The latest tasting notes and scores from Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate and James Suckling.
Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
COATES & SEELY BLANC DE NOIRS ‘LA PERFIDE’ 2014
94
“Aromas of buttery pastry, minty orchard fruit, mandarin oil and subtle hints of honeycomb. Medium to full-bodied, vinous and complete, it’s seamless and intense, with a pinpoint mousse, racy acids and a long, flavorful, elegantly saline finish. This superb wine displays real character and interest.”
COATES & SEELY ROSÉ NV
92
“Wafting from the glass with notes of crisp orchard fruit, raspberries, pomelo, rhubarb and white flowers, it’s medium to full-bodied, pillowy and precise, with an elegantly fleshy core of fruit, bright acids and a chalky finish. This is one of the finest English Sparkling wines on the market today.”
COATES & SEELY BRUT RESERVE NV
89
“Offering up aromas of crisp orchard fruit, warm biscuits, honeycomb and plums, it’s medium-bodied, with fine depth at the core and a pillowy mousse. Still quite tightly wound, this is a fine effort that will be even better with another year on cork.”
James Suckling
COATES & SEELY BLANC DE NOIRS ‘LA PERFIDE’ 2014
93
“Clear and pretty strawberry aromas with some citrus and apple notes, following through to a full body with a creamy, layered texture and medium-fine bubbles. Fruity but refined finish. Rather dry at the end. Four years on the lees and one year in bottle.”
COATES & SEELY ROSÉ NV
95
“Sliced peach and citrus fruit with some strawberry and cherry. Undertones of cookies and praline. It’s full-bodied with plenty of fruit, yet not overdone. White-pepper undertones. Minerally. Dry finish. Pie crust, too. Iron tone to the aftertaste.”
COATES & SEELY BRUT RESERVE NV
93
“Extremely pretty apple and lemon-curd aromas with some honeydew-melon undertones. Hints of bread dough. Full-bodied with plenty of fruit, a layered texture and a creamy finish. Fruity, yet tight and focused.”
Coates & Seely, part of the gastronomic cornucopia in the Cheltenham Gold Cup Hamper.
Vineyards and Coronavirus
The story so far: with the prospect of freedom at last now beckoning, we look to provide some pleasurable diversion in the meantime…
Cast your mind back to last March.
The Cheltenham Festival.
A quarter of a million people, in tweeds, furs and trilbies, celebrated the pinnacle of the National Hunt season.
230,000 pints of Guinness were drunk, 20,000 bottles of champagne poured, five tonnes of smoked salmon consumed. The crowds milled happily from tent to paddock to course, meeting friends, talking racing, ‘fleecing’ the bookies and thrilling to the finest national hunt racing festival in the world.
A week later, a pale and drawn prime minister declared the first national lockdown in our country’s thousand year history.
The Festival was an ante-diluvian moment.
Nothing was ever the same after it.
Yet it happened, and it will happen again this year.
Only once in its 161 year history has the festival been cancelled, when the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 succeeded where world wars and global pandemics have failed.
This year the racing will again take place as usual, although sadly we shall have to watch from home.
Yet there is cause for celebration.
Spring already beckons with the prospect of renewal, and the virus that has played such havoc with our lives, and the racing, is in decline.
Within a matter of weeks now we shall once again be mixing with friends, eating and drinking together, and enjoying fully one of the greatest national sporting calendars in the world. Meanwhile, to raise morale still further, and to tease your waist-lines, we have teamed up with our friends and partners at Boisdale and Fitzdares to produce an incredible Cheltenham Gold Cup hamper, for delivery direct to your homes on the day.
The Gold Cup hamper, designed for two and to last the whole day, is a veritable cornucopia of British delicacies.
Start the day, reclined comfortably in your bubble, with a Bloody Mary made from English Puffing Billy Stream Vodka and quite the best spiced tomato mix on the market, from the Pickle House.
Study the form while you do so, taking advantage of the free £25 betting voucher provided by our friends at Fitzdares.
As lunch beckons, open a bottle of Coates & Seely Brut Reserve NV, provided by yours truly, before indulging in a maritime saturnalia of Scottish langoustine (with home-made mayo), Dunkeld smoked salmon (with herby crème fraiche), Orkney pickled herrings (with dill and lemon) and potted smoked mackerel (with horseradish and chives). Do not leave your bubble. Protect the NHS.
Choose, then, between a main course of oxtail and parmesan pie (to be oven-heated for 18 mins – the only cooking required in the whole hamper) and the great Boisdale speciality of fillet of beef, Herefordshire asparagus, Cornish new potatoes and English wild garlic salsa verde, followed, in either case, by crème brulée à l’Anglaise with a praline shard and blueberry compôte, and topped off with a selection of Scottish cheeses.
Finally, at the end of an afternoon of thrilling racing, as you count your winnings and contemplate the delicious cold supper ahead of you, indulge in some comforting gin and tonics made from London Distillery gin and Double Dutch mixes.
Whether you are in despair at lockdown, in early training for the re-opening of the British social season, or simply in need of an indulgence, these hampers will not disappoint. They are utterly delicious and amazingly good value. Go to Boisdale to place your orders and know that you will also be helping the Great British food and drinks industry back onto its feet…
The launch of high-end cuvées from the likes of Coates & Seely are positioned to penetrate a luxury market that has long been owned by Champagne.
The Telegraph: Victoria Moore
According to Wine GB, the future of the English wine industry has never looked rosé-er. But how are things looking on the ground?
“Wine GB had some good news for us this morning. Exports of English wine have more than doubled in a year, rising from 256,000 bottles in 2018 to 550,000 bottles in 2019, which accounts for 10 per cent of all bottles sold, according to new figures released through the Department of Trade and Industry.
The data also shows that English wine is extending its global influence. It is now poured in 40 countries around the world, including the US, which is the primary export market, Norway, and Japan, which accounted for 6 per cent of exports in 2019.
“This is an exciting time for the English wine industry, as exports and e-commerce grow strongly and higher production helps the sector recover from coronavirus,” said Minister for Exports Graham Stuart. But how are things really looking down on the ground? The English and Welsh wine industry has certainly come an excitingly long way in a short time.
Seven years ago I accompanied a band of English wine producers to Dusseldorf where they were exhibiting at Prowein, the world’s largest wine trade fair. It was an early international brand-building exercise, a chance to show sommeliers and the rest of the world’s wine trade that English wine was not just a curiosity but something they might want to buy.
Most of the comments from those who tried it were positive, but many passers-by also registered wry surprise: “Do you grow the vines in greenhouses?” asked one. It wasn’t clear whether he was joking.
English wine is now better known and has passed some important milestones.
Producers are rightly proud of sparkling wines that have won places on the wine lists of Michelin-starred restaurants in France, while the launch of high-end cuvées from the likes of Coates & Seely are positioned to penetrate a luxury market that has long been owned by Champagne, elevating the reputation of the whole industry in the process.
But if the story of English wine is one of rapid expansion and a promising track record of individual successes it is still very early days.
Producers agree that English wine has much to do in terms of consolidating and growing its reputation. “Exports currently represent 15-20 per cent of our current releases and we hope to grow that,” says Mark Driver, co-founder and joint owner of Rathfinny Estate in Sussex.
“So a lot of work is required over the next few years. Although ‘Exporting is Great’, as the government likes to tell us, we will need financial support from the government to build brand awareness overseas.
“At the moment we’re all working collaboratively to promote the sector but it needs serious investment, probably more than we can collectively afford, to build the ‘English Wine’ brand. The UK government needs to invest some of the excise duty they get when we sell our wine in the UK, to help us build the brand overseas.”
Mark Harvey, the CEO of Kent producer Chapel Down, echoes this note of caution and the need for investment: “The early momentum is there [for exports of English sparkling wine] but it’ll take investment and collaboration across the industry to unlock.” He identifies the US as, “the standout opportunity of scale – a large champagne market where Brand Britain is well received – and the early results are positive.”
Production of English and Welsh wine has risen sharply in the last couple of years, partly as a result of new vineyard plantings reaching maturity and partly as consequence of vintage variation. In 2018, a record-breaking year, enough grapes were picked to make 13.11m bottles of wine, up from 5.9m in 2017, 4.15m in 2016 and 5.06m in 2015. The most recent 2019 harvest was also ample, with a production equivalent to 10.5m bottles.
Higher production figures are both an opportunity and a concern. In previous years, attempts to build export markets have been hampered by a lack of wine to sell. But there are also fears that such a sharp increase could lead to an over-supply when the sparkling wine comes to market, which is typically around three years after harvest.
Needless to say, in 2020 there are additional challenges. The choppy waters caused by Covid-19 and the uncertainty and potential costs of Brexit are not easy to navigate. Many English wine producers have built high-end reputations around dining out and the “season” – events such as horse-racing and tennis – and this sector has been badly hit by the year’s closures. “This situation has turned everything I knew about building a brand on its head,” says one producer who is now re-evaluating the next move.
If this year has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t see what’s coming round the next corner. But wine producers in Britain will be hoping for post-Brexit deals that don’t just put a fair wind behind exports but which also enable them to import the equipment and labour they need to keep production running smoothly and costs at an affordable level.”
Coates & Seely looks ahead to sunlit uplands and the launch of Glass Half Full Drinks
Vineyards and Coronavirus
The story so far: consigned still to our bubbles, we look through the mists of the current pandemic, and across the dreary terrain of lockdown, to the sunlit uplands…
There are three great ‘natural’ smells in the world.
The smell of freshly baked bread.
The smell from the top of a new-born baby’s head.
And the smell of fermenting wine.
The others – there are too many to mention – of musk roses at night, of newly mown hay, freshly ground coffee, or a lover’s hair, are mere scents.
For each of the great ‘natural’ smells is linked to birth.
If you have never smelt fermenting wine, you must come and visit us, one evening in late October or November, after the harvest, when the grapes have been pressed and the winery doors are closed to the cold and dark outside.
Inside, in the musty warmth, as the first great act of vinification occurs, the smell of fermentation – of a bready sweetness full of fruit and ripeness and mystery – is one you will remember.
Now, with the first fermentation over and the wines safely bottled, the heady smells are gone. But we console ourselves, knowing that the yeasts and sugars inside the bottles are working another small miracle, in the release of the eddying spirals of millions of bubbles that will one day thrill our palates and lighten our spirits.
Outside, in the vineyards, the vines – as if in sympathy with the surrounding gloom – are in a death-like slumber.
They will remain that way until the cold finally loosens its grip and the pruning starts, in March, before the onset of spring and the swelling of new buds.
By then it will be one year since we wrote our first ‘Vineyards and Coronavirus’ diary entry.
Who would have thought…?!
Like you, we remain isolated in our bubble, but as we look out through the mists of the current pandemic, and across the dreary terrain of lockdown, we do so in the knowledge that the sunlit uplands lie ahead.
By spring new shoots will be curling along the trellis wires. Last year’s wine – like a brilliant child – will be lying safely on its lees, developing its own unique and beguiling aromas, and the first steps towards the end of lockdown will be in train.
It is now just a matter of time before we are once again mixing with friends and family, eating and drinking, dancing, travelling, celebrating or simply sitting rapt, once more, at theatres, in churches, at concerts.
And if proof were needed that from adversity comes new growth, look no further than the launch of ‘Glass Half Full’.
Led by Tristram Coates, ‘Glass Half Full’ is the re-incarnation of the sales and marketing team at Coates & Seely into a fully independent sales and marketing company. It is now dedicated not only to that function for Coates & Seely, but to that of a number of other exciting, high-growth drinks brands.
Conceived in lockdown and bolstered by the appointment of a further four talented partners, ‘Glass Half Full’ formally launches next Monday, January 18th – otherwise known as ‘Blue Monday’, supposedly the most depressing day of the year – which, by dint of their infectious optimism and undeniable talents, will instead be turned into a day of celebration.
This Christmas, as we retreat into our bubbles, we should treat ourselves to some bubbles.
Vineyards and Coronavirus
The story so far: No sooner do we exit a month of lockdown than over half the country is cast back there and we are each consigned to our Christmas bubble…
‘Bubble’.
It’s a curious word.
We share it with the Swedish ‘bubbla’, the Danish and Norwegian ‘boble’ and the Dutch ‘bubbel’.
It first entered Middle English as a ‘burble’, but eventually popped up – as burbles tend to do – in modern English as a ‘bubble’ (in ‘As You Like It’).
Cast as an image of hollowness, and then later of ephemerality and later still of excess (viz the ‘South Sea Bubble’), the hapless bubble has nevertheless also had its admirers along the way.
Remember Keats’ intoxicating ‘beaded bubbles winking at the brim’? Or Shelley’s ‘bubbles on a river sparkling, bursting, borne away’?
Each an image of joy and fragility.
And in Cockney, a ‘bubble’ means a ‘laugh’ (rhyming, as it does, with ‘bubble bath’).
Today the bubble’s imagery has once again – dare we even say it – mutated, and we now all find ourselves, irritatingly, stuck in one.
To a greater or lesser extent we probably always have been (stuck in one), but this is surely the first time we have been ordered there by decree?
Let us hope such grotesque legal overreach is itself a mere bubble – here today, gone tomorrow – to be pricked by the immunising needle of modern science.
Of course we are, at Coates & Seely, purveyors of bubbles ourselves, and over the years have developed our own observations on the subject.
Bubbles, we have observed, are best consumed.
Not chased, or pricked, or invested in, still less retreated into.
They should be consumed: ideally, in extremely generous quantities of tiny, eddying spirals that tease the palate with a natural and spontaneous thrill.
Consumption should be frequent, too, so that the bubbles’ natural evanescence is counter-balanced with regular replenishment.
This is very good for the spirit (and for Coates & Seely sales).
Our forbears discovered this long ago and we have happily maintained their tradition.
We drink, in this country, twice as much Champagne as our American cousins, with only one quarter of the population. That is eight times more Champagne than the average American.
It makes you proud to be British.
So this Christmas, as we retreat into our bubbles – lamenting, as well we might, our loss of traditional freedoms – we should know that not all our national traditions have died.
We should treat ourselves to some bubbles.
They will raise the spirit.
Bubbles within Bubbles. There are worse ways, after all, to spend a pandemic…
A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS OF COATES & SEELY!
“ At a time when a glass of wine is one of the few pleasures we can all still rely on, getting hold of the stuff has become almost as hard as buying a bottle of Dettol anti-bacterial spray. Do not lose hope…
Many of the smaller independent wine merchants up and down the country have begun making local deliveries (and some of them are free) – give your nearest a call and see what they can do.
And don’t forget that England now has its own thriving wine industry. In many cases you can buy English wine online direct from the vineyard and have it delivered to your doorstep. Here’s my pick of the sparkling English wines.
I highly recommend Coates & Seely, a Hampshire producer. Coates & Seely Brut Reserve NV – a sparkling wine made from all three champagne grapes, chardonnay (40%), pinot noir (50%) and pinot meunier (10%) is on absolutely top form at the moment and an absolute steal at the price (£31.95 per bottle, £364.23 per case of 12 and £8 delivery per consignment).
Stock up before everyone else realizes what a good buy it is (and how much they will need to get through the summer). “
At the beginning of Lockdown The Telegraph’s Wine Correspondent Victoria Moore recommended Coates & Seely in the Luxury Living section in a feature about the best English sparkling wines to buy directly from vineyards.
At Coates & Seely we produce some of the best English sparkling wines. The wines are not only of the highest quality but they are authentic to our own English ‘terroir’ – and could not be made by any other. Although our Hampshire vineyard is planted, as in Champagne vineyards, with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grape varieties our wines reflect our land, our values and our families.
Award-Winning Wines
For this reason, we restrict our productive capacity and focus instead on perfecting our craft in an unending pursuit of excellence, guided only by quality. The first sparkling wine we produced, our Blanc de Blancs 2009 Vintage ‘La Perfide’ made from Chardonnay grapes has won Trophies and Gold Medals in almost every major international wine competition.So, whilst our sparkling wines, such as our gold medal winning Brut Reserve NV, are listed in some of the most iconic destinations in the world (including the Four Seasons, ‘Alain Ducasse’ at the Dorchester, The Ivy, The Fat Duck, The Savoy, Annabel’s, The George V and Le Bristol in Paris, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Spencer House, Tate Modern & Britain, The Royal Academy) you won’t find them in the supermarket aisles.
We are proud to sell our best sparkling wine directly from the cellar door to our private clients.
Whilst we are currently not open to the public and unable to welcome visitors in person to our Hampshire vineyard and winery we are very much still open. Ensuring that our valued friends and customers can order some of the best English sparkling wine the country has to offer through our online shop or by phone.
English sparkling wines 2020
Following vintage harvest years and many international wine awards won recently by the best English sparkling wines, 2020 is set to be an interesting year for the industry.
Many wine connoisseurs have taken advantage of their ‘down-time’ during lockdown to try out the best English Sparkling Wines now widely available directly from the vineyards.
It is also reassuring to see an increasing number of independent wine retailers that now stock some of the best English sparkling wine from English vineyards in Hampshire, Kent and West Sussex.
Support local vineyards
The events of this year have also resulted in a new focus on products of a more local origin and the desire to support more local vineyards. Where wine drinkers may select the best English fizz rather than sparkling produce from other nations.
The younger wine-drinking audience, perhaps more restrained in their consumption than previous generations, are choosing quality over quantity and often choosing the best English sparkling over a cheaper alternative from overseas.
Buying direct from the vineyard is a great way to support your local English wine producer.
Our loyal customers and those signed up to our Private List can also receive information on our latest cuvees, news from our Hampshire vineyard and discounts on some of the best English sparkling wine available today.
Whether you are looking for the ‘gossamer light construction, pale colour and scents of rose-hips and strawberry of our Rosé NV. Or the ‘Elegant hawthorn and acacia, impressive mousse and green apple freshness’ of our Brut Reserve.
The Coates & Seely team are always working hard to ensure our range of award winning Sparkling Wines are available to order direct from our vineyard in Hampshire for delivery to your door.
