Charles and Ruth Simpson know what they are doing. There can't be many (any?) who have a flourishing Domaine in France (Sainte Rose at Servian near Beziers in the Languedoc) who have gone on to put together a prime English estate for the production of still and sparkling wine.
The site for the Simpson wine estate has been chosen meticulously and an amazing winery has been constructed with all imaginable facilities. The vineyards and winery are in North Kent near Barham which incidentally is where Sir Reginald Goodall, one of our greatest conductors lived.
We came across this Pinot Meunier as a Blanc de Noirs at Harvey Nichols and were very glad we did.
Our highest praise for English wine used to be that it didn't taste like English wine. Things have mercifully moved on from then and we can say of this wine that it is simply one of the best white Pinot Meuniers we have ever tasted and could well be in the top three of the best ever English (or Welsh) white wines it has ever been our pleasure to drink.
Things really are looking up if we can make a wine like this in this country and with a cost around £20 one can say that the price/quality ratio is in balance for once.
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