Tag Archives: Chapel Down

60 Second Wine Review — Digby Fine English Brut

It’s English Wine Week, so I’m sharing a few quick thoughts on the non-vintage Digby Fine English Brut sparkling wine.

Digby Fine English Brut

The Geekery

American Trevor Clough and Englishman Jason Humphries founded Digby Fine English in 2013 as a negociant house in the style of many Champagne firms. Purchasing wine (and later fruit) from several sources, they released a 2009 vintage brut and rosé that year.

Clough and Humphries named their venture in honor of the 17th-century philosopher and scientist Sir Kenelm Digby.  Also an inventor, Digby pioneered several new techniques in glassmaking–essentially inventing the modern wine bottle.

The wines are made at Wiston Estate Winery by Irish winemaker Dermot Sugrue. Vineyards for the NV Brut were sourced from the North and South Downs region of Kent as well as Sussex and Hampshire.

The non-vintage Brut is 40% Pinot noir, 35% Chardonnay and 25% Pinot Meunier with the Chardonnay seeing an additional 18 months of lees contact before being used in the blend. The finished wine was aged 24 months in the bottle and then disgorged with a 12 g/l dosage. Around 25,000 bottles were produced.

The Wine

Photo By Gaetan Lee - originally posted to Flickr as French tart, CC BY 2.0

Some apple tart pastry flavors but not much more.

Medium intensity nose. Appley with some toasted tart pastry.

On the palate, the apple pastry notes carry through with a little subtle earthiness as well. Lively mousse and acidity complement the weighty feel of the wine. However, the flavors and the finish quickly fade.

The Verdict

In general, I’m a huge fan of English sparklers and have had several that go toe-to-toe with quality Champagne. Chapel Down is probably my favorite. But they haven’t been the easiest to find in the US and I will admit that this one (which I got at a Seattle wine shop for $50 USD) was rather underwhelming.

In the UK, this is direct from the producer at £30.99 (about $40 USD) with some merchants selling it closer to $30 USD. That is a much better price point for this quality level. Without a doubt, US consumers are paying a premium for the novelty.

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Foie Gras Guilt and Climate Change

I love seared foie gras. But, damn, is it a conflicting love.

Seared foie gras

Even though there’s science to support that it isn’t as bad as detractors say, I still feel guilty every time I order it.

It’s such a seductress. The sultry whispers of earthy sweetness tickling the nose. Then that first buttery morsel melts in your mouth. You can’t help but close your eyes and let the rest of the world drift away.

But eventually, the affair is over. Then you’re sneaking back to reality, wondering where your wedding ring is and if you smell like pepper, nutmeg and shame.

Yes, few things so bewitch and bedevil me as my love of foie gras.

However, I’m starting to realize that the wine industry has its own foie gras guilt-trip coming. And it’s going to leave more than the goose livers seared.

So exciting! Yet so, so soooooooooo bad.

You would think that all things related to climate change are muy mal. But that is not quite the case. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of bad—just ask anyone still trying to thaw out from the recent polar vortex.

However, you know what else is an effect of climate change?

Chapel Down Three Graces

This Chapel Down Three Graces was seriously better than many $100+ Champagnes out on the market.

The booming English sparkling wine scene.

An influx of talent from California and elsewhere into Oregon.

The steep learning curve and jump in quality of Canada’s wine industry.

More study and advancement in our knowledge of grape clones.

The string of successful vintages in Switzerland and Champagne–which apparently means more Dom Perignon and gummy bears.

Riper Rieslings coming out of Germany–as well as more German red wine.

Growing acceptance and excitement over hybrid and non-vinifera grapes.

The rediscovery of “long lost” vinifera varieties that are better adapted to longer growing seasons.

Oh, and now there is a thriving wine industry emerging in Scandinavia as well.

Yes! Scandinavia!

My heart fluttered reading the recent report in Harpers about the pioneering work of producers in Sweden and Denmark.

Alongside longer and warmer summers that have extended the Nordic growing season into September, winters have been milder by almost 2°C, according to Sweden’s Rossby Centre for climate research. Even at 56 degrees latitude, these areas are actually receiving more hours of average sunshine during the growing season than some European neighbours to the south, with colder air tempered by proximity to the sea.

… Think of the Danish and Swedish wine scene like England’s 15 years ago, and you’ll appreciate their burgeoning promise. — Norman Miller, Harpers, 1/30/2019

Not only are the Swedes and Danes bringing more prominence to unique grape varieties (Solaris! Leon Millot! Rondo!) but several are exploring cool-climate expressions of traditional vinifera like Merlot, Cabernet France and Chardonnay.

How cool is that!?

But…

I hate that I find this so exciting!

Photo by W.carter. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-Zero

I’ve yet to try a wine made from Solaris but it is high on my list to seek out. These grapes are from Chateaux Luna in Lysekil, Sweden.

I wrote a few days ago about how boring wine is becoming to Millennials. My cohorts crave new experiences and want to try things that are different than what our parents and grandparents drank. The industry needs to respond to these changing tastes and stop trying to market the same ole, same ole to us.

How much more different, unique and exciting can you get than an English sparkling wine, a Gascon Tardif or a Swedish Solaris?

So yay! No, wait! Bad! But yay?

All these new and exhilarating changes are the “foie gras” of the wine industry. It’s hard not to be seduced by their potential and appeal. But you don’t really want to think about how it got to your plate.

Adverse effects on the wine industry

Make no mistake, the same shifting wine map that brings all the interest and excitement to new and emerging regions is doing that at the expense of already established areas. And at the expense of, well, glaciers.

The most obvious is the rising sugars and high alcohol levels that have been a long time battle. Winemakers have become almost circus performers in a balancing act, trying to keep sugar levels in check and pick before acids fall too much.

Photo by Mick Stephenson mixpix. Uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under CC-BY-SA-3.0

Tempranillo already gives me issues in blind tasting–especially between young examples like this and older examples with more bricking.
Climate change not only upends the classic profiles of aroma and structure but also potentially that of color as well.
Image: mickstephenson.photoshelter.com

This adds to the harvest complications of the numbers (brix, TA and pH) being ready to pick before the aromatics and flavors are fully developed. Additionally, rising temperatures have an impact on the anthocyanins that give wine color–leading to less intensely pigmented wines. For students of blind tasting, this changes how much weight and certainty we can give color in identifying wines.

It’s especially tricky for producers who want to avoid overly manipulating their wines. But the use of alcohol-tolerant yeast and ML cultures and processes like acidification, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration and more are increasingly becoming the norm.

Not only do you sacrifice more natural and authentic winemaking, for many regions, there will also be a point where they can no longer “adapt” to a changing climate. Numerous wineries, vineyards, jobs and livelihoods will be lost.

Oh and, yeah, don’t forget about more hurricanes, tornados, polar vortexes, rising sea levels and everything else that is happening to the planet.

Our inconvenient truth

It’s easy for us to talk about all the bad things involved with climate change. It’s also easy for us to get excited and celebrate all the new developments that are bringing new wines to our attention.

But it’s not so easy to connect the two and reconcile them.

Yeah, there are some areas that are making the best wines that they’ve ever made with strings of successful vintages. This has made good wine more consistent, affordable and available than it has ever been.

Yeah, there is a lot of potential in cool-climate wines, new regions and new grape varieties. In many ways, this is the shot-in-the-arm antidote that the wine industry needs for some of its most vexing ills.

Yet, what good is an antidote if it ends up wiping out the entire hospital?

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