On Friday 2 September we will be having a very special Spectator outing to Gravetye Manor in West Sussex. We will enjoy a Michelin-starred seasonal four course lunch matched to the exceptional, award-winning sparkling wines of Ambriel, also in West Sussex. [See here for details.]

As we all know, English sparkling wine is now very fine indeed and Ambriel is one of the finest. It can’t be called champagne, of course, because only those wines made in the region of Champagne by the Méthode Champenoise or Traditionelle (that is to say with a secondary fermentation in bottle) from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier (Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris are also permitted by rarely used) may be so called.

But Ambriel (and other English sparkling wines such as Herbert Hall, Nyetimber, Ridgeview, Coates & Seely and so on) are bloody good and have often been known to beat fine champagne in blind tastings. The term ‘English sparkling wine’, though, is a cumbersome one and producers are keenly searching for a suitable single word to use.

French producers of bottle-fermented sparklers made outside Champagne use the word ‘Crémant’; Spain uses ‘Cava’; Italy ‘Franciacorta’ and South Africa ‘Cap Classique’ and so on.

One English producer is attempting officially to earmark the name ‘Sussex’ (“I’d like a bottle of Sussex please”) which has upset the many fine fizz producers in Kent, Surrey and beyond. Another has come up with ‘Britagne’ (“Do you have any chilled Britagne?”) which is hard to pronounce and deemed a bit too, well, French.

So, for our second competition we are asking readers to come up with the a suitable term for English sparkling wine. The best suggestion will receive a bottle Ambriel Classic Cuvée and Ambriel Rosé, courtesy of Wendy Outhwaite QC, barrister-turned-winemaker at Ambriel who has also kindly agreed to join me in judging the answers.

Click here to enter. Competition closes on 14 August 2016.

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