuckle.

The palate is a little bit more front-loaded than the steely and slightly restrained 2015 vintage that preceded it. A delicious fusion of baked apple and peach awaits, with the signature bursts of lemon and crisp apple balancing the ripe fruit and suggestions of sweetness nicely.

Always a fascinating wine, the 2016 is more along the lines of the 2014 and 2010 vintages in terms of its comparative broadness and ripeness, but still with the driving acidity that makes English Chardonnay stand out.

Highweald Brut Reserve NV

My second wine from Highweald, this is their flagship sparkling Brut Reserve, a non-vintage Chardonnay-dominant blend with a decadently golden hue in the glass. For a youthful sparkling wine from a young estate, this can already go toe-to-toe with some of the country’s biggest names with its crowd-pleasing richness.

On the nose there’s ripe red apple, pear, lemon zest and peach, together with a surprising amount of pastry complexity for a wine that has spent a relatively short time (two years) on the lees.

The palate brings all the promised crunchy orchard fruit, as well as generous hints of stone fruit and cream. There are hints of spiced pastry and brioche which is a clear nod to the Champagne Grand Marque style.

Railway Barn Sparkling Rosé

Here’s something that doesn’t take itself seriously, but comes from a hugely respected and historic vineyard, is New Hall’s Railway Barn Sparkling Rosé. This is a celebration of the summer, blending the early ripening red grape Acolon with the aromatic Huxelrebe, and is produced using the Charmat method.

It’s deep pink in hue and to match has a bright nose of strawberry and cherry, a hint of cherry candy and lots of floral aromatics.

The palate is fruit-forward and generous. There are lots of ripe strawberry and cherry flavours, and a flavour that reminds me of those cherry drops sweets that used to be popular in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Sure, there’s a bit of sweetness in there, but it’s in balance, cut through with bright acidity and broad bubbles.

This would be effortlessly enjoyable drank straight out of the fridge on a warm summer’s day – perfect for this warm end to English wine week!