British fizz? It's a corker

The golden autumnal sun is beating down on the neat rows of vines, gently sloping towards the south. Among the vine leaves, where the touches of red and brown signify the changing of the season, the small, deep purple pinot noir grapes hang in heavy bunches.

Any day now, these wines will be hand-picked and carefully carried (in large trays to prevent unnecessary damage) across the fields to the winery, where the huge specialist Coquard wine press will begin the process that, two or three years from now, will result in a sparkling wine.

Such wine is the almost universal drink of celebration. But we are not today among the prestigious and historic French vines used to make champagne, usually the traditional drink of such occasions. Neither are these grapes for champagnes' cousins: the cavas of Spain or the proseccos of Italy or newcomers from Australia and New Zealand.

No, this is England and these grapes will be used to make English sparkling wine at the Ridgeview wine estate, at the foot of the South Downs in East Sussex and arguably the centre of Britain's very own "champagne country". Mardi Roberts picks out a particularly plump grape. "It's perfect,'' says Mardi, an Australian married to Simon, son of Ridgeview's founder, retired accountant Michael Roberts. "It should not be too sweet, because that doesn't help achieve that sparkling wine flavour. You need that crisp edge to it, not too sugary." It's helped by the right balance of climate conditions at this time of year – warm days for the final nurturing of the grapes, cooler nights to preserve the acidity.

Inside, Mardi shows us around the gleaming winery: the huge metal tanks cleaned, polished and waiting for the grape juice that will come from the Coquard press, only in its second season and one of only three outside France. Several tanks are new, all part of a £1m expansion plan designed to meet demand for its sparkling wines, increasing the current annual number of bottles from 30,000 to about 300,000 by 2012.

Ridgeview is not alone – all around the south of England vineyards are concentrating their production on sparkling wine, planting more traditional champagne varieties – chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier – and investing heavily in equipment. New vineyards are being planted and new players are entering the market, determined to stamp out the amateurism that has characterised English wine production. And it's not a gamble, but a real investment in a business which is bucking the economic climate.

In the past few years, English sparkling wine has come of age, achieved fine standards due to a combination of increased expertise and favourable climatic conditions, wowed serious wine critics such as Oz Clarke and Jancis Robinson, and won a veritable sea of awards and commendations rivalling champagne in blind tastings. Only last month, Camel Valley White Pinot 2005, made in Cornwall, came second in a worldwide sparkling wine competition held in Italy.

A near neighbour and close friend of the Roberts is Peter Hall, owner of Breaky Bottom vineyard since 1974. Encouraged by the success of his own sparkling wines – made from the seyval blanc hybrid grape – to the point where he has now stopped making still wines. He said: "I'm not saying I'll never make still wine again, but its not a difficult choice – quite simply, English sparkling wine 'works' and you would be very foolish to disagree. It is also a matter of value for money, when you compare an £8 still wine and a £20 sparkling wine, there's no argument in economic terms.''

While English still white wines, after years of effort, achieved some respect and have been served at government and royal functions, they have never received quite the awards and adulation the sparklers have done. And the price of such wine, at about £8-10, compares with excellent and cheaper European or new world wines. Sparkling wine, at about £18-25, is at the same level as well-known champagne names.

All of this is a relatively recent development. When English wine-making – which originated in Roman times – was revived in the 1950s, winemakers concentrated on versions of German grapes, because they both suited the northerly climate and produced floral, usually off-dry wines for consumers used to the likes of Blue Nun. But there was a long-standing belief among some that the chalky soils, south facing slopes and warm climate of southern England was better suited to sparkling wine made in the same fashion as the French did, not so many miles away in Champagne.

Ironically it was an American couple, Stuart and Sandy Moss, who, in the early nineties, founded Nyetimber – an exclusively sparkling wine vineyard not far from Ridgeview in West Sussex. Their wine was an immediate hit on release in 1997.

Others, like Breaky Bottom and Chapel Down in Kent, had already seen the light and begun producing some small amounts of sparkling wines. In 1994, Ridgeview was founded as the second sparkling wine-only estate, although the Roberts family had to wait another six years before their wines could be released.

Now, after several award-garlanded years, both Ridgeview and Nyetimber are expanding – the latter, under new owner Dutchman Eric Heerema, is planning to increase production from 70,000 bottles a year to more than 600,000 by 2011 and have recruited Stephen Clark, the former UK director of sales and marketing for Laurent Perrier, who believes English sparkling wine can equal the best in the world.

Old German varieties are being ripped up and the champagne vines planted. At Tenterden in Kent, English Wines Group, the biggest English wine producer, have planted 100 acres of vines this year, 80 of which are champagne varieties. They plan to increase their sparkling wine production from about 35 per cent to about 65 per cent by 2012.

Total vineyard size in England and Wales is now about 992,000 hectares, an increase of 30 per cent over four years, the vast majority of which consists of champagne varieties.

Inevitably there have been rumours the great French champagne houses were considering investing in southern Britain, but none have broken cover, although a smaller concern, Duval-Leroy, is backing one sparkling wine vineyard in Dorset.

While other new estates across southern England will have to wait several years for their wines to become available, one relative newcomer, Richard Balfour-Lynn, chief executive of the Malmaison and Hotel du Vin catering group, who planted four acres of Champagne grapes at his Hush Heath estate in Kent, has seen his Balfour Brut Rosé win a gold medal at the 2008 International Wine Challenge. "My aim is to produce the finest Rosé sparkling wines, comparable with the great Rosé champagnes.'' And at nearly £30 a bottle, he's clearly aiming at the same high-spending customers.

And it is potentially a huge market. Of the 2.1 million wine bottles produced in England every year, 300,000 are sparkling, but the industry is aiming to reach 3.7 million sparkling bottles by 2015. Even then, that is still only about 10 per cent of the current average annual British consumption of champagne – the biggest market outside France. And the French cannot make enough to go round.

Having established themselves as classy enough to be sold at Harrods and served at Government and royal functions, sparkling wine producers now envisage huge export potential, aping the model set by Scottish Malts, English Gin or luxury British brands like Burberry.

Further down the scale, supermarkets and wine dealers are seeing the desirability of English sparkling wines. Next spring, in a considerable investment in English sparkling, Waitrose will plant champagne vines on south facing, chalky slopes, on its own farm in Leckford, Hampshire, although it will have to wait until 2014/5 before it can sell the wine under its own label. Dee Blackstock, their sparkling wine buyer admits they have trouble keeping pace with rising demand for existing brands and have had to ration supplies: "Overall the growth of English fizz in Waitrose is on a par with that of champagne and outperforms that of the rest of our sparkling wines. And we are all incredibly excited about our first vineyard.''

The omens are good. One of the unlikeliest successes for English sparkling wine came last year when Theale Vineyard Sparkling, made at Ridgeview, from a south-facing former builders' dump, came eighth in the world at the prestigious Effervescents du Monde competition, beating a number of champagnes. Only 900 bottles are made, some sold in the Houses of Parliament.

Back on the sunny slopes of Ridgeview, this years harvest is still a week or so away from being picked and two or three years before the wines can be drunk. Despite the poor summer, this year's prospects are highly promising, mainly because of the sunny weather in the spring flowering season and cool temperatures to aid acidity. But it may be small in places like Camel Valley, which have been badly hit by rain.

So, what do these wines taste like? Ridgeview produces three wines: the Cavendish is a blend of the three grapes, the Fitzrovia a rosé; but first Mardi pours a glass of chilled Bloomsbury, made from mainly chardonnay grapes. The bubbles rise in columns, the sure sign of a well-made wine, creating a fine, soft mousse at the head. The sun shines on the vines and through the windows and, after a long morning, the taste of the sparkling bubbles is, well, simply sensational. And that, more than anything else, is surely something to celebrate.

Sour grapes? Dom Perignon

For many, the name most associated with the invention of 'methode Champenoise', the traditional way of making bottle fermented sparkling wines by the addition of sugar and yeast, is the French monk Dom Perignon, long said to have invented the process in 1697.

This is now known to be incorrect and that the first person to accurately describe the process was Christopher Merret, an English naturalist, scientist and physican, whose name is used on all Ridgeview wines.

In December 1662, Merret presented a paper called Some Observations Concerning the Ordering of Wines to the Royal Society. In this paper, unearthed by wine writer Tom Stevenson, Merret describes winemakers adding quantities of sugar and molasses to make the wines brisk and sparkling

Spontaneous secondary fermentation had always been a problem for wine makers because most glass bottles were not strong enough and exploding bottles were a hazard. However, at the time, English glassmakers produced stronger glass than the French.

Dom Perignon was cellermaster at the Abbey of Hautvillers in the Champagne region, and the story of his "invention" of champagne – including being the first person to use corks – was exaggerated in the 19th century in order to gain prestige for the abbey.

Four of the finest: England's top sparklers

Who? England's first sole sparkling wine vineyard, Nyetimber.

Pedigree: The Classic Cuvee 2001 won gold and Best in Class at the 2008 International Wine and Spirit Awards, the 2001 Blanc de Blancs and 2003 Blanc de Noirs, both won silver medals at the same competition.

Find it at: www.nyetimber.com

Who? Chapel Down, at Tenterden, Kent, owned by English Wine Group.

Pedigree: The NV Brut and the Pinot Reserve both won silver medals at this years International Wine Challenge.

Find it at: www.englishwinesgroup.com

Who? Denbies of Dorking in Surrey.

Pedigree: This vineyard won gold in the International Wine Challenge 2007 for its sparkling Greenfields 2003, and was International Wine and Spirit competition UK Wine Producer of the Year 2007.

Find it at: www.denbiesvineyard.co.uk

Who? Ridgeview, England's second sole sparkling wine vineyard, based near Ditchling, Sussex.

Pedigree: Bloomsbury 2005 and the Fitzrovia 2004 won silver medals in the International Wine and Spirit Competion while the Cavendish won silver in the International Wine Challenge.

Find it at: www.ridgeview.co.uk

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