Sparkling White Wine

Most people, when they think of sparkling wine, tend to think of Champagne, and the grandes marques of Bollinger, Taittinger, Moët & Chandon et al. And while two of the three grape varieties used to make most Champagne – Pinot Noir and Meunier – are red, the majority of production is white. As well as such wines (produced from just the juice of the grapes, not the skins, hence the white colour) many Champagne houses also produce a Blanc de Blancs, using only white grapes – namely the region’s third variety, Chardonnay. It’s a style that England has also taken on, as part of its increasingly reputed range of sparkling wines, which are close to their Champenois counterparts in methodology and character, but with more defined acidity.