English sparkling wine

[5] Early contributions to sparkling wine production in England include scientist Christopher Merret who presented a paper on the subject of secondary fermentation in the bottle at the Royal Society in 1662.

In 1984 Carr Taylor were the first commercial vineyard in England to produce traditional method sparkling wines, however using Reichensteiner and Schönburger, not the classic Champagne varieties.

[9][10] In 1988 Stuart and Sandy Moss planted a vineyard at Nyetimber, near Pulborough in West Sussex, consisting of the three Champagne grape varieties, with the intention of producing traditional method sparkling wine.

[9] The profile of English sparkling wines were raised during this period by a combination of awards from competitions like the IWSC as well as being served at events such as the Queen's golden wedding anniversary and banquets for the visits of the Emperor of Japan and the President of China.

This differs slightly from the requirements for the English sparkling wine PDO, for example permitting two additional varietals (Arbanne and Petit Meslier) to be used.

[15] In addition to the presence of some of the largest and most well known English sparkling wine producers like Nyetimber and Ridgeview, the prominence of Sussex as a wine-producing region is further emphasised for being the location of Plumpton College, which specializes in viticulture and winemaking courses.