The first port of call for passengers of the Eurostar train arriving into London is no longer Waterloo, the station named for England's great defeat of the French in 1815, and London is often quoted as being the 6th largest French city in terms of population. One might surmise that we now welcome our neighbours from across La Manche. We certainly welcome their wines, in particular their bubbles from Champagne.
The UK is the second largest market for Champagne, beaten only by the French themselves. We can't get enough fizz of all qualities - Prosecco and Cava are also big in the UK - our thirst for bubbles is insatiable. But now we are making our own in ever-increasing volumes - still a blip on the chart compared to Champagne, but obviously enough to make the larger houses stand up and take notice.
Taittinger splashed onto the news recently with the announcement that they had bought land suitable for vines in Kent. This was followed a couple of weeks ago by Champagne Pommery and English Sparkling Winemaker Hattingley Valley (for whom yours truly is Head Winemaker) announcing a partnership starting with the upcoming 2016 harvest.
Contrary to some misreading of the announcement it does not mean that Pommery have bought Hattingley. As one of the largest contract winemaking facilities in the UK this deal just represents a very high profile, slightly-larger-than-normal winemaking contract for the team. It will bring scrutiny and a higher level of involvement from the client as for once they will have more experience than we do when it comes to making sparkling wine. It will not affect the way we make Hattingley wines and indeed, initial talks suggest their winemaking style is quite different to our own. For me and the team in the winery it is a chance to learn from winemakers who have been honing their skill for decades. We are toddlers by comparison in winemaking terms. We don't have to apply their methods to our own wines unless we decide we want to, but we will respect their decisions entirely when it comes to working on their wines.
