How can you tell if an English Sparkling Wine is of good quality? Well, if it’s listed on our website, that’s a great sign! However, if you want some more quality clues, read on…
There are several international and national wine competitions that award “medals” to wines. Usually these are Gold, Silver or Bronze (sometimes Platinum). This is if they are good enough – not every wine, English Sparkling Wine or other, gets a medal!
The wines are tasted “blind”, which means that the judges don’t know who the producer is. So, they can’t display any bias – each wine is judged purely on its aromas, flavours and textures. Therefore, if an English Sparkling Wine has got a medal in the Decanter World Wine Awards, International Wine Challenge or WineGB Competition, for example, then that’s an indicator of good quality. We sell cases of award winning wines.
Price and value of English Sparkling Wine
It’s a bit of a cliché, but you get what you pay for. This means that, generally speaking, the higher the price of the English Sparkling Wine, the better the quality. Of course, there are going to be exceptions, but it’s a competitive market out there, so producers have to price their products reasonably.
The wine production rules in the EU and UK have different tiers of quality. Even though the UK has left the EU, the UK wine industry makes use of the EU’s quality designations. PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) designations are European Union indicators of quality and authenticity in terms of regional origin or traditional production. The wines that qualify have met certain requirements for their technical analysis and have passed an organoleptic assessment (a formal tasting). A searchable list of English Sparkling Wines (and English still wines) that have PDO or PGI status can be found here.
Personal preference
However, having said all of this, everyone has their own preferences and idea of what makes a “quality” wine. This is where a knowledgeable, specialist, independent wine merchant like Grape Britannia really comes into its own! You can tell us what style of wine you like, or specific examples of wines you love, and we will share our ideas of what English Sparkling Wines we think you’ll rate. Pop into our shop, call us, or drop us an email!
