Last year England produced over 3m bottles of wine - and much of it was the kind that holds its own on the world stage, winning wine competitions and generally worth getting pretty excited about. Our best sparkling wines in particular are the equal - if not the better - of their champagne competitors. And if they're good enough to be served on the Queen's Jubilee barge not to mention feature on The Apprentice, then they're worth seeking out.
In honour of English Wine Week (Saturday 2 June - Sunday 10 June 2012) we've picked out five London restaurants where you can be sure of getting a glass of great English wine with your food.
Vinoteca - Soho, Marylebone and Farringdon
As you'd expect from a place so focused on wines, there's a strong focus on English wines this week. At each of their restaurants there'll be an English Wine + Food flight featuring three English wines each served with a perfectly matched English delicacy.
Each of the Head Chefs will be creating individual dishes (75ml of each wine & 3 tasters, £15): 2007 Brut, Jenkyn Place (Hampshire), 2009 Willow Brook’, Three Choirs (Gloucestershire) and 2010 Pinot Blanc, Stopham Estate (West Sussex).
Roast - Borough Market
It seems only fitting for this restaurant named after the most English of meals should also have such a marked focus on English wines.
In addition to two wines created exclusively for them by Kent winemakers Chapel Down, the wine list here also includes a sparkling wine from Sussex winery Ridge View. English Wine Week sees them putting on older vintages as well as special wine tastings.
Trinity - Clapham
Adam Byatt's Trinity restaurant in Clapham has a special seven course menu on from Friday 1 June until Saturday 23 June matching English food with English wines (£45 or £90 with matching wines).
So there's Gusbourne Blanc de Blanc 2007, Kent with Charred Broadbeans and Wigmore beignet or Skye’s Hush Heath Chardonnay 2010, Kent with Cornish scallop, cucumber, kelp emulsion and cockles and a Welcombe Hills Pinot Noir, Precoce 2011 from Warwickshire with milk-fed lamb, heritage tomato, crisp smoked wweetbreads and rapeseed oil.
Quo Vadis - Soho
Tying in nicely with chef Jeremy Lee's quirky British menu (make sure you try his famed eel sandwich), Quo Vadis has a number of interesting English wines on their list.
House wines include a sparkling Blanc de Blancs 2007 from the Gusbourne Estate in Kent (£8.50 a glass), a Horsmonden 2010 from the Limney Estate in East Sussex (£26) and a Pinot Noir 2010 also from Gusbourne (£32).
The Gilbert Scott - St Pancras
Sommelier Mark Cesareo told us he has a passion for English sparkling wines which shows in his selection for a special wine pairing menu the restaurant's putting on for English Wine Week.
So there's rock oysters & Gusbourne Blanc de Blanc £15, Southwold fried whitebait & Nyetimber Classic £15.50 and English strawberries with Jersey cream and Ridgeview 'Knightsbridge' £15.50 among others.
More restaurants for English wine:
At Trinity’s sister place Bistro Union they have a very accessible wine list and have decided to not serve Champagne by the glass. Instead they serve Balfour Brut Rosé 2008 and Gusbourne Blanc de Blanc 2007 which both won gold medals in the Decanter World Wine Awards.
And Balfour's also on the list at the recently relaunched Babylon Roof Gardens in Kensington where it's on the wine list by the glass at £15. There's also Chapel Down Rose to go with the BBQ on fine summer nights.
Over in Fulham the Harwood Arms (which won Imbibe's fine dining pub Wine List of the Year award last year) has a Spring Wine Specials list with Balfour at £8 (a bargain!).
In Farringdon Vivat Bacchus will be putting on two Wine Club Nights focused on English Wine. On Monday 11th June they'll be joined by Oliver from Ridgeview in Sussex (£20 per person) and on Monday 18th June the'll be looking at a range of English wine for £15.
If you want to know where else to enjoy the best of British food, view our full list of London restaurant reviews.
And for more on English Wines go to the English Wine Week website.
