Market Watch, March 1, 2017
Its a chilly autumn morning in the southeast town of Kent England at the remote Chapel Down Winery The prop erty is fronted by a narrow two lane roadway and has few neighbors beyond oat and barley farmers and a pasture nota ble for frolicking alpaca Yet the winery is hosting two dozen visitors freezing even in their Barbour coats as they inspect vines and nose blancs de blancs under the tutelage of custom er experience manager Gavin Kean This sight isnt unusual Chapel Down Winery offers three tours a day and welcomed more than 60000 visitors last year The English sparkling wine industry which once toiled in obscurity is finally emerging Wineries like Chapel Down are sprouting up across southern England on the belated discov ery that the chalky soils and generous south facing slopes bear a strong resemblance to the terroir of Champagne In addition climate change has brought temperatures in south ern England to within a couple of degrees of northern France where the growing season is actually shorter There is rising parity between the wines now being produced in England and those in Champagne for which the U K is the No 1 export market In a blind tasting hosted by Britains Wine and Spirits Association for members of the on premise trade in Paris a year ago a bottle of 2009 Nyetimber from England outscored the non vintage Billecart Salmon 76 MARKET WATCH MARKETWATCHMAG COM MARCH 2017PHOTO BY OPPOSITE CHRIS GALEThe chalky soils of Kent in southern England are producing some top quality winesBY H LEE MURPHYENGLANDSSPARKLINGMOMENTBlanc de Blancs Champagne which is 50 percent more expensive Judges also preferred the 2011 Gusbourne Rosé over the Ayala Rosé Majeur Many French critics in atten dance admitted they couldnt tell the English products from their own While most of the investment so far in British wine has been led by small entrepreneurs some of them Americans Champagne house Taittinger recently acquired a 170 acre apple farm in Kent not far from Chapel Down and is planting vines Until now English wineries have been content to concen trate their sales within their domestic market But U K wine production is expected to double to 10 million by 2020 The English are now busy lining up U S importers with New York City based ABCK Corp representing Chapel Down The winerys 2010 Three Graces 50 a 750 ml is a blend of 60 percent Chardonnay 33 percent Pinot Noir and 7 percent Pinot Meunier aged on its lees nearly six years It began roll ing out in February and is currently on the menus of such Manhattan restaurants as Buddakan Grand Central Oyster Bar and Quality Meats according to ABCK president Arnaud Brachet ABCK begins importing Chapel Down Brut 40 this month and will add Chapel Down Brut Rosé 50 in June Distribution is expected to eventually expand beyond New York to California Florida Connecticut and Massachusetts
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