This week, I wrote about English Sparkling wine in the Daily Mail but if you missed it and are not a Mail+ subscriber, here it is:

For decades, you’d have been laughed out of any bar or wine shop for suggesting that the English could beat the French at their own game with sparkling wine - and for good reason. Early English vino tended to be on the weedy side: thin and astringent, made with obscure Germanic grapes and pumped full of sugar in a desperate bid to balance eye-watering acidity. Not any more, though - nor has it been that way for about twenty years. Anyone writing off English wine as a joke in 2026 isn’t being discerning; they’re simply not paying attention.

The numbers alone tell a story. According to WineGB, the national trade body for the English and Welsh wine industry, there are now 1,158 vineyards, nearly 260 registered wineries and sales have rocketed by around 200% in six years, making viticulture the fastest-growing agricultural sector in the United Kingdom. Waitrose has seen sales of English fizz jump 15%; Ocado says searches for English sparkling wine have doubled since last year and their BWS Trading Manager Vanessa Pearson is unequivocal: “It’s a category that’s firmly earned its place alongside some of the world’s most established sparkling wines, driven by high quality and a real sense of identity. It’s time to see English sparkling not as an alternative, but as a first choice.” Hear, hear.

If proof were needed, the silverware is seriously piling up. Nyetimber in West Sussex has been racking up gold medals since 1997 and last year, made history as the first ever non-Champagne producer to claim the International Wine Challenge’s Champion Sparkling trophy; an award the French had taken home 34 years in a row. Ridgeview in Sussex beat five champagnes in 2010 to win the International Sparkling trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards and the same competition opened the magnum category to non-Champagne sparklers for the first time last year too - and English winemaker Dermot Sugrue walked straight in and claimed the top prize for Sugrue South Downs.

Producers like these, alongside Hambledon, Gusbourne and others now routinely beat Champagne in blind tastings judged by sommeliers and other experts. Kent’s Chapel Down took this a step further still recently, having the genius idea - and sheer audacity - to take its bottles to the streets of Champagne under the alias ‘Chapelle en Bas’. They found that six out of ten French consumers tasting blind said they preferred the English sparkling. Très embarrassant. And while fizz has been the headline act of the last two decades, English still wines are catching up fast: WineGB’s 2026 awards saw more medals go to still wines than sparkling for the first time.

So what’s changed? Climate, for one thing. Average temperatures in southern England have risen by two degrees since the 1970s, with acceleration in the last ten years. That difference, when coupled with chalky landscapes that perfectly echo the Champagne region, a decision en masse to double down on Champagne-style wines using Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier and the runaway early successes of Nyetimber amongst others, has been enough for producers to invest in viticulture here - including two major Champagne houses: Taittinger and Pommery. A 2023 report stated that nearly £480m had been invested in England’s vineyards and wineries over the previous five years; a figure that will have increased substantially by now. And while Kent, Dorset and the southern mainland coast have been getting much of the glory, eyes are now turning further north to the midlands and Yorkshire, east to Essex and across the Solent to the sunny Isle of Wight, where boutique producers like Pinkmead Estate and Gatcombe Estate are quietly laying the foundations for something sustainable and serious.

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A Wine Tourism App

Wine tourism is booming, helping breed brand loyalty and chunky sales, with restaurants and guest houses springing up at wineries seemingly every week. Middle-class Brits are lapping it up, pleased to be buying British and buying local. And happily, doing that just got easier: a new app, the UK Vineyard Guide (ukvineyardguide.co.uk), launched this spring to help wine tourists find, plan and enjoy vineyard visits across England and Wales. There has never been a better time to explore the vineyards on our doorsteps.

England may have come late to the world’s winemaking party - but it has absolutely no intention of leaving early. Let’s raise a glass to that!

Try these English Sparkling Wines

The Trouble With Dreams 2020, Sugrue South Downs, Sussex, £50 Swig

Made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, this is a stunning, fruit-forward, generous fizz from a gloriously warm vintage, delivering lemon peel, apple and biscuit with a chalky mineral streak.

Squerryes Brut 2022, Kent, £40.99 House of Decant, squerryes.co.uk

Made from all three Champagne grapes, this is a full and flavoursome, sophisticated fizz with complex notes of tangy red apple, peach and pastry with a touch of spice on the finish.

Dancing Duchess, £42 dancingduchess.com

This elegant, yet playful sparkling rosé from a new, boutique producer is made with 100% Meunier: something rarely seen in the UK! Think pale, dry and crisp with bright red fruit and a delicate, brioche toastiness.

New Hall Wine Estate, Classic Cuvée, Crouch Valley, Essex. £29.50 newhallwines.com

From the most exciting new region for fine wine in the country - Crouch Valley, Essex - this classic fizz is all about fleshy, golden delicious apples and white peach with textural, brioche-like notes.

Flint Vineyard Charmat Rose, Norfolk, £20 on offer at Ocado, Cambridge Wine Merchants

‘Charmat’ is the method used to make Prosecco so expect an easy drinking, fruity, fizz that’s dark pink and packed full of strawberry bon bon flavours, a subtle nuttiness and a pretty whiff of rose.

Prosecco is arguably the most carelessly bought wine on the supermarket shelf, in my opinion. Most people grab whatever’s on offer with no idea that there’s a quality hierarchy hiding in plain sight on the label. The fix is simple: look for the G - and trade up a bit in price. This is what I mean and crucially, why it’s worth it:

DOC vs DOCG

The best Proseccos I have tasted (and last week, I was out in Italy judging A LOT of them blind for an international wine competition, so I should know!), tend to be much drier than most we get in the UK and showcase a gorgeous, subtle complexity with a real sense of place. I’m not talking simple, saccharine, frothy, pear-scented fizz here; I mean verbena, gentian and wild jasmine with notes of rose, white peach, lemon cream and apricot, all freshened up by a slick of salty minerality. I’m talking seriously classy sparkling wines where you can actually tell the difference between them - and they all have one thing in common: The ‘G’.

What’s the ‘G?’

In the UK, around 94% of all the Prosecco we import is of a DOC quality level, which simply assures the area of production and the methods used. Only a tiny sliver, around 6%, of what’s imported is DOCG level, where the ‘G’ stands for ‘Garantita’: ‘guaranteed’. This means extra layers of rules, quality and therefore, prestige. It’s the difference between Prosecco as a category and Prosecco as a place. This is not to throw shade on Prosecco DOC; it has its place, it’s reliable can be excellent in its category. If you’re learning about nuance and heirarchy though, look a little higher up. Literally.

The Prosecco DOC area covers a whopping 89,000 acres of farmland between the Dolomites and the Adriatic and here, the land is largely flat and open with widely spaced rows of vines that make mechanical harvesting easy. This is why yields of grapes and therefore volumes can be so high - rarely a marker of super high quality wine. The tendency with DOC is to make a slightly sweeter style too, which is unhelpfully known as ‘Extra Dry’. Don’t get me started on that. In any case, all these things are why most of us assume that all Prosecco is sweet, simple and cheap as chips, with very little distinction between bottles - even though some are definitely better than others.

Why DOCG wines are ‘Superiore’ (and earn the G!)

DOCG wines are a big step up in quality and helpfully, labels will usually, though not always, state ‘Superiore’ on them somewhere to make us more aware of their superior status. There are many reasons why they are so good:

Hillside Vineyards: Unlike the vast flatlands of the DOC, here, the steep slopes between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene are too steep for machines. This means every bunch is hand harvested. Massive quality tick! The same goes for Asolo, the smaller, lesser known DOCG to the southwest.

Tiny Production Zone: Quality beats quantity every time. Conegliano Valdobbiadene covers around 21,500 acres against the DOC’s 89,000. Asolo is small too at just 4,400 acres.

Lower Grape Yields: The slopes naturally limit how much fruit the vines can carry, and less fruit means more flavour packed into what’s left.

Altitude: Vines climbing up to 500 metres above sea level experience cooler nights, which means slower ripening and a freshness that gives these wines a real lift.

The ‘Rive’ System: The Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG recognises 43 individually named hillside parcels known as ‘rive’ (pronounced ‘ree-vay’), each with its own soil type and microclimate. This means subtle differences in the glass based on where the grapes were grown. With practice, you can pick out what each rive brings. On the label, you’ll see ‘Rive di…’ and the name, such as ‘Rive di Soligo’. Also, Rive wines MUST be ‘vintage’, i.e. made from grapes grown in one year only.

Often Drier: Serious DOCG producers have been moving toward drier ‘Brut’ and ‘Extra Brut’ styles over the last decade, while basic DOC still leans more heavily on sweeter, Extra Dry and Dry styles, which are handy for flattering less interesting fruit. These drier styles tend to be more nuanced, in my experience. Having said that, it’s worth trying some properly sweet Dry styles (don’t even..!) when they’re a ‘Cartizze’ (see below) or a top producer - preferably both!

A UNESCO site: The Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019 - official recognition of just how special this landscape is.

Cartizze: Within the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG sits a tiny sub-zone called ‘Cartizze’. At just over 100 hectares in size, Cartizze is considered to be the finest hillside within the whole appellation. Wines from here carry the designation ‘Superiore di Cartizze’; the most prestigious DOCG label you can find. The jewel in the crown!

GEEK FACT!

The full name for what the pros are now calling ConVal is Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG. It’s quite the mouthful but so satisfying when it rolls off the tongue! Sometimes, you’ll see just ‘Valdobbiadene’ on its own, which usually signals that the producer is emphasising the western, higher altitude end of the zone, closer to Cartizze, but you might also see just ‘Conegliano’. Both are allowed; the former is a hint towards a more prestigious style whereas the latter is more about where the vineyards lie physically.

Your Quality Prosecco Cheatsheet

Here’s a summary of what to look for in order to find a seriously delicious Prosecco:

• Look for the G: DOCG

• Look for Conegliano Valdobbiadene or Asolo somewhere on the label.

• If you see Valdobbiadene alone, it points toward the posher zone near Cartizze.

• Look for a Rive di + name if you want a genuine sense of place.

• Choose Brut or Extra Brut over Extra Dry or Dry (ironically) for a drier, more nuanced style unless you want a posh wine for cheese or pudding.

• Look for Millesimato and/ or a year if you want vintage character.

• Choose Cartizze if you are celebrating something special and really see what top notch Prosecco looks like.

  Some DOCG Prosecco Wines to Try

La Gioiosa Brut Prosecco Valdobbiadene DOCG Superiore Millesimato, £14.50 Ocado

A great, easy going example of a vintage DOCG with notes of golden delcicious apples, white peach and jasmine. An Extra Dry style so expect lots of fruit ripeness.

Ruggeri ‘Orizzonti’ Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut NV, £15 (£13.50 mix 6) Majestic

The Ruggeri family go back generations in the area and this DOCG is a good example of a drier ‘Brut’ style with real citrus freshness, though there’s still ripeness there.

Biancavigna Prosecco DOCG Extra Brut, Rive di Soligo, £21.80 Amathus

One of the driest styles, this vintage, Extra Brut shows the terroir of Soligo beautifully with fine bubbles and notes of acacia, wisteria, white peach and a mineral core.

Biancavigna Prosecco DOCG Brut Nature ‘Sui Lieviti’ 2020, £22.20 Amathus

‘Sui Lieviti’ means ‘on lees’ and this style is essentially Prosecco’s Pét Nat. Naturally cloudy and savoury with notes of peach skin and nuts, this is a textural, foodie wine.

Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze DOCG ‘Le Colture’, £24.50 Corney & Barrow

Cartizze wines suit a Dry style which ironically, is the sweetest - but it’s never cloying here! This is round and ripe with notes of caramelised peach and jasmine, lifted by verbena. It’s perfect with cheese and salty snacks as well as less sugary desserts like tarte tatin.

Picpoul de Pinet now has its own dedicated celebration day on the second Friday of June (tomorrow!) Here’s your One Minute Wine Ace Guide to help you make the most of it. Grab a bottle and raise a glass!

What is Picpoul de Pinet?

Picpoul de Pinet is a crisp white wine from the Languedoc on the Mediterranean coast of southern France. Piquepoul is the official, older name of the grape variety in this area, which translates roughly as ‘lip-stinger’ - fairly accurate, given the acidity you’re in for, although ‘Picpoul’ is the spelling that seems to have stuck and the one virtually everyone recognises. Even the official appellation itself uses it!

Picpoul de Pinet became its own appellation in 2013, which for a wine this unpretentious is a relatively recent badge of honour. Look out for the bottle shape too. Many producers use a tall, slender, slightly tapered green bottle with embossing reminiscent of an old French perfume bottle. It’s a useful shortcut when you’re scanning the wine aisles in a hurry.

Where is it?

Picpoul de Pinet wraps around the Étang de Thau, a vast saltwater lagoon separated from the sea by a narrow strip of land. This is serious oyster and mussel territory and one of France’s most important shellfish farming areas. The vineyards sit on a plateau of clay and limestone overlooking the lagoon, catching cooling sea breezes that keep the grapes fresh. The nearest city is Montpellier, about 30 minutes away by car, with the village of Pinet itself giving the wine its name.

What does Picpoul de Pinet taste like?

Bone dry, bracingly acidic and coastal in the most literal sense. Think green apple, lemon and lime, white flowers and a distinct salinity that tastes almost like sea spray. There’s often a faint bitterness on the finish, almost like grapefruit pith, which is part of its charm. It’s best served properly cold.

If it had a character, it would be windsurfer on the lagoon with wind in her hair…

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Picpoul de Pinet Food Pairing

This is, quite simply, one of the great oyster wines of the world. The acidity cuts straight through the brininess and the wine’s own salinity makes it feel like an extension of the dish, sweetening up the fleshiness.

Beyond oysters, it’s brilliant with any shellfish. It handles fried food surprisingly well too, the acidity cutting through any oiliness. Goat’s cheese is another classic match, and it’s a reliable partner for anything with citrus, herbs or a touch of chilli.

Try These!

Ormarine ‘Villemarin’ Picpoul de Pinet 2025, £12.50 (£10 mix 6) Majestic Wines

Ormarine is the leading brand of the region. The Villemarin now comes in a much lighter, more environmentally friendly eco bottle and it is your benchmark Picpoul de Pinet: zesty and crisp with intense notes of lemon peel, green apple and a slick of salinity. Stunning with fresh oysters and prawns.

Ormarine ‘Cuvée Estela’ Sur Lies Fines, Picpoul de Pinet 2024, £15.50 (£14 mix 6) Majestic Wine

A more gastronimic style of Picpoul de Pinet from Ormarine, this wine has had time ageing on its spent yeast cells, or fine ‘lees’, hence ‘sur lies’. This gives the wine more complex flavours of nectarine and peach skin as well as more texture, so it can handle more weighty, flavoursome dishes such as scallops in creamy sauces or garlicky chicken.

Want the full, global Picpoul Wine Grape Sips Safari? Watch the Vinalogy Video !

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Welcome to another One Minute Wine Ace post. This week, it’s all about getting to know Santorini’s flagship white grape Assyrtiko with this ‘vinalogy’ to help you remember its characteristics:

Assyrtiko: Among Ancient Ruins

There’s not a cloud in the sky on this warm, bright day as you head on foot down the white, gravelly pathway towards what’s physically left of this ancient Greek civilization. The air is redolent with the scent of almond trees and acacia blossom with clementine peels warming in the heat. You spot a stand selling small pots of lemon granita and gratefully suck down the salty, citrusy ice crystals, holding the empty pot to your brow. Soon enough, it’s time to step inside this ancient world of cool, marble structures away from the glaring sun. Down here it smells mineral and earthy. What these walls must have seen!

Assyrtiko is Greece’s finest quality white wine grape and it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves on wine lists around the world. In its sunny spiritual home of Santorini, Assyrtiko makes fairly full-bodied white wine with lush notes of orange and lemon citrus, acacia honey and marzipan tempered by a very welcome cool, mineral core and refreshingly high acidity, despite the heat. It doesn’t much like oak and you can drink it young but the best ones can age well for years too. If you’re into fine Riesling, you’ll love this, especially with a plate of white fish and skinny potato fries.

GEEK FACT: On its island home of Santorini, many of the Assyrtiko vines are still ungrafted* and are aged between 60 and 250 years old! This means they have incredibly deep roots, reaching down for metres into the volcanic soil and sucking up lots of trace elements and minerals, hence the style.

*Most European vines have different rootstocks - I’ll bore you with why another time.

ASSYRTIKO SIPS SAFARI

Assyrtiko 1: Santorini, Greece

For benchmark Assyrtiko, try one unoaked from the island of Santorini in the Cyclades. This is where you’ll find powerful,. yet crisp, dry and saline wines with their fragrant notes of ripe lemon and clementine with a touch of honey. For fuller-bodied, more textured and gastronomic versions, look for ‘Nykteri’ on the label and you can also try it in its dark, sweet wine form as the original Vinsanto for a salted caramel, fudge vibe.

Try: Assyrtiko ‘34’, Santorini, Karamolegos 2023, £41, The Wine Society,

Assyrtiko 2: Crete & Mainland Greece

More and more plantings of this grape can now be found in Crete and around mainland Greece, especially around Macedonia, Drama and the Peloponnese where the inland climate and more youthful vines produce wines that are a little lighter, less austere and more fruity. They don’t quite have the length, complexity or the panache of Santorini, though.

Try: Lyrarakis Assyrtiko 2025, Crete, £15 (£11.50 mix 6), Majestic Wine

Assyrtiko 3: Clare Valley, Australia

You won’t find a huge amount of Assyrtiko outside Greece yet, but pockets of it are cropping up, such as in Australia’s cool Clare Valley region. This is the home of the razor-like, crisp Aussie Rieslings and they share that concentration and acidity with Assyrtiko here.

Try: Jim Barry, Clare Valley Assyrtiko 2023, £25 Laithwaites

Also Try: Thanks to its incredible capacity to remain fresh when the weather is extremely hot and dry, many regions worldwide are now experimenting with Assyrtiko thanks to climate change. New Zealand and Puglia are doing well with it and they are even experimenting with it in Bordeaux now, so keep an eye on that!

Assyrtiko is…

🎨 Golden, complex and citrussy

🏋️‍♂️ Full-bodied, concentrated and saline with very fresh acidity

👃 All about complex orange and lemon peel, honey blossom and almond

📍 The star white grape of Santorini, Greece

🍴 Pair with grilled white fish

Liked this? Check out these posts:

• Chardonnay: The ‘Kate’ of wine grapes

• Sauvignon Blanc: The English Country Garden wine grape

• What is Pét Nat wine?

And don’t forget to see who I’ve been chatting to on the HelenaSips Podcast!

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Happy World Chardonnay Day! To celebrate, here’s a little freebie ‘vinalogy’ from my HelenaSips video resources to help you better understand the key styles of Chardonnay from around the world. Recommendations are at the end too.

Chardonnay: The ‘Kate’ of Wine Grapes

Think back to your school days. Weren’t there always at least four people in your class with the same first name? Well, in my year, it was Kate and it was hard to work out how you felt about the name because there were so many of them. For example, just as you had decided that you hated the name because of spotty-faced Kate who smelled of potato, you’d meet supermodel-in-training Kate who had a perm and older friends who could get into nightclubs. Suddenly, you wanted to name all your future children Kate. Even the boys.

Well, Chardonnay is the wine version of Kate. The sheer number of styles you’ll find worldwide can make it difficult to pin down your thoughts on it as it responds so strongly to where it’s grown and how it’s made. And as styles of this wine go, Chardonnay moves from the sublime to the ridiculous, being responsible for some of the greatest white wines in the world. Climate and winemaking techniques leave their mark, but the key elements will always be there somewhere: look for a golden colour, ripe melon flavour and a fuller body than many other white varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc. Vanilla and buttery notes are also good indicators that the wine is a Chardonnay. Try it unoaked for a true reading of its merits.

FUN FACT! ‘Blanc de Blancs’ translates as ‘white from white’, as in, white wine from white grapes. In Champagne, this means that the wine is made from 100% Chardonnay as it’s the only white grape that is widely used there. If it were a Kate it would be Cate Blanchett; A-lister stuff and fine boned and ethereal, capable of ageing elegantly.

CHARDONNAY SIPS SAFARI

France really sets the tone globally for Chardonnay styles that others emulate, so here are the three core ones to know plus a classic, New World comparison:

Chardonnay 1: Chablis, France

Lean, cool and understated, there is only one Chablis and it comes from the slightly separated, northern part of the Burgundy region in France of the same name. Light bodied and very dry with a characteristic chalky texture, It’s the cool climate and soils that do it. This is Kate the Supermodel. Try this at all quality levels from Petit Chablis through Chablis to Premier Cru and Grand Cru!

Try: The Society’s Exhibition Chablis, £17.50 The Wine Society

Chardonnay 2: California, USA

Voluptuous and fuller-bodied, the Californian style of Chardonnay, such as those from Sonoma Valley and Napa Valley, tend to have a richer and more creamy, almost vanilla marshmallow feel. Cheaper versions might be synthetically enhanced with oak chips, but the top-end wines tend to use oak barrels, giving unctuous caramel and vanilla flavours. This is Katie, the Centrefold - but she can still have an Ivy league education!

Try: Kendall-Jackson ‘Vintners Reserve’ Chardonnay 2024, £20.50 (£18.50 mix 6 price) Majestic

Chardonnay 3: Burgundy, France

With plenty of complexity, character and sophistication, throw a little money at a top-end white from one of the villages in Burgundy, such as a linear Puligny-Montrachet style or a riper, fatter Meursault. ‘White Burgundy’ is almost always 100% Chardonnay. This is Katherine, the Oscar winner and it sets a style tone for wines worldwide.

Try: Domaine Faively Meursault, £69.95 N.D. John

Chardonnay 4: Blanc de Blancs Sparkling

If Champage and many other traditional method sparklers are labelled ‘blanc de blancs’ is usually means 100% Chardonnay - and it always will in Champagne. These are lithe, mineral and ethereal in youth, filling out beautifully to add orchard fruit, brioche and spice with a saline core. Stunning.

Try: Laurent Perrier, Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature NV, £66.99 on offer Laithwaites

Also Try

In between black de blancs sparkling and boozy, Californian bombshells, there is every style in between! For delicious versions that are kind of mid way between Burgundy and California, try the likes of New Zealand, Chile and South Africa. You can find decent Chardonnay in SO many places now, including England. too Here are some favourites:

Chile: Tesco Finest Valle de Leyda Chardonnay, £9, Tesco

South Africa: M&S Honeycomb Chardonnay 2024, £10 M&S and Ocado

New Zealand: Kumeau River Village Chardonnay, Auckland, 2025, £14.50, The Wine Society

Australia: Robert Oatley ‘Signature Series’ Chardonnay 2023, Margaret River, £15.50 (£14 mix 6 price) Majestic

England: Guinevere Chardonnay, Gusbourne, Kent, 2023, £40 Gusbourne.com

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Heard the HelenaSips podcast yet? Take a look at my recent conversations here!

The US state of Virginia isn’t a new fangled wine thing or a one-note region. Far from it! I’ve been getting to know Virginia wine ahead of their first trip to the London Wine Fair in ten years and I must say, I am in deep. Here’s what you need to know:

Virginia boasts more than 4,000 acres of vineyards spread across ten regions and eight AVAs (“American Viticultural Area”: a designated, officially recognised, US grape-growing region). Mountain ridges, rolling farmland, Atlantic breezes and historic valleys all contribute their own microclimates and distinctive accents to the wines in the glass here. Think of it less on homogeneous region and more like a beautifully eccentric dinner party of wine terroirs.

Fun Fact! Virginia passed a legal mandate forcing citizens to grow wine grapes in 1619. The Jamestown House of Burgesses passed “Acte Twelve,” which legally required every male colonist to plant and maintain at least ten European Vitis vinifera cuttings!

A Brief History of Virginia Wine

Virginia’s wine story stretches all the way back to the earliest European settlers, with Thomas Jefferson himself famously believing the state could become a great wine-producing region, although nature and bad luck had other ideas at the time. Still, while the great Virginian winemaking dream goes back a long way, the modern industry did not truly begin to take shape until the late 1970s.

At a moment when much of the wine world had already written Virginia off as too humid and ambitious, a small band of determined individuals decided otherwise. Some arrived from Europe with generations of wine knowledge in their blood. Others were local farmers and curious entrepreneurs searching for something beyond tobacco fields and dairy herds. Together, they built Virginia wine one hard-earned harvest at a time.

From those early pioneers, growth came quickly. What began as a scattering of wineries expanded to nearly 50 by the mid-1990s. Less than a decade later, that number had doubled again. Today, Virginia is home to almost 300 wineries, with new projects continuing to emerge across the state. These are wines from a region that had to fight to be taken seriously and, increasingly, no longer needs to ask for permission - and you can sense that pioneering spirit in the glass. It is time.

The Grapes and Wine Styles of Virginia

Virginia sits physically AND stylistically in a sweet spot somewhere between Europe and California, exuding ripeness without heaviness and freshness without austerity. You may think you know Chardonnay, Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon already but Virginia gently taps you on the shoulder and offers a different perspective. These wines often display a restraint and elegance rarely associated with their more opulent West Coast cousins, yet feel another world away from their European counterparts. They are not shouty; they’re persuasive, a bit like the vinous equivalent of speaking impeccable French with the faintest Southern drawl. What’s fascinating though is that Virginia’s greatest success stories are not necessarily the world-famous headline grapes above, but the supporting actors, i.e. the varieties that spent centuries hovering in the wings of European wine culture before unexpectedly finding their starring role across the Atlantic - a bit like what happened with Carmenère in Chile and Malbec in Argentina.

Here are some Virginian wine stars to try:

Cabernet Franc: Virginia’s Quiet Charmer

If one grape now defines Virginia’s modern identity, it’s probably Cabernet Franc. Long overshadowed in Europe by louder, more commercially glamorous relatives, here it exhales and becomes fully itself. Virginia Cabernet Franc is elegant rather than bombastic, but never shy.

Viognier: The Perfumed Extrovert

Viognier can sometimes feel a little overdressed elsewhere; all up front perfume and flabby with no substance unless it’s form Condrieu. In Virginia though, it finds remarkable balance. These are aromatic, succulent whites with generosity, but also composure.

Petit Verdot: Supporting Role to Scene-Stealer

In Bordeaux, Petit Verdot is traditionally used as the seasoning rather than the main ingredient. Here however, it thrives in the warmer climate producing deeply coloured, richly textured wines with more polishthan brute force.

Bordeaux Blends: The New World Aristocrats

Some of Virginia’s most acclaimed wines are age-worthy, Bordeaux-style red blends, where Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot come together in endlessly shifting combinations depending on vineyard and vintage. These are seriousness but not self-important!

Norton: America’s Original Grape

Norton is America’s oldest native wine grape, born in Richmond, Virginia itself and it’s now enjoying a quiet revival thanks to a handful of talented producers determined to restore its slightly shaky reputation. A Vitis aestivalis grape variety, it was developed by Dr. Daniel Norton during the 1820s and was once ranked among the best in the world, winning gold medals in Vienna and Paris in the 1870s. Classic Norton characteristics are dark-fruit and a robust structure, unlike anything else in the world. It’s a little wild but gloriously and unapologetically American.

Virginia’s 10 regions and 8 AVA’s (Sub regions)

Looking at these regions, Virginia’s wine scene feels wonderfully difficult to pin down but that is precisely its charm. It’s a state still defining itself and experimenting. But it is also increasingly producing wines that deserve far more attention.

Blue Ridge

Home to the North Fork of Roanoke AVA and Rocky Knob AVA, this mountainous region brings elevation, cooler nights and wines with freshness and aromatic lift. Expect scenery so cinematic it demands a glass of Cabernet Franc in hand.

Central Virginia

The beating heart of Virginia wine country and home to the celebrated Monticello AVA, named after Thomas Jefferson’s estate. This is where Virginia’s modern wine reputation was forged, producing elegant, food-friendly wines with ripeness and restraint.

Chesapeake Bay

The maritime influence is strong here, particularly around the George Washington Birthplace AVA. Coastal breezes help moderate temperatures, creating bright, balanced wines with an easy-going charm.

Eastern Shore

The beautifully windswept Virginia’s Eastern Shore AVA is all salty air, sandy soils and Atlantic influence. It’s one of Virginia’s most distinctive terroirs, producing wines with freshness, finesse and a slightly wild coastal energy.

Hampton Roads

Home to the Virginia Peninsula AVA, this historic coastal area benefits from long growing seasons and moderating sea breezes. The wines here are often lean expressive and generous, yet maintain lovely balance.

Heart of Appalachia

A newer frontier for Virginia wine, where rugged landscapes and high elevations are beginning to reveal serious potential. It’s less polished than some at the moment but all the more thrilling because of it.

Northern Virginia

This increasingly sophisticated corner of the state includes the Middleburg AVA; an area rapidly gaining attention for refined, structured wines and luxury wine tourism where polished tasting rooms meet quietly ambitious winemaking.

Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley AVA sits in the rain shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, making it one of Virginia’s drier wine regions. The result is wines with concentration, freshness and often a slightly more continental feel than elsewhere in the state.

Southern Virginia

Warm, verdant and increasingly experimental, this region is proving particularly exciting for alternative grape varieties and innovation. There’s a sense that Virginia’s next chapter may well be written here.

Virginia Mountains

High elevations, dramatic diurnal shifts and rugged terrain give this region enormous potential. A great example of how mountain viticulture always asks a little more of growers but then rewards them with wines of real character and precision.

For more information uncluding all the wonderful things to do there on wine tour, go to virginiawine.com.

If you’re at LWF this year to, seek them out at Stand D54! Wineries attending are:

o Commonwealth Crush Co.

o Domaine Finot

o King Family Vineyards

o Lightwell Survey Winery

o Paradise Springs Winery

o Rosemont of Virginia

o Southwest Mountains Vineyards

o The Williamsburg Winery

Pét-Nat is short for Pétillant Naturel, which is French for ‘naturally sparkling’ or if you’re a child like me ‘a little farty’. ‘Peter’ means to fart. And it’s a type of fizz that’s made in a simpler, more natural way than Champagne, which is arguably more important.

The Method

What this simpler way means is that, instead of going through two fermentations - one to turn the grape juice into wine and the other to make and capture the bubbles inside the bottle - with Pét-Nat, the juice is bottled while still fermenting the first time around, then fixed with a crown cap. This means the CO2 that’s produced at the same time as the alcohol can’t escape and dissolves into the bottles, making bubbles. It also means there’s not a chance to filter out the dead yeast cells from fermentation so it stays a bit cloudy with some sediment.

It’s a process known as the ancestral méthod, which, fun fact, actually predates Champagne! It started in the 16th century, down in Limoux not far from Carcassonne in southern France.

The Style

Pét Nat can be white, rosé or even red and it will always have a simple, rustic feel because unlike commercial wine, it is not filtered to make it star bright - but don’t let that scare you. The cloudiness is part of its unique charm and just means it’s less processed and flavoursome. And with fewer additives, lower alcohol and less sugar, Pét Nat on the whole is actually better for you than many commercial wines!

They’re made for easy, immediate drinking, offering a playful, more approachable alternative to more traditional sparklers. It also tends to be cheaper and has a less formal, much more modern look and feel too, with some really cool labels out there. It’s really trendy right now.

Most Pét Nat will come under the banner of Natural wines because the method fits the low-intervention approach, but not all of them do. Some winemakers may use pesticides, additives or non-organic grapes so they don’t meet the strict criteria to be considered officially natural.

This is a style that’s related to Natural wine, Organic and Biodynamic Wines but is not identical. Upgrade to paid to get full access to the HelenaSips wine course!

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Try these:

M&S Rosé Pét Nat Brut, £15 - M&S and Ocado

Alma 4 Phos Pét Nat, £12 Tesco

New Theory Pot Luck, £19 Amathus Wines

Have you listened to The HelenaSips Podcast yet?

Join me for some intimate conversations with well-loved creatives on their sensory memories and the rituals that bring them joy and keep them calm. Episodes so far:

Designer & Entrpreneur Cath Kidston

Actor & Winemaker Sam Neill

Chocolate author Joanne Harris

Gin Founder Alex Watson

Broadcaster & athlete Vassos Alexander

Cin cin!
Helena x

Sauvignon Blanc: The English Country Garden

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Here’s my VINALOGY for Sauvignon Blanc to make its personality easier to remember:

Imagine a cool, crisp, spring morning in Kent, the ‘Garden of England’, just after a light shower of rain. Strolling around you catch the aroma of freshly cut grass, nettles and ferns. Gooseberry bushes and pale yellow elderflower gracefully frame a wet stone pathway and the faint hint of classical music is just audible in the background. Ah, the peace and tranquillity. But what’s this? The rain has stopped and the clouds have parted. The garden has taken on a more tropical vibe and I swear the plants have grown bigger. Look what happens when you add some sun!

Sauvignon Blanc is arguably the most recognisable white grape variety around, which also means it can split the judges. This is because along with its zesty, grass and wet stone flavours come distinctive aromas that its fans describe as elderflower, its dissenters as cat pee. Now, you may prefer this pale yellow, green-tinged wine its more reserved, English garden mode, in which case you’d head straight for cool climate France. If you’re more of a party fiend however, digging the louder, more tropical vibe, then head somewhere with a little more sunshine in the New World.

SAUVIGNON BLANC SIPS SAFARI

Top get the measure of this grape, start by comapring three from the most famous regions for it globally:

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No 1: Loire Valley, France

France’s Loire Valley is Sauvignon’s first home and the appellation of Sancerre, which is Sauvignon but named after the village, is the most famous production area. Here you’ll find classic, country garden aromas in a subtle, refined style. For less expensive, more accessible Sauvignon in this still style however, seek out the wines from Touraine. Or, for a more complex, flinty, smoky savvy B, take a peek at the style made in Pouilly Fumé. That’s terroir for you!

Try: Sancerre ‘Les Marennes’, £18.50 om offer (Was £22.50) Waitrose

No 2: Marlborough, New Zealand

Sauvignon has a permanent holiday home in New Zealand, where Marlborough is its most famous region. Equally happy here as it is in France, the flavour volume is turned right up and someone has brought out the tinned asparagus and tropical fruit! You can’t do Sauvignon Blanc without trying one from Marlborough but it’s great all around both islands, especially Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa.

Try: Yealands Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2025, £8 Asda

Sauvignon Blanc 3: Bordeaux, France

Dry Sauvignon Blanc is also a staple in Bordeaux, though it’s often eclipsed by the red wines. It’s one half of the famous white Bordeaux blend and you can also find it here as a single varietal. Look to the Graves sub region for particularly fine white wines that Thomas Jefferson would adore as well as to local, simple and much cheaper, single varietal Sauvignons.

Try: Sainsbury’s Bordeaux Sauvignon, Taste the Difference, £8.50, Sainsbury’s

Also try:

Happily for Savvy B lovers, you can find this grape all over the world now. For amazing value and smoky grapefruit notes, head to cool-climate Chile’s Casablanca and Leyda Valleys. For more powerful style, also look to Napa Valley in California and Elgin and Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Sauvignon Blanc is…

• Pale lemon-green in colour

• Body is usually elegant and light

• All about cut grass, wet stone, elderflower and, sometimes, guava

• The star grape of Sancerre, France and Marlborough, New Zealand

• The world’s greatest grape to pair with goats cheese

The Rhône Valley as a whole is a large wine region that runs for over 200km down through France following the Rhône river, from Lyon to Avignon and beyond. Given the vastly different landscapes from North to South, Rhône Valley wines are split stylistically into two:

• The North, from Vienne to Valence, focussing mainly on Syrah for the reds and Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne for the whites. Here, there’s more focus on wines made from single grape varieties, especially with the reds.

• The South, broadly from Montélimar to Avignon and much wider than the North, its focus is more on blends: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre largely for the reds and Grenache Blanc, Roussanne and Marsanne for the whites.

Where does Côtes du Rhône sit here?

Côtes du Rhône is essentially the Rhône Valley’s calling card: the broad, regional expression that gives you a feel for the house style without zooming in too closely. While the appellation technically stretches across the whole valley north to south, most wines lean towards the warmer, sun-soaked character of the south, built on generous blends rather than single varietal wines or single sites. The real step up comes with the named ‘crus’, places like Hermitage in the north or Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south however, which are not Côtes du Rhône at all, but standalone appellations. These wines are more specific, more structured and often more age-worthy, expressing individual vineyards and terroirs rather than a broader regional style. More on those another time.

The Key Rhône Grapes (for the BOY BAND of wine styles!)

The star grapes of the Rhône Valley are Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre for the reds and Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne for the whites. In the North, the reds are dominated by smoky, savoury Syrah, whereas in the South, wines are usually blends, led by juicy Grenache, then Syrah and Mourvèdre, though there are several other red and white grapes permitted.

Put another way, you could look at these Rhône blends a bit like a boy band, where each key member has been carefully chosen for their particular qualities (and there may be some backing singers on certain tracks). Grenache comes first: the cute, approachable one. Think homemade strawberry jam dripping from a liquorice spoon. Syrah comes next: he’s the complex, brooding type who probably writes all the lyrics. Think of grilled meat with fresh herbs, pepper and violets. Mourvèdre is the party animal of the group. He’s a Pepperami in liquid form: full-on and full-bodied, juicy, unsubtle and savoury but instantly appealing!

Côtes du Rhône Wines: The Hierarchy

Côtes du Rhône AOC: This first level is the largest and covers the whole of the Rhône Valley as I mentioned, though around 90% of production comes from the South. It produces almost as much wine as Bordeaux and is focussed on reds, though there are also whites and rosés (still a relatively small share, roughly 10-15% combined depending on the vintage). “Côte” means ‘slope’, referring to vineyards planted on hillsides rather than directly on the riverbanks.

Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC: While basic Côtes du Rhône can be sourced from across the entire Rhône Valley (with a heavy southern bias), ‘Villages’ wines must come from a more tightly defined selection of communes, largely in the Southern Rhône, where soils, exposure and vine age tend to deliver greater concentration and character. The rules are stricter too, particularly around yields and minimum alcohol levels, resulting in more structured, expressive wines. Production is still dominated by reds (around 85–90%), with whites and rosés making up a much smaller share. In the glass, you’ll generally find a step up in intensity: riper fruit, more depth and a touch more polish - a bit like the band, but now playing a slightly bigger stage with better sound.

Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘Crus’ (+ named village) AOC: A step above the straight ‘villages’ level are the Côtes du Rhône Villages wines with a named village on the label. Think places like Séguret or Visan, where quality and identity tighten further. These wines must come not just from the wider Villages zone, but from specific recognised communes with consistently strong track records. Rules are stricter again, particularly around yields, ripeness and blending, and in many cases the grapes must be grown within the boundaries of that named village. The result is an even more defined expression of place, with greater depth, structure and ageing potential - usually combined with a high price tag. Production remains heavily focused on reds, with whites and rosés still in the minority. In the glass, these wines tend to feel more composed and characterful, like the band starting to develop a signature sound rather than just playing a bigger stage.

Côtes du Rhône Red Wine SIPS SAFARI

If you want to taste what the three levels mean in the glass, seek out these red wines:

Côtes du Rhône, Chassaux et Fils, £5.29 Aldi

Cheap and very cheerful, this is an easy drinking, juicy example that still has a good amount of classic Côtes du Rhône character. Think earthy strawberry with a touch of spice and a savoury finish. Not the most complex but a bargain for the price

Les Dauphins, Côtes du Rhône Villages RED, £12 (£9 on offer now!) Waitrose

A big step up in quality, this gives you your brooding, dark plum fruit with baking spice, a touch of grilled meat and a hint of herbiness. It’s full-bodied and concentrated but velvety with it. A great all-rounder and versatile with food. (try this midweek recipe for a croque monsieur)

Morrisons The Best Côtes du Rhône Villages ‘‘Sablet’, £9.75 Morrisons

Morrisons have pulled a blinder with this wine, which delivers a cracking example of a Sablet ‘cru’ wine for not much cash at all. Silky smooth and savoury, this has a classic, brooding black bramble fruit profile but with a slick of something more stony and mineral. Definitely a food wine.

Want an easy midweek recipe featuring a Côtes du Rhône Villages red? Click here!

As International Women’s Day gives us a chance to shine a light on women in the workplace and the challenges we all still continue to face, be it equal pay, childcare logistics, or even just being taken seriously, it’s a good time to reflect on one woman in the wine industry, who smashed it even before anyone knew what a glass ceiling was. That woman was Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the lady who would become the legendary Veuve (widow) Clicquot and helped turn her champagne business into the global brand that we all know and love today – and all while wearing a corset.

“The world will always change. We must invent things for tomorrow. We must go ahead before others; be determined and challenging. Act audaciously.”

Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin

Who was La Veuve Clicquot?

Born in the winter of 1777 in the city of Reims, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin’s parents, while wealthy, were in the business of textiles rather than wine. Her father’s friend Phillip Clicquot also worked in this realm, so they arranged the marriage of their children to help consolidate the two businesses. As such, Barbe-Nicole married François Clicquot in 1798 at the age of twenty-one and began a life with him at a time when the Napoleonic Code prohibited women from working, earning money, voting or even going to university without their husband or father’s consent. Life as a dutiful wife had begun.

As well as wool trading and banking, François’ family had a small wine-making concern of which he became a partner in the event of his marriage. In 1801, he took over as sole owner and gradually, wine became a larger part of the family’s affairs. On his watch and fuelled by a genuine passion for the business, sales grew from 8,000 bottles a year in 1796 to 60,000 bottles by 1804. Their champagne business was beginning to show potential, and François shared his love for winemaking with his wife, explaining all the various techniques, something that brought the two much closer. Frustratingly for them, the Napoleonic wars (1803-1815) were beginning to take their toll, making it harder and harder to gain traction selling wine. In October of 2005, not helped by the stress of a struggling business, François got very ill and tragically died. There was only one solution as far as François’ father, Philippe, was concerned: to liquidate the business. Widowed Barbe-Nicole, however, at the age of 27, had other plans.

The First Woman in Wine

A woman at the helm. Tenacious and instinctive, as well as a single mother to a three-year-old, Barbe-Nicole was determined to keep her champagne business alive. While French society women were not allowed to work, widows were free to run their own businesses and she intended to make the most out of this tragic twist of fate. Convincing her father-in-law to assist with funds on the proviso that she took more formal training and honed her craft, Barbe-Nicole made champagne the sole family business. François’ passion had translated into genuine winemaking skill for her, and she shrewdly made bold choices and invented processes that are still used in champagne production today.

Three Major Inventions

On 21 July 1810, Barbe-Nicole launched her own company: Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. By 1811, she was the first to make a ‘vintage champagne’; wine from a single harvest instead of a blend of many (non-vintage). Naval blockades were stopping shipments from France to her biggest clients abroad, but she persisted and together with an old friend of the business to whom she turned for regular advice, she devised a way to sneak a ship through the blockades, sending it to Russia, despite Czar Alexander having banned all French exports. From her society life, she knew the Russian palate would fall for her style of wine. It was a huge gamble, but one that paid off because as soon as the bans were lifted, the courts of Russia began to order large shipments of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne. Ever forward-thinking and keen to continue to increase the quality of her wine, Barbe-Nicole set her mind to finding a way to create more elegant bubbles. In 1816, she invented riddling, a process used to clarify wine, where dead yeast cells are collected in the necks of bottles and then removed, giving a beautiful, clear liquid rather than a cloudy one like her competitors. This was game-changing for the sparkling wine industry, both in terms of increasing quality and the speed with which it could be made. It was with this element of winemaking that Barbe-Nicole helped to make the region of Champagne the most famous in the world for sparkling wine.

In perhaps the best-known part of her legacy, however, the year 1818 saw La Veuve create the very first rosé champagne by blending red and white wine together. Champagne is still now the only official region where this process is officially allowed to make pink wine. In a letter to her granddaughter in later years, Barbe-Nicole, La Grande Dame of Veuve Clicquot champagne, wrote, “The world will always change. We must invent things for tomorrow. We must go ahead before others; be determined and challenging. Act audaciously.”

Here’s a woman who could have comfortably been kept by her family but refused to conform, ignoring the pitying looks and the scoffing as she, a woman, dared to build a truly international business. To mark their 200 year anniversary back in 1972, the house now simply called Veuve Clicquot, launched a new cuvée at the very top of their range: La Grande Dame. With a rosé version and a white, La Grande Dame is made only in exceptional vintages with grapes from the house’s Grand Cru vineyards. It is a style of champagne that blends elegance with exuberance seamlessly, just like the lady herself – the ultimate homage to everything Barbe-Nicole had done not just for the business but for the whole story of Champagne.

This piece was originally written by me for Luxurious Magazine

Is anyone else craving wines that taste like sunshine now that the hot yellow ball in the sky has FINALLY made an appearance?

For me, few places in the Med call me quite Sicily. Perhaps it’s because it sounds like citrus and sizzling or maybe it’s the truly ancient history that is still so physically visible there? Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve been making wine since around 4000BC, so it’s truly in their DNA? Maybe it’s all of it.

This Italian island has been shaped by thousands of years of conquest and reinvention from the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans to Arabs and even Normans, each of whom left their mark on the landscape, the food, the architecture and inevitably, the vines. But Sicily doesn’t flaunt its history like many other, much younger wine regions do. It just gets on with it. As a result, Sicilian wines all share a very special trait, which combines a deep ‘knowing’ with a quintessentially laid back, Italian character and the subtlest seam of tension that reminds us that this is a volcanic island after all.

Over the next month, I’ll be doing a bit of a Sicilian takeover here, so let’s start with getting to know the grapes and I’ll be back soon with more about producers to get to know, food and wine pairing and which wineries are good for a visit and some lovely nosh. For now though, GRAPES:

Sicily’s Indigenous Grapes: A Vinous Treasure Trove

Italy is well known as the country with the most indigenous grape varieties, boasting more than France, Spain and Greece combined! Sicily itself is home to 60 of them; more than almost any other Italian region. These ancient vines have evolved to thrive in the island’s extremes of heat and volcanic soils producing bold wines with great character that showcase an astonishing sense of place - all the while offering exceptional value for money. Here are the grapes you need to know with some fantastic ones to try - not always the cheapest, but amongst the BEST.

RED Sicilian Grapes

Nero d’Avola is Sicily’s calling card for red wines, producing ripe and rustic, earthy reds with notes of purple plum, cocoa powder and balsamic. It’s a dreamy pairing with grilled meat and anything tomato-based.

Try: Gulfi Rosso Ibleo Nero d’Avola, £21.95 from Fortnum & Mason

Frappato offers the opposite style, making lighter, strawberry-scented reds with zippy acidity that love a chill on warm days. They’re delicate, fruity and seriously easy drinking - perfect for light lunches that feature cold cuts or oily fish too.

Try: Santa Tresa Frappato 2024, £10.95 from The Wine Society

Nerello Mascalese, which thrives on Mount Etna’s volcanic slopes, delivers elegant reds with clearly defined texture, haunting, more subtle red fruit notes and pleasing, mineral edge. If you like Barolo, you’ll enjoy this. It can age too!

Try: Armagia Etna Rosso 2019, £17.99 from Laithwaites

Cerasuolo di Vittoria: A style rather than a single grape variety, look out for this famous name. It’s actually made with a blend of Frappato with Nero d’Avola, so offers a delicate, red-fruit lightness with some earthy, plummy undertones. There’s nothing better with rich veggie pastas and caponata’s sweet-sour notes.

Santa Tresa, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicilia 2021, £17.99 The Wine Society

WHITE Sicilian Grapes

Grillo is a fabulous go-to in any Italian restaurant. It screams seafood and hot afternoons with its zesty, mandarin and lemon notes combined with some exotic, pineapple flavours. This is also the grape that makes the famous wines of Marsala.

Terra Organica Parcel Series No. 1 Grillo, £10.40, Ocado

Catarratto on the other hand, offers softer, more textural whites with baked apple flavours, a hint of wildflowers and often, a subtle nuttiness. It loves light fish dishes, clams and any kind of Mediterranean vegetables.

Try: Da Vero Organic Catarratto, £9.79, Vino Fandango

Carricante at its best, hails from high on Etna’s slopes. Different again, think crisp, lemon citrus with green apple and a salty, stony finish that feels clean and refreshing. It makes excellent fizz too. A must with grilled sardines or anything in batter.

Try: Kew Gardens Carricante 2023, £8.99 (was £12.99) Laithwaites

Stay tuned for more on this sun-drenched, Italian island! In the meantime, why not look at these articles:

Why aren’t all wines vegan?

Understanding Bordeaux Reds

A Sips Safari through the Verdejo Wines of Rueda, Spain

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As those of us in the UK LONG for spring time, I thought I’d introduce you all to a grape that embodies mountain springs, white flowers and fresh air. It’s Grüner Veltliner: the Spritely Goat Dude of Wine Grapes.

Here’s the Vinalogy…

High on a hill lives our spritely goat herd. This lean old man of the mountain is feeling pretty Grü-V and who wouldn’t with all that steely alpine air, a carpet of pretty white flowers and fresh, green herbs laid out so beautifully before him? This lively, ginger bearded dude has a daily diet of green apples and mineral-rich stream water to keep him young - and he manages to stay as fresh as his Alpine surroundings with every year that passes. It’s just the white peppery streaks in his ginger beard and a creamy, apricot-skin softness that give away his age.

Austria’s flagship white grape Grüner Veltliner is what those in the know drink in restaurants these days as a great catch-all foodie wine. It’s fresh and dry without extremes of flavour, yet has enough about it to stand up to all sorts of dishes from fish and salads to cheese and white meats.

Traditionally drunk young, Grü-V exudes the mountain freshness of those white flowers and herbs, with green apple edging in as well as a sprinkling of white pepper and a kick of ginger on the finish. Some of the top versions can also age incredibly well and elegantly, so much so that they have been likened to white Burgundy with their creamy texture, weight and pineapple-like complexity.

FUN FACT!

‘Grüner’ means green, which aptly describes its yellow-green coloured berries but it also happens to be one of very few wines that can handle asparagus!

GRÜNER VELTLINER SIPS SAFARI

Grüner Veltliner 1: Austria

Try: No 1 Grüner Veltliner, £12.30, Waitrose

As its signature grape, there really is no other place to start other than Austria. For the very best versions, check out the regions of Wachau where they are fairly powerful (look for “Smaragd” on the label) and Kamptal and Kremstal, where they become lighter in style (look for “Steinfeder”), all in the northeastern part of the country.

Grüner Veltliner 2: Czech Republic

Try: Thaya Gruner Veltliner 2024, £11.95, The Wine Society

Lesser known but not for long, the Moravia region in the Czech Republic is becoming increasingly known for high-quality Grüner Veltliner. The region shares a similar climate to Austria and has ideal conditions for it, producing versions that are typically lighter and fresher than Austrian ones.

Gruner Veltliner 3: New Zealand

Try: Yealands Reserve Grüner Veltliner 2022, ND John £16.95

While New Zealand is more commonly associated with Sauvignon and Pinot, we’re now seeing some delicious Gruner Veltliner (note no umlaut in NZ) coming out of Marlborough and Martinborough particularly. These wines tend to showcase a unique twist on the variety, combining New Zealand’s characteristic freshness and vibrancy with Gruner’s classic flavours like white pepper.

Grüner Veltliner is…

🎨 Pale, sunshine yellow in colour

🏋️‍♂️ Lean, cool, mineral and complex

👃 All about green apple, grapefruit and refreshing acidity

📍 The star white grape of Austria

🍴 Loves all sorts of food and - even asparagus!

If you’re in the UK at the moment, it’s DISGUSTING outside and it has been - and will be - for ages. Time for a comforting, red wine, rich in purple plum, damson jam, ripe figs and baking spice. Enter Zinfandel aka Primitivo: the Godfather of wine grapes. It’s also national Pizza Day on february the 9th, so if yours is with spicy pepperoni or nduja, this is the red you’ll want. (Don’t want to read below? Watch the video :)

The Vinalogy

Fancy cosying up with a Hollywood Icon? How about an enigmatic and bold heavyweight of a leading man who demands attention? Someone with a long career history? Throw in a penchant for strong alcohol, an intriguing European heritage and there could be several contenders. If that’s who you’re after then it has got to be Zinfandel: the Godfather of wine grapes, Marlon Brando in a bottle.

Why? Full-on, full-bodied and often high in % ABV (like our friend Mr. B), Zinfandel does not make the most subtle wine. It oozes black cherry jam, sweet prune and spicy fig flavours together with a fair whack of tannin that’ll stain your teeth bright blue. It has been genetically linked to Italy’s Primitivo and Croatia’s Crljenak Kastelanski grapes (did you know Marlon also has European heritage?), but the Californian treatment has made Zin a star with a legacy of old vines dating back over a hundred years. That dollop of sweetness is the perfect foil for chilli spice too.

FUN FACT! ‘White Zinfandel’ is, confusingly, actually a pink or ‘blush’ wine. It’s made from the same red Zinfandel grape, so could really be called ‘Zinfandel rosé’

ZINFANDEL SIPS SAFARI

Zinfandel 1: California

California is the most important region for Zinfandel production in the world with some old vineyards dating back over 100 years. Here in the Golden state, the style is typically full-bodied and rich, with flavours of dark fig, spice, pepper or chocolate. It especially shines in Lodi, where it’s properly powerful and gets a little more elegant towards the coast in Sonoma. Here’s a benchmark bottle that’s great value:

Try: Carnivor Zinfandel, £12 Tesco

Zinfandel 2: Italy

In Italy, we have Primitivo, which is almost genetically identical to Zinfandel and is predominantly grown in Puglia in the south of the country with Manduria being the best known region for it. Primitivo has a long history in Italy and Puglia’s hot, Mediterranean climate allows it to ripen fully, producing bold, rustic wines with intense flavours of sweet fig and chocolate and sometimes, a savoury, balsamic note. Here’s a benchmark bottle:

Try: Terre di Faiano Organic Primitivo, £9.50 until 03/03 (was £11.50), Waitrose

Zinfandel 3: Croatia

Croatia is the ancestral home of Zinfandel, though production is small compared to California and Puglia. Croatian Zinfandel (or rather Crljenak Kastelanski), is seeing a revival, particularly in the Dalmatian coast region, where it makes wines that are usually more restrained with more pronounced mineral and herbaceous notes than their American and Italian counterparts. It’s really hard to find these in the UK but Taste Croatia in Borough Market, London would be a place to look, else try this:

Try: Krolo Crljenak Kaštelanski, 29.99 EURO, croatiarevealed

SPLASH OUT

Louis M. Martini ‘Monte Rosso Gnarly Vine’ Zinfandel 2019, £64 Mix 6 Majestic

Yes, it’s pricey but this wine is a masterclass in going big and bold, but keeping everything cinched in and elegant. The classic iron fist in a velvet glove with layers and layers of flavour. Simply stunning.

Want to get to know more grapes? Check out my bite-sized videos and don’t forget to subscribe for more drinks recommendations and learnies. Cin cin!

Helena x

As we think about toasting another brand new year, here’s a delicious little historical bombshell for you: the English officially invented sparkling wine. Yes, really. Before you spit out your Bollinger in shock however, let me explain.

Picture this: It’s 1615 in England and Admiral Sir Robert Mansell is getting twitchy. Britain’s furnaces are guzzling wood like there’s no tomorrow, turning it into charcoal, so there’s barely any left to build ships. In the age of the all-powerful East India Company, ships equal wealth and Britain desperately needs all its timber for the fleet. Mansell persuaded King James I to issue a Royal Proclamation banning wood and charcoal for furnaces and getting production to use coal instead, which he did - and here’s where it gets interesting.

A Happy Accident

Coal burns at a much hotter temperature than wood, which means British glassmakers suddenly found themselves producing stronger glass bottles that could withstand significantly more pressure. On the back of this, a new ‘shaft and globe’ shaped bottle was developed by Sir Kenelm Digby, which became known as verre Anglais (English glass). Add to this the British wine coopers’ preference for proper cork stoppers rather than the tightly packed rags the French were using (I mean, really?) and you’ve got yourself a new blueprint for fizz-making. The French wouldn’t have access to this technology for decades. Remember, this is around 1615 and the Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon didn’t even start working in the wine cellars at Hautvilliers until 1668.

The English Paper Trail

Enter Christopher Merret, a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians as well as a founding fellow of the Royal Society. He had many interests including natural history, metallurgy and a mild glass obsession and in 1662, he wrote a paper for the Royal Society about ‘ordering’ wines, i.e. how wines were handled, corrected, preserved and made more appealing in the trade. Within this paper, he documented the process of adding sugar to wine to create a second fermentation in the bottle - the part of the process that creates the bubbles or as he put it, to make the wine ‘brisk and sparkling’. This is a full 30 years before the French started deliberately doing this. Merret even coined the term sparkling wine, which was now a possibility thanks to corks and stronger glass. So, sparkling wine now existed - but it was a far cry from the glorious fizz that what we know and love today.

What About Dom Pérignon?

Poor Dom Pérignon has been carrying a reputation he never wanted. Far from inventing Champagne, he was actually trying to stop the secondary fermentation that gives wine bubbles because it kept making his bottles explode. He called this exploding fizz ‘the devil’s wine’ which, while it sounds pretty cool, was not the vibe he was going for. What he did do brilliantly however, was everything else. The man was a genius at blending grapes from different vineyards (what we now call assemblage), perfecting the art of making white wine from black grapes, implementing rigorous vineyard management and yes, eventually embracing those stronger English glass bottles and better cork closures. His meticulous approach to quality transformed Champagne region wines into the prestigious tipple that caught the eye of King Louis XIV. So while Dom Pérignon wasn’t the bubble pioneer, he did lay the groundwork for quality Champagne production. This is why he has been lauded in the Champagne industry and why Moët et Chandon named their top Champagne after him - not because he ‘tasted the stars’. That bit is just great marketing.

A Beautiful, Joint Anglo-French Effort

So, while it’s true that the English provided the crucial technology and technical know-how that made sparkling wine possible, the French took that knowledge, ran with it and created an entire industry, complete with geographical indication, protected production methods and marketing so good that most of the world thinks they invented the whole thing. So next time you pop open a bottle of fizz, remember: you’re drinking a little piece of Anglo-French cooperation, born from a timber shortage and perfected by a monk who thought he was fighting the devil.

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Let’s drink to that with two brilliant English Sparkling wines made by famous Champagne houses who have chosen to plant vines in England. Huzzah!

Domaine Evremond Classic Cuvée Edition I NV, £55 Majestic Wines

Domaine Evremond is a partnership between Champagne Taittinger and their British friends at Hatch Mansfield and it was the first Champagne house to plant vines in England from scratch back in 2017. Located near the impossibly pretty village of Chilham in Kent, the estate sits on south-facing slopes with the same chalky soil seam as the Champagne region itself. Their debut wine finally arrived in spring 2025: the Classic Cuvée Edition I. It’s a blend of 55% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Meunier across three vintages (2020, 2019, and 2018), fermented in stainless steel with three years of lees ageing. Named after Charles de Saint-Évremond, the 17th-century French epicurean who first championed Champagne in England, this is Anglo-French wine collaboration at its finest. The wine itself? Pure, elegant and with a distinctly English, baked apple note complete with a beautiful mineral backbone that Kent does so well.

Louis Pommery England Brut NV, £30 Tesco, £32 Majestic mix 6

Louis Pommery England was the first commercial English sparkling wine made by a Champagne house available to buy. Madame Pommery herself was an anglophile who pioneered the Brut style of Champagne back in 1874 specifically for the English palate, so there’s a beautiful symmetry to Pommery now making wine on English soil. Their Pinglestone Estate in Hampshire sits on the same vein of chalk that runs through the Champagne region like Evremond in Kent, with vines also planted in 2017. Their first vintage was made with grapes sourced by neighbours in Hampshire and Essex with the first vintage from their own site in 2021. The wine itself is predominantly Chardonnay with a good slug of Pinot Noir and a touch of Pinot Meunier, made in the traditional method by their winemaker Clément Pierlot. What you get is crisp and tangy. Think green apple, lemon zest, brioche and honeycomb, with a distinctive English freshness and purity.

Want to know more about Sir Kenelm Digby? Check out the book The Knight Who Invented Champagne by Stephen Skelton MW.

Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy 2026!

It’s right about now that we remember that Port exists. Shame really, as it’s such a fabulous tipple all year round. Here’s a super quick guide to the various styles so you know which to gift, sip or cook with…

Port wine is arguably the world’s most famous fortified wine. If it were a pudding, it would be a Black Forest gateau with its layers of dark fruit and chocolate with brighter cherry notes - and the more cream you put on your spoon, the more into tawny and white Port styles you go. It’s produced in Portugal’s Douro Valley and there are up to 80 different native grapes that are allowed to go into it.

The 14 Styles of Port

There are a whopping fourteen official styles of Port including white, rosé and some specialty Ports. White and rosé styles stand alone but the two main categories for everything else are Ruby and Tawny. Ruby Ports are the powerful, deep red-black coloured ones made in large vats with a focus on fresher fruit flavours, while Tawny Ports are paler and more nutty, aged with oxygen in wooden barrels. Here’s an overview of all the styles:

Ruby Port

While Ruby is the general term for anything that’s not Tawny, white or pink, if it’s labelled with the word ‘ruby’, it’s the most basic style: Young and deeply coloured, with quite burny alcohol and fresh blackberry and cherry flavours.

Reserve Ruby is a small step up in quality, with more depth and complexity thanks to a slightly longer ageing period. This is also (lesser) known as Vintage Character Port.

Tawny Port

Tawny is a term for barrel-aged Ports known for their nutty, creamy, caramel flavours. It gets its name from its amber or ‘tawny’ colour, which develops over time due to extended ageing in wooden barrels and it comes in 3 key styles:

Basic Tawny is the youngest, which will have been aged in small oak barrels for 2 to 3 years, whereas Reserve Tawny will have had at least 7 years. Then you have Aged Tawny Ports, which are labelled with 10, 20, 30, or 40 years, indicating the average age of the wine in the bottle as it will be a blend of vintages.

There are also Colheita and Single Quinta Colheita Ports which are both technically Tawnies too. Colheita means ‘vintage’ in Portuguese so it’s a tawny made with grapes from one single year. Quinta means estate in Portuguese so a Single Quinta Colheita is a vintage Tawny that comes from a single estate. These wines express their vineyard terroir very strongly.

Vintage Port

The default with Port is to make non vintage wines, i.e. a blend of wines from several years, and only make vintage Port when conditions in one year were exceptional. A bit like in Champagne. There is no universal ‘vintage year’ declared by all producers though. Each house decides independently whether to declare a vintage, as they call it, based on their own quality benchmarks.

Vintage Port, because it’s technically a Ruby, starts life ageing for 2-3 years in large vats before being bottled where it continues to age, often over decades, to develop remarkable complexity, with lovely dried fruit, leather and earthy notes. This style is pure bottled potential and a great one to buy to lay down for years to mature.

Single Quinta Vintage Ports however are wines from one year and one single estate. ‘quinta’ again means estate. Style-wise, these are similar to Vintage Ports but are often softer and can be enjoyed slightly younger.

LBV stands for Late Bottled Vintage and this is a Vintage Port that is aged longer than standard vintage Port before bottling i.e. between 4–6 years - and in oak barrels. This means that unlike Vintage Port, LBV is ready to drink upon release. It can be filtered, which means it doesn’t need decanting, or unfiltered, which means it can improve with additional bottle age but will need decanting before serving.

White Port

White Port is traditionally always a blend of different years and local grapes and can range from dry to sweet. These days, it is quite the trending aperitif alternative to gin - White Port and tonic. Dry styles are citrusy, nutty and floral, while sweeter versions have honey and caramel nuances. The very sweetest, most floral White Ports are known as Lágrima style.

White Port can be aged too and like Tawny, will have the average age of the wines on the label, so 10, 20, 30 etc. These aged White Ports take on intriguing characteristics with flavours like dried tropical fruit and nutmeg

Rosé Port

A relatively new style, Rosé Port is made with the same grapes as ruby and tawnies, allowing the juice minimal contact with the skins to produce a light pink colour. It’s fresh and fruity, with red berry flavours.

Speciality Ports

There are also two types of Speciality port to look out for: Crusted and Garrafeira.

Crusted Port is a delightful sounding style that has nothing to do with hippies. Instead, it’s a blend of high-quality Port wines from multiple vintages, bottled without filtration to develop in the bottle so they throw a sediment, hence the name. These can taste similar to Vintage Ports and are generally cheaper.

Garrafeira Port on the other hand is a very rare style produced by only a few Port houses and is somewhere between a vintage and a tawny port style. It has its own distinct, very complex style thanks to using a combination of barrel and glass ageing in demi-johns for many years.

Fun Fact!

Taylor’s, Graham’s, Cockburn’s? Ever wondered why lots of the Port names are British? Well, There’s been a strong British influence in Port since the 1600s when England was at odds with France, leading to trade restrictions, so British merchants looked to Portugal as an alternative wine source. They formed close commercial ties with Portuguese winemakers and in 1703, there was a treaty drawn up that allowed British merchants to import wines at reduced tariffs. Many British families decided to move there to set up Port houses in Porto and the Douro Valley, establishing the famous brands we know today.

Clear as mud? Good!

Fancy another lesson? Check out this piece on the red wines of Bordeaux, or this article on the white wines of Rueda - or even this piece on the various styles of Sherry! And while we’re at it, why aren’t all wines vegan?

Zoë Ombler the Epicurean Chef and just hosted our first Corks & Canapés event: a wine masterclass held by me, with perfectly paired nibbles created by Zoë. The first topic for our wine lovers? The white wines of Rueda, Spain!

D.O. RUEDA: What you need to know

White wine fans looking to expand their repertoire will love getting to know the underrated, Spanish white wine region of D.O. Rueda. D.O. stands for ‘Denominación de Origen’, which essentially guarantees that the wine in the bottle comes from the legally defined Rueda region and meets its strict rules on grapes, vineyard practices and winemaking standards. You’ll find Rueda nestled high on the central plains of Castile and León, occupying a sweeping terrain around the town of Rueda in the provinces of Valladolid, Segovia and Ávila.

Verdejo: Rueda’s flagship grape

While a handful of reds and rosés are made in Rueda, the region is most famous for its expressive, indigenous white grape Verdejo, which has been grown in the area for centuries and truly finds its voice here. Classic notes for Verdejo are fennel and citrus, crushed herbs and salted almonds with crisp acidity and a texture reminiscent of lime wine gums. If you like Sauvignon Blanc, you will love Verdejo.

Given the fairly high altitudes of the area, which range roughly from 600m to 780m above sea level, nights are cool despite sunny days. This helps to give these grapes a particular freshness, while stony, lime-rich and well drained soils also contribute to wine’s hallmark purity and finesse.

Check out my video wine course!

Rueda White Wines: The Three Tiers

Rueda offers a surprisingly wide spectrum of styles, all centred on its star grape, Verdejo. At the entry level, you’ll find bright, stainless-steel wines that show the grape at its freshest: citrus, green apple, fennel and that signature almond-skin nip on the finish. Step up a tier and producers begin to work with lees, allowing the wines to gain texture, savoury depth and a more serious mineral core - proof that Verdejo can be far more than a simple aperitif. At the top of the tree sits Gran Vino de Rueda; a label that stands for Verdejo at its most refined and site-specific. The fruit for these must come from genuinely old, low-yielding vineyards, which naturally deliver greater concentration, depth and varietal character. Winemakers treat these parcels with corresponding reverence using extended lees ageing, careful bâtonnage and, in some cases, discreet oak to allow texture and complexity to build without overwhelming Verdejo’s hallmark freshness. Crucially, these wines express the stony, high-altitude terroirs of Rueda with far more clarity, resulting in structured, age-worthy whites that show just how serious this region can be.

Of course, there’s also the region’s quiet overachiever: sparkling Verdejo. Made in both traditional and charmat methods (like Prosecco), these wines take the grape’s natural acidity and herbal lift and turn it into something crisp, effervescent and unexpectedly elegant. Together, they show just how versatile Verdejo can be and why Rueda, long known for freshness, is fast becoming one of Spain’s most exciting white-wine regions.

What food to pair with Rueda wines?

Verdejo makes extremely versatile white wines. When fresh and young, it particularly loves anything light, zesty or tangy. Think grilled prawns, ceviche, green olives, goat’s cheese salads or sushi. Its citrus, fennel and herbal notes make it a natural partner for dishes with lime, coriander or a gentle chilli kick. Lees-aged or textural Verdejo has the weight for roast chicken, creamy pasta, octopus, richer tapas and dishes with saffron or smoked paprika. The added savoury depth means it stands up well to umami flavours. Gran Vino de Rueda pairs beautifully with more serious plates: roast monkfish, turbot, Iberian pork, truffle risotto or mature Manchego. Its structure and complexity echo white Burgundy territory, so it can carry richer sauces and layered flavours with ease. Here’s what the Epicurean Sailor Zoë Ombler paired at our inaugural Corks & Canapés event:

Deep Fried Feta Stuffed Olives: The perfect partner to our sparkling Verdejo

Manchego crusted potatoes with spicy roasted garlic ajonesa: An ideal pairing for our young and fresh verdejos.

Marinated paprika pork ribeye with red pepper sauce: This calls for the richer, more textured barrel-fermented wines.

THE WINES

Palacio de Bornos, Brut Nature NV, 100% Verdejo, 12% £17.95 from Ultracomida

Notable points: A great example of a traditional method wine made with 100% Verdejo.

Diez Siglos Organic 100% Sauvignon Blanc 2024, 13.5%, £11.99 from Kwoff

Notable points: A classic youthful Sauvignon Blanc to make the comparaion between this and Verdejo.

Celeste Verdejo 2024, 100% Verdejo, 13%, £15.50 from Vinissimus

Notable points: Young, simple Verdejo made in stainless steel for freshness and some lees for texture. Slightly riper style due to vineyard soils and location.

Finca Montepedroso 2024, 100% Verdejo, 12.5% , £14.49 from Strictly Wine

Notable points: Young, simple Verdejo grown at higher altitudes and made in stainless steel for freshness balanced by lees ageing and some batonnage for creaminess, texture and agebility.

Cuatro Rayas Longverdejo 2023, 100% Verdejo 12.5%, £17.95 from Terra Wines

Notable points: Gran Vino de Rueda is the top tier within the Rueda appellation; a category created to spotlight the region’s most serious, age-worthy, vineyard-specific wines. Made with pre-phylloxera, ungrafted vines, so this shows the character of the areas and the old vineyards. Use of oak, lees and batonnage for creaminess and spice.

Naìades 2021, 100% Verdejo, 14%, £27.37 from Decantalo

Notable points: Barrel ageing for texture, flavour and spice with lees aging for richness.

Have you ever tried wine from Rueda? Share your thoughts with me below!

Want more regional overviews and recommendations in your inbox? Subscribe to my free newsletter! Don’t want o miss out on the next Corks & Canapés event? Get your name on the list here to be the first to know.

As it’s officially Sherry Week, I wanted to continue to bang the drum for these moreishly saline, food friendly sippers. Here’s why it’s time to reacquaint ourselves with these unique wines from the sun-soaked vineyards of southern Spain.

Wine? Spirit? Liqueur? What exactly is Sherry?

In recent years, Sherry has had a renaissance. Younger generations discovering its charms, Sherry bars are popping up in trendy neighbourhoods worldwide and restaurant lists now boast numerous offerings. But what is it exactly? In a nutshell, Sherry is a fortified wine that hails from a triangle of villages in Spain’s Andalusia and more often than not, it is bone dry. Yes, there are several types of sweet Sherry, naturally so or not so naturally so, but when wine lovers talk about authentic Sherry, it’s the dry stuff they mean.

It all starts with Palomino Fino grapes, which are grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. Being an ‘Old World’ (European, essentially) wine style, it takes its name from the place rather than the grapes and ‘Sherry’ is just a slightly confusing English translation of ‘Jerez’.

For dry Sherries, wine is made by grapes in the normal way, with a splash of brandy or grape spirit added at the end to fortify the wine. The historical reasons for doing this were many, but the key reason was to raise the wine’s alcohol content to make it less susceptible to spoilage, especially during transportation. After all, the Andalusian climate is warm and humid, so normal wine would go off very quickly in the days before air conditioning.

What makes the dry styles of Sherry unique?

It’s what happens once the wine is fortified and put into wooden barrels that the Sherry magic happens. A small amount of space is left as the liquid ages and the region’s humidity causes a thin layer of yeast called ‘flor’ to develop on the top of the wine, which helps protect it from being completely oxidised. Whether this flor layer remains intact or not and how long it remains then defines the final style of the Sherry inside the barrel. Here’s a rundown of the five, stunningly dry Sherry styles followed by the sweeter ones:

✨ Read the full article on Substack HERE ✨

Manzanilla (15-17% abv typically)

Manzanilla is the seaside cousin of the famous Fino and has an unmistakable maritime vibe. It can only be made in the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda and has a characteristic chamomile note (manzanilla is Spanish for chamomile). It also tends to be a touch lighter and more saline than Fino. Picture sipping the sea breeze captured in a bottle with a delightful, fresh bread yeastiness. Great with savoury snacks and salty cheeses.

Try: La Gitana Manzanilla NV, £15.50 from Waitrose

Fino (15-17% abv typically)

Fino is a similarly pale and bone-dry style that’s as crisp as a newly ironed shirt. Unlike Manzanilla, it can be produced in any of the three towns within the Sherry Triangle and has more of a roasted, salted almond note with hints of crunchy apple. A great aperitif that also loves salty snacks and can cut through fried food like a blade. It’s also awesome with tonic. Incidentally, the famously sweet ‘cream’ sherries that Granny loves are often Finos with added concentrated grape must or grape syrup.

Try: Tio Pepe Fino, £13.50 from Sainsbury’s

Amontillado (17-22% ABV typically)

While both Manzanilla and Fino are made with wines where the flor layer has stayed intact, Amontillado is what you get when flor is removed. Starting life as a Fino, it spends time ageing in barrels before having a slosh of brandy for fortification. This spirited wine then moves to a new barrel, where it begins its journey into oxidative ageing, resulting in a darker, amber colour with notes of roasted nuts, tobacco, spice and dried fruit, all the while keeping a tangy saltiness. Amontillado can also have a bit of PX (see below) added for sweetness.

Try: Gonzalez Byass Vina AB Amontillado £14.50 from The Champagne Company

Oloroso (16-20% ABV typically)

Made deliberately without any flor from the start and subjected to extensive ageing, Oloroso is the darkest dry Sherry style and is full-bodied, concentrated and complex. Silky smooth and intensely nutty in character, it has wonderfully Christmassy notes of dried raisins, figs and salted caramel. Stunning alone but it also loves mature cheeses and can handle game too.

Try: No.1 Emilio Lustau Dry Oloroso, £13.95 from Waitrose

Palo Cortado (17-22% ABV typically)

Palo Cortado is the style to ask for in a bar if you want to show off your Sherry skills. Made often unintentionally when the flor layer naturally dies away on wines destined to be Fino or Amontillado, PC combines the dryness of Amontillado with the nuttiness and body of Oloroso. Think tangy, salted almonds, hazelnuts, dried fruits, toffee, and vanilla oak. It’s what the Sherry hipsters are drinking!

Try: Apostoles Gonzalez Byass Palo Cortado, £25 (mix 6 price ) for a half bottle, Majestic

What About Sweet Sherry?

There’s nothing at all wrong with these stalwart, sweeter styles and they still sell by the truck load during the festive season; it’s just not what the Sherry revolution is about. Here are the styles to know:

Pedro Ximenez (15-17% abv typically)

PX, as it is affectionately known, is a sweet style of Sherry made with very ripe, white, Pedro Ximenez grapes, which are air dried on mats to concentrate sugars and flavours before being gently pressed. The lusciously sweet juice is then aged in barrels for a long time - sometimes decades, to achieve a thick, dark, treacley consistency and flavours of dried fig and baking spice. These are fortified early, before fermentation really begins, so sugar remains sky-high while alcohol is moderate. Stuff the chocolate sauce, pour this over your ice cream! Note: This is not the sweet ‘cream’ sherry beloved by elderly parents at Christmastime.

Try: Tesco Finest Pedro Ximenez Sherry, £7.50 from Tesco

Moscatel (15–18% abv typically)

Made from the intensely aromatic Muscat of Alexandria grape, Moscatel Sherry is all sunshine and orange blossom. The grapes are sometimes sun-dried to boost sweetness before being gently fortified, keeping plenty of natural sugar intact. Expect notes of honey, candied citrus peel and dried apricot wrapped up in a golden glow. It’s less treacly than PX - more marmalade glaze than molasses - and it works beautifully with fruit tarts or blue cheese.

Try Lustau Moscatel Emilin, £27.50 on Master of Malt

Pale Cream Sherry (15–17% abv typically)

Born from the dry, delicate world of Fino and Manzanilla, Pale Cream is made from these dry sherries sweetened with unfermented grape must to smooth the edges and go down more easily. Light straw in colour and gently floral, it has notes of bruised apple, almond and vanilla syrup. Best served chilled, it’s a bridge for those dipping their toes into the world of sherry, especially as an aperitif or alongside pâté and salted nuts.

Try Waitrose Blueprint Pale Cream Sherry, £9.95 from Waitrose

Medium Sherry (17–19% abv typically)

A halfway house between dry and sweet, Medium sherry starts life as an Amontillado or Oloroso before being softened with a touch of Pedro Ximénez or concentrated grape must. The result? A burnished amber beauty with notes of caramel, orange peel, and roasted nuts. It’s more off-dry and moreish, like the the Goldilocks of sherries: not too sweet, not too dry.

Try: Romate Don José A Selection Oloroso Medium Dry £11.50, The Wine Society

Cream Sherry (17–20% abv typically)

The classic after-dinner style, Cream sherry is a blend of rich, nutty Oloroso with luscious PX for sweetness and texture. Expect toffee, coffee, walnut and dried fruit aromas with a silky, velvety finish that lingers. It’s the ultimate fireside sip, best served with a box of quality streets or sticky toffee pudding.

Try Gonzalez Byass Solera 1847, £16.50 from Master of Malt

Let me know which styles you have tried in the comments of come and fine me on socials @helenasips. Thanks for reading!

Why aren’t all wines vegan when they’re made with grapes?

It’s true, sometimes wine isn’t vegan but whether you’d still drink it or not depends on how strict your veganism is.

You see, all wines start off a bit cloudy with little particles floating around such as proteins, tannins or dead yeast cells. It’s just that what normally happens next is that the wine goes through a process to remove those bits and make the liquid clear and bright so it’s more commercially acceptable.

There are various ways to stop a wine being cloudy with many winemakers opting for a process called fining, where they run certain substances through the wine to help bind the particles together. Once this has happened, the combined particles either fall to the bottom of the tank or can be filtered out. Whatever substance has been used for the fining is then removed from the wine with the particles so that by the time the wine is bottled, there is little to no trace of it. Still, because there has been physical contact with the wine, it matters what was used.

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Substances like bentonite clay or activated charcoal are vegan friendly and very effective for fining but in some places around the world, they still use old fashioned, animal-derived substances like albumin, which comes from eggs or isinglass, which comes from fish bones. Wines that have been fined with these can therefore not be considered vegan, even if though any trace is negligible.

No US, EU or British law requires producers to list fining agents (such as egg white, casein, or isinglass) unless they are still present in the final wine at detectable levels and could cause an allergic reaction.

The good news is that for quite a while now, many wineries have switched to the vegan-friendly alternatives. The challenge there is that not everyone wants the expense and paperwork associated with getting that word officially onto the label, so even if a wine doesn’t say it’s suitable for vegans on it, it might well still be vegan. A bit frustrating! It is absolutely something to be aware of and thankfully, it’s becoming much easier to find wines that are clearly labelled vegan than it used to be.

Don’t want top read? Watch my video instead! Watch the Video!

It’s the 31st December and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be thinking ahead to things you want to achieve and things you want to leave behind in 2026. I’ll personally be reading more, moving more and writing more of what fills me with joy, which for this hub, means leaning into drinks other than wine and bringing in more elements around the Art of Living well.

Stay tuned for more Wine Wisdom where I’ll publish explainers, longer form reads, FAQs and fun facts specifically about wine. I’ll be doing the same for spirits liqueurs and non-alcoholics within Drinks Wisdom too. You can expect more specific retailer Drinks Picks & Pairings and my bite-sized, wine video learnies will be drip fed for FREE and live in my Video Resources library. There will be many more collaborations too, featuring sensory delights like fragrance and chocolate as well as wine masterclasses and pairing dinners. Keep an eye on my Events for these.

Thank you for all your support in 2025 and here’s to a joyous, creative and successful 2026 full of happy collaborations!

To kick you off…

Read it HERE!

And for those of you wanting to boost your wine confidence in 2026, I’ll be gradually releasing my bite-size wine video learnies. Here’s a juicy one to get you started:

Watch it HERE!

When many of us hear the word Bordeaux, our minds instantly leap to the grand, super expensive red wines: powerful, cassis-scented Cabernet blends from the Left Bank and plush, velvety Merlot-dominated reds from the Right. And while it’s normal to put our attention on these, let’s not forget that almost 10% of Bordeaux’s vineyard area is dedicated to sparkling, white, rosé and sweet wines: a delicious quartet of styles that bring freshness, versatility and a touch of surprise to the table. Let’s lift the claret curtain and step into Bordeaux’s other wine worlds.

SPARKLING WINE: Crémant de Bordeaux

Crémant is well and truly front of mind with winelovers these days and since 1990, Bordeaux has boasted its own official version. Crémant de Bordeaux is made using the same time consuming ‘traditional method’ as Champagne (secondary fermentation in bottle to create fizz, lees ageing for texture and complexity), although usually with the local grapes so they offer something delightful different from Champagne and other Crémants from around France. The sparkling wines are superb with oysters (Bordeaux’s own Arcachon Bay produces some of the best), smoked salmon blinis, or even fish and chips for a Franco-British mash-up.

Grapes for Crémant

White Crémant blends lean on waxy Sémillon, zesty Sauvignon Blanc and aromatic Muscadelle, which are also the key grapes for the famous whites and sweet wines. Classic versions offer bright citrus notes with green apple and the odd chalky, pastry-like note from lees ageing. Rosé versions often use Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot - all quite hefty red grapes, so these sparkling pinks bring the structure and a very different, more floral and leafy profile with strawberry and redcurrant notes. Alcohol levels hover around 12%, making them both food-friendly and dangerously drinkable.

STILL, DRY, WHITE BORDEAUX

Whites make up a modest share of Bordeaux production (about 8%) but they span an impressive spectrum of styles. The grapes are almost always blends of Sauvignon Blanc (bringing citrusy zest, grassy verve, and acid lift) and Sémillon (adding body, texture and honeyed notes with age), sometimes scented by grapey, floral Muscadelle or other permitted grapes.

At their simplest, wines labelled ‘Bordeaux Blanc’ are typically un-oaked and meant for youthful drinking, with classic notes of lime zest, gooseberry and grapefruit. As you go up the price and quality scale, oak is often introduced both for the alcoholic fermentation and for ageing. Wine is also often kept on its lees for longer (the dead yeast cells left from alcoholic fermentation), which add some creamy texture and savoury, nutty complexity. This white style is Bordeaux’s quiet ace, appealing to Sauvignon Blanc lovers but with extra layers, thanks to Sémillon’s waxy generosity. In youth, they offer a smoky, tropical fruit style with richer flavours of lemon curd, baked pear and beeswax and with age, they can develop lanolin, nut and truffle notes; a revelation for those who only know Bordeaux’s reds.

White Bordeaux Food Pairing

Zesty, youthful versions shine with goat’s cheese, sushi or summer salads. The weightier, oak-aged bottles are glorious with roast chicken, creamy fish dishes or even lobster in butter sauce. Yum!

BORDEAUX ROSÉ (Two Key Styles)

Rosé has been made in Bordeaux for centuries and the grapes used for it are the classic red varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Straight Bordeaux Rosé is typically fresh, light and fruit-driven, with notes of strawberry, redcurrant, grapefruit and sometimes a salty nip. This is your picnic and terrace wine so think grilled vegetables, charcuterie or even tomato salads.There’s another historical style of rosé that’s having a renaissance in Bordeaux however and it’s a great one to know: Clairet.

What is Clairet?

Clairet sits halfway between rosé and red wine. It’s fuller-bodied and dry, with more colour, grippiness and juicy cherry and plum notes. It’s made from the region’s usual red grapes as mentioned above but with a slightly longer skin maceration than straight rosé, so the colour is deeper - more vivid raspberry rather than pale salmon. Clairet comes into its own with grilled burgers or lamb skewers, bridging the gap where red might feel too heavy but rosé is too light.

Fun Fact! When Bordeaux wine got famous after being exported to England in the Middle Ages, it was actually this darker rosé style that people were drinking, not the plush, full reds. They called it Clairet too, which is why us Brits to this day still refer to any red wine from Bordeaux as ‘Claret’. Oh the irony that it was more like rosé!

SWEET BORDEAUX

If Crémant is the life of the party and rosé the summer flirt, then Bordeaux’s sweet wines are the aristocrats: golden, unctuous and commanding reverence.The most famous appellations are Sauternes and Barsac, but there’s a family of others (Cadillac, Loupiac, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Cérons…) offering more affordable alternatives.

The Grapes & Process

As for the dry whites and Crémant blanc, grapes used are primarily Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. The magic for sweet wines however lies in the ‘noble rot’ fungus (Botrytis cinerea), which shrivels the grapes, concentrating sugars and flavour and adding a specific, nutty marzipan-like quality. Harvesting is painstaking, often requiring multiple passes through the vineyard to pick individual botrytised berries at perfect ripeness. These unctuous golden wines taste of acacia honey, apricot, candied citrus peel, saffron, quince and almond, always lifted by zesty acidity so the wines never feel cloying. The best examples are capable of ageing for decades, developing nutty, caramelised complexity. Drink a chilled glass of these with blue cheese and foie gras as a classic combination but with delicately spiced Asian cuisine, the pairing is off the charts! Tarte tatin and fried chicken too are excellent food partners.

Together, sparkling, white, rosé and sweet Bordeaux wines remind us that this region is not a monolith of rouge. They’re versatile at the table, relatively affordable and brimming with character. More importantly, they tell the story of a region that has never stopped experimenting, adapting and broadening its appeal, so next time you think of Bordeaux, try some of these. They might just surprise you - and possibly even steal the show!

Want to know more about key wine styles in manageable , bite-sized video chunks? Check out the HelenaSips Wine Course HERE!