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The British winery Chapel Down *** organised a secret blind tasting in Reims (Champagne) in the run-up to the annual English Wine Week. Locals and tourists were able to taste Champagne and wines from the English winery in direct comparison. The interesting detail: the winery presented its wines under the guise of "Chapelle en Bas" - the literal translation of Chapel Down.
According to Chapel Down, 60 per cent of participants said they preferred the English sparkling wine after the blind tasting. There were some "shocked faces and raised eyebrows" when the truth came out, Chapel Down said. Many described the English Sparkling as "fresher" and "crisper" compared to its Champagne counterpart.
Chapel Down's marketing director, Liam Newton, said of the experiment, which was a success for him: "The French have centuries of experience in sparkling wine production. So there's no better place than Champagne to try our Chapel Down Brut. We are incredibly proud of the exceptional quality of our English sparkling wine, and it was great to have this confirmed by the French themselves. A 60 per cent result like this spurs us on even more to change the way the world views English wine."
The tasting caused a general stir. Criticism came above all from British wine experts, who called on English sparkling wine producers to finally stop making comparisons and learn to stand on their own two feet. Others, however, described it as "great fun", which served to show the world that excellent sparkling wines also come from England. The name of the champagne brand from the blind tasting was not revealed.
(ru / Source: Harpers Co.UK)