Taking it to the Next Level

A few years ago, I asked a bunch (now there’s an appropriate collective noun) of English winemakers and producers what it would take for the UK wine industry to get to the next level. All gave the same answer but Brad Greatrix, of Nyetimber, expressed it most succinctly. “Collectors need to want to buy English wine for their cellars. And that means that English wine needs to be recognised for its ageability.”

Note the adroit use of the word “recognised”. Greatrix, even then, was already sure that English grapes have what it takes to make sparkling wine capable of maturing into a liquid with a complexity and perfume that young wines cannot hope to rival. Of course, there’s no short cut with ageability. Proving you can do it takes years.
And we’re now beginning to see that all those winemakers who had the vision to try it were right.

I’ve always rated the La Perfide aged releases from Coates & Seely. This September, I tasted the Wiston Estate Library Collection Blanc de Blancs 2009 England, released through Wiston’s own website and also Lay & Wheeler. Made from grapes grown in the warm summer of 2009, bottled in 2010 and disgorged in 2024, the wine is spectacular: intense yet also elegant, with a soft cloud of perfume concealing a keen focus. There isn’t a lot of it. “Just 800 bottles, from our original [West Sussex] vineyard planted in 2006,” says Wiston’s Kirsty Goring. If such young vines can produce such good wine, imagine what might be coming down the track.

The genius behind that particular Wiston Estate wine was Dermot Sugrue, the winemaking force of nature from County Limerick, who has worked and consulted for multiple English wineries and is now entirely devoted to his own Sugrue South Downs label. Sugrue has done more than anyone to prove that, with age, English sparkling wine can be truly exciting.

In his company, I recently tasted Sugrue South Downs Cuvée Boz 2020, a wine that has so much nerve and finesse it feels as if it could almost take flight. Sugrue said he reckoned the best blanc de blancs he has ever made are a brace of Cuvée Boz wines from the 2015 vintage – one using grapes from Jenkyn Place in Hampshire, the other from Coldharbour Vineyard in West Sussex. Then he qualified that to leave leeway for more recent vintages to overtake them, “Well, certainly now, tasting ten years after.”

But don’t just take my word (or Dermot’s) for the quality of these wines. The idea that English sparkling can age well enough to challenge some of the best-known wines from Champagne was given serious ballast at this year’s London Wine Fair. In a ‘Battle of the Bubbles’ blind tasting judged by a 16-strong panel of heavyweight palates that included four Masters of Wine and one Master Sommelier, the wine that scooped the highest score was English. The 2010 vintage of Nyetimber’s 1086 Prestige Cuvée beat Dom Pérignon 2013 into third, Dom Ruinart 2010 into fourth and Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 2013 into fifth place. If you’re wondering what came second, that was an English sparkling as well: Gusbourne 51° North 2016, made by Charlie Holland.

One I’ve yet to try but am intrigued to taste is an upcoming (January 2026) release of Sugrue South Downs Dr Brendan O’Regan, this one based on the 2018 vintage, which British Airways has selected to pour in its First Class cabin. Sugrue considers this pinot-chardonnay blend his top wine and makes it only in vintages he believes are suitable for ageing.

All of this is, of course, only a start. But it is a very good start that reminds me of the advice they give to footballers. “Do your talking on the pitch.” These wines with a few years of age are doing their talking in the glass.

Victoria Moore is an acclaimed British wine writer and columnist for the Telegraph, known for her sharp palate and trenchant opinions. Author of the award-winning wine and food bible, the Wine Dine Dictionary, she blends deep expertise with cultural flair, shaping how modern audiences enjoy and talk about wine.

You can find her on Instagram page at how_to_drink