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Hugh Johnson: ‘I feel solidarity with the courageous growers who stake so much on challenging the English weather’

It’s surprising, in a sense, that the category of English wine that’s the first to establish itself as seriously good is the most expensive: the bubbly.
Hugh Johnson Hugh Johnson

Our still whites haven’t yet quite produced show models to follow; and reds, often struggling to reach full ripeness, are so far generally considered a bit thin.

The best Essex Pinot Noir, notably from the Danbury ridge, which looks south over the valley of the Crouch river, has everything you can hope for – and costs as much as good red Burgundy.

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