It’s enough to make the French fizz with rage! English sparkling wine triumphs over champagne in blind taste test
- More than half of French wine drinkers preferred wine made in Kent in blind tests
- Chapel Down vineyard in Kent sold 790,000 bottles of sparkling wine last year
English sparkling wine triumphed over Champagne in a blind taste test across the Channel.
Some 60 per cent of French wine drinkers said they preferred wine made by Chapel Down in Kent to their native Champagne during the tasting which took place on the streets of Reims last month.
Disguised under the French label ‘Chapelle en Bas’ – which literally translates to Chapel Down – French consumers were invited to compare the English wine with the leading champagne brand, Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial.
Unwittingly, Frenchmen described the undercover English drink as ‘lighter’, ‘fresher’ and ‘more perfumed’ than its homegrown competitor.
And six in ten of those polled in the streets of France said they liked Chapel Down’s sparkling English wine more than their native Moet et Chandon Brut Imperial.
More than half of French wine drinkers said they preferred wine made in Chapel Down in Kent (File photo: A vineyard in Chapel Down in Kent)
Shocked faces and raised eyebrows from incredulous French drinkers were caught on camera as the big reveal was made.
Champagne aficionados often claim that Champagne has a better flavour and higher quality than English sparkling versions.
And Brits drink nearly three times more Champagne than sparkling wine.
But in this blind taste test it was the English brand that came out on top and was found to have a certain je ne sais quoi.
The hilarious stunt was arranged by Chapel Down to mark this year’s English wine week which runs until Sunday.
Chapel Down vineyard (pictured) sold 790,000 bottles of sparkling wine last year, representing 33 per cent of the English wine market
Last year Chapel Down sold 790,000 bottles of sparkling wine representing 33 per cent of the English wine market.
Chapel Down’s Chief Marketing Officer Liam Newton said: ‘We are incredibly proud of the exceptional quality of our English sparkling wine, and it was great to have this affirmed by the French themselves.
‘The French know a thing or two about sparkling wine, with their centuries of winemaking heritage, so what better place than Champagne to sample our Chapel Down Brut?
‘A 60 per cent result like this propels us even further in changing the way the world views English wine.’
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