England sparkles – tasting notes

Earlier this month I had the great pleasure of participating in the second annual blind tasting of English sparkling wine organised by the English wine authority Stephen Skelton MW (seen here marshalling the bottles in his back garden). You can read my account of the first of these events designed to measure the progress of the burgeoning English fizz business, undertaken a year ago, in English fizz v the rest, but this year's line-up was even more impressive – even if it exhibited one major failing.

The only drawback of the...