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3
Sparkling Wines that i would happily drink for
Chewton Glen
Breakfast!
Agustí Torelló Kripta Gran Reserva Cava,
Penedès, Spain 2009
Peller Estate Ice Cuvée Rosé, Niagara,
Canada NV
I quite enjoy conveying to my peers the fact
that there’s really nothing wrong with craving a
glass of fizzy wine mid-morning, in the heat of
the summer season when you happen to not be
dragging yourself into work that day.
Indeed I quite often find myself ordering some form of sparkling wine
with my breakfast when I have taken myself away on a brief sojourn
to somewhere more reminiscent of the Mediterranean than the Home
Counties.
Cava doesn’t necessarily start and stop with the own-brand faceless
phials of fizzy juice that we see in the supermarkets for £6.99. In
fact some of the best sparklers in the world have been produced
in the North-Eastern corner of Spain for over one-hundred-andfifty
years now. Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo grapes are used
alongside the traditional method of producing Sparkling Wine,
reminiscent of that used in Champagne, to create wines that boast
character, body and elegance. Agustí Torelló’s Cava is among one of
the best I have ever tasted and I keep going back for more! It is rich,
voluptuous, toasty and extremely graceful – what’s more it comes
in an attractive tapered bottle which cannot stand up, meaning that
you have no choice but to polish it off à la quick!
Last, but certainly not least is the stickiest of the bunch. Indeed
Peller Estate, who are world renowned producers of the all-toodrinkable
Ice Wine, have put their award winning sweet wine to
good use by introducing it as a dosage into their sparkling wine.
By using Ice Wine – essentially a technique whereby the grapes
are left on the vine until the heart of winter, then picked and
gently pressed to make one of the most saccharine and elegant
liquids known to mankind – made from red Cabernet France
grapes, in their traditional sparkling wine made from Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir, they have designed a wine that is semi-sweet,
beautifully soft and bubbly that serves particularly well as an
aperitif or with light desserts. This works especially well with a
mixed berry infusion and a bowl of fresh fruit as the late morning
sun continues to rise in the sky.
So which of the world’s great sparkling wines are best suited to pair with
a morning coffee, bacon & eggs and a newspaper? Here are some of my
favourites, tried and tested…
Oscar Malek,
Director of Wine at
Chewton Glen &
Cliveden House
Ancre Hill Estate Sparkling Rosé,
Monmouthshire, Wales 2009
At Chewton Glen and Cliveden House we are huge supporters
of the English and Welsh wine industries; so much so that last
year we set about forging the largest collection of wines from the
United Kingdom available anywhere in the country! At the top of
our list are the wines from Ancre Hill Estate, just over the Welsh
border on the outskirts of Monmouth Town. I happened to visit
the vineyard late last year with Debbie Smith, now the Beverage
Manager at Andy Murray’s acclaimed Cromlix Hotel in Perthshire,
and we instantly fell in love with the surroundings, the people and
of course…the wine! Planted predominantly with Chardonnay and
Pinot Noir, the first plantings were established in 2006. Whilst all of
Ancre Hill’s wines are stunning and I am terribly excited about the
prospect of a Welsh sparkling Albariño coming to the market very
soon, their stand-out product is certainly their luscious Sparkling
Rosé which shouts all manner of forest fruit flavours, a gentle
mousse and pronounced backbone of acidity which livens up the
juice and makes it highly attractive for food and wine pairing…
especially kippers and black pudding!
Happy drinking!
Oscar Malek
Director of Wine at
Chewton Glen & Cliveden House
@OscarJMalek
www.chewtonglen.com
Agustí Torelló
Kripta Gran
Reserva Cava
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