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The outcropping of chalky rocks that form the famous White Cliffs of Dover extend under the English Channel and well over a hundred miles into France to Rheims and Epernay. Think Rheims and Epernay, and you are bound to think Champagne. So what do those cliffs and that wine have in common?
High quality sparkling wine, that’s what. In England? Well, maybe not yet but maybe soon. The upcoming climate change discussions in Copenhagen have everyone talking about changing climates, especially the people who really know — grape growers. In this column we have already written about the effect of global warming on grape ripening in Italy’s Piedmont. Other commentators have reported on the earlier and earlier harvests in Burgundy. Last week it was Michael Issaly, president of a French winegrowers association, predicting that the similarity between the soils of southern Britain and of Champagne could mean as the temperatures change in England that English sparklers will begin to taste very much like the prestigious French sparklers.
Basic Champagne grapes, especially Pinot Noir, don’t like too much sun and are in ultimate danger of drying up if that region continues to get the sunny seasons of recent years and of which we wrote after visiting several European wine regions last fall. Issaly suggests that the ideal climate for such grapes may very well be moving across the Channel.
Growers throughout Europe report that the traditional alcohol levels of 10 to 12 degrees in the early 2000s were creeping upward to 13 and 13-1/2 degrees a couple of years ago and some are now reaching almost 15% because of the longer hot seasons.
There have been wine producers in England for years, but for the most part their wines were considered novelties. Now, because of longer, warmer growing seasons, English wines are gaining a competitive edge. It’s just possible that in a few years, White Cliff Methode Champenoise may very well hit our retail shelves.