With the Queen’s 90 birthday and St George’s Day falling within a few days of each other it seems like a particularly patriotic time of year.

With that in mind why not adjust your wine drinking habits and explore a couple of excellent English wines? I’ve set out below two wines which I highly recommend:

Chapel Down – Pinot Blanc 2011

Chapel Down remain one of England’s largest wineries and arguably also one of the best.

Their state of the art winery (which is a great place to visit if you find yourself in this little part of Kent) produces a wide variety of wines and this is one of my favourites.

The grapes come from four different vineyards in Essex and Kent and produce a fragrant wine full of peach and apricot notes.

Fans of wines like Chardonnay and Viognier should really enjoy this. If you’ve never had an English white wine before prepare to be impressed!

Danebury Cossack English sparkling wine.
Danebury Cossack English sparkling wine.

Danebury Cossack 2008

English wine is clearly on the up in terms of quality and recognition and it’s been the sparkling wines that have arguably gotten us to this position.

They’re frequently compared to Champagne in terms of quality and this is a good example. T

his wine is a blend of Auxerrois Blanc and Rulander (not overly common grapes) and is made using the traditional bottle fermentation method before spending 5 years aging on the wine’s lees to add complexity to the palate.

The result is a wine full of brioche and lemon notes that will wow even the most cynical of English wine drinkers.

Both wines are available from English Wine Shop. The Chapel Down retails for £14.99 and the Danebury Cossack for £21.99. This is a fantastic website to order English wines from, there’s always something of interest in stock.