The English love bubbles to the point that the United Kingdom is the second largest consumer of French champagne in the world, but can its British version dethrone the absolute reference in the field of sparkling wines? To find out, head to London, where oenologist Gilbert Winfield is organizing a blind tasting of an English sparkling wine and a French champagne. The price of each bottle is around 30 euros.
“The champagne that I am offering you is a very high quality wine and the sparkling wine [vin pétillant] too. Both are raised according to the Champagne method, which is a long and very expensive production method”, he explains to the tasters. In the mouth, it is not easy to distinguish between the two nectars: “If you have any doubts, you can vote twice… The number one wine is the Ridgeview [un mousseux que l’on trouve sur la table du Premier ministre britannique]. Wine number two is Louvel Fontaine champagne…”
“Me, it’s champagne rather than sparkling”
“Don’t be chauvinistic… Seriously, do you prefer English? And you ma’am, is it champagne?” he asks his assistant. A taster explains her choice: “English wine is more flowery but not as pleasant on the palate. No, sorry, I prefer champagne!Another participant takes the opposite view: “Sparkling wine is fresher, more flowery while champagne is a little too sweet. Yes, I prefer English. Look at my glasses, that one is champagne, and the empty one is Is English…”
Another tester has a different opinion: “Me, it’s champagne rather than sparkling. Definitely!” As it is a perfect equality for the tasters between the two wines, the magazine “We, the Europeans” (replay) then turns to the oenologist Gilbert Winfield to find out which is the best: “We’re not there yet but we’ll get there. I won’t give time but we’ll get there. Already we’re winning in competitions against French wines. I don’t know if today proved a lot of things from that point of view, but the quality has certainly improved enormously in the last ten or twenty years.”
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