English Wine Festival 2000

The rain held off in spite of the predictions of Sky weatherperson and Festival opener Hazel Murray.

The 26th English Wine and Regional Food Festival was marked by the very high standard of the English wines on offer. Charles Metcalf, chair of judges, commented that English wine is settling down with two styles coming to the fore - dry whites and sparkling wine - though one must not forget the increasingly good English red wines. And personally I found many very likeable rose wines at the Festival this year.

The £8 entrance ticket buys a programme and tasting glass and you can then wander round tasting - for free - all day. With a couple of dozen vineyards each offering several wines trying every wine would be a Hurculean task - but well worth the try.

To cleanse the palate other stalls variously offered tastes of local cheeses, wholefoods, sauces, chocolates - there was even a man of the cloth inviting one to try the Rectory Ales.

The bit I liked best was the Tutored Tasting. Martyn Doubleday, Sky's wine expert, led the one hour session but this year winemakers were persuaded to take the stage.

Mike Roberts of Ridgeview vineyard set out five years ago to produce world class Champagne-style wines. His Ridgeview Belgravia has just won a Silver Medal in the International Wine Challenge, ranking it alongside some very famous French Champagnes which go for £80 a bottle! A stunning achievement.

All that tasting does make you thirsty, but we found buying a bottle to accompany our picnic lunch seemed to help. Some people were buying bootsful, most a few bottles.

Contrary to common perception, English wine is not necessarily expensive and most do represent good value for money.

The jazz band, grape treading and a barbeque all added to the relaxed atmosphere.

Next year, 2001, the Festival is on September 1 and 2. If you like wine and will be in or around Sussex, give it a try! We got our tickets by calling 01323 870164.

The organiser is Christopher Ann, bottles@englishwine.co.uk

The wine festival web site is at English Wine Centre

Who am I? Just a visitor to the festival. Mike at hraconsulting-ltd.co.uk (please replace "at" with "@")