English White Wine

While the English wine revolution has primarily been fuelled by the astonishing rise in the country’s sparkling wines, still white wines are now beginning to follow in the footsteps of the more famous fizz. For the most part, this means Chardonnay – the key constituent grape variety of most sparkling wines – which, grown in England’s cool climate yields a fresh, lively style sometimes lent a touch of weight and texture via time in oak and/or a winemaking process known as malolactic fermentation. As with the sparkling wines, the south-east of the country is the heartland, with Essex in particular cutting out a reputation for the quality of its white wine grapes.