‘I hear you make wine in England now, what’s it like?’ You get used to the sardonic nudge and wink from curious foreigners as the question is lobbed like a hand grenade. How to respond without waving the flag like a demented chauvinist on the one hand or being churlishly dismissive on the other? Easy actually. Just mention our burgeoning sparkling wine industry and how, because of England’s cool maritime climate and chalky soils, our green and pleasant land actually is the new Jerusalem for wines whose raison d’être is to be transformed into fizz.

Richard Balfour-Lynn, whose Kent-based Balfour Brut Rosé 2007 has just been selected for BA’s first class, raised English eyebrows recently by saying that England’s ‘greatest opportunity’ lay in sparkling wine because ‘our climate is ideal for producing the appropriate level of acidity and mouthwatering freshness, which is vital for good quality champagnes and sparkling wines’. His salmon pink, strawberryish, elegantly dry Kent blend, Hush Heath Estate Balfour Brut Rosé 2006, £34.99 - £42.94, Waitrose, Harrods, is one of England’s finest sparkling rosés.

Ridgeview Estate’s Mike Roberts agrees that ‘our soils and climate with its longer ripening season are ideally suited to fizz’ but goes further, saying ‘making still wine in the UK is unsustainable’. Ridgeview is a benchmark for English sparkling wine. His 2008 Bloomsbury, £21.99, Waitrose is a refreshingly crisp, bone dry and tangy example of the finest English fizz. It’s the equal of Nyetimber’s 2001 Blanc de Blancs, £24.95, down from £32.95, Berry Bros’ Summer Sale (0800 280 2440), crisp, creamy and dry with a lemon-squeeze of acidity.

English Rosé fizz is a development whose time has come. I recently tasted and enjoyed Andrew Weeber’s Gusbourne Rosé, £31.99, Armit (020 7908 0626), raspberryish on the palate with a fine rich creamily full-bodied mousse and a crisp, mouthwateringly dry tang. Another excellent newcomer is the Coates & Seely Rosé Brut Britagne NV, £29.99, Lea & Sandeman (020 7244 0522), Bennetts Fine Wines (01386 840 3), Noel Young Wines (01223566744), Luvians (01334654820), with its fragrant nose of red berries and super-refreshing palate of crisp sweet mulberry fruitiness stopped dead in its tracks by an underfoot cranberryish, sherbety tang.

Its co-founder Christian Seely has chosen the name Britagne in an attempt at getting the name accepted as a term for champagne-method English sparkling wine. This provocative step has brought orchestrated resistance to what’s seen as a Frenchification of an English practice. Mike Roberts wants the name Merret for the very best of English sparkling wine that excludes non-classic grapes such as seyval blanc and incorporates champagne-style practices such as hand-picking and whole-bunch pressing. Merret is named after the Gloucestershire doctor who, in a paper to The Royal Society in 1662, wrote about ‘wines brisk and sparkling’ before even the supposed ‘inventor’ of champagne, Dom Pérignon himself.

Mike Roberts claims to have the support of Nyetimber, Hush Heath and Chapel Down. But Camel Valley’s ex-RAF pilot Bob Lindo would like to shoot the idea down in flames. He sees region and brand name as the priority, pointing to the success of his son Sam, who last month won UK winemaker of the Year' for the third time, and his 2008 Camel Valley Pinot Noir Brut, £29.95, www.camelvalley.com, one of only 10 gold medal winners in this year’s English and Welsh Wine of the Year Competition. The (mostly) good-natured debate looks set to continue for a while yet.

[Andrew Weeber's name corrected 23 August 2011]

Something for the Weekend

Something For The Weekend 6 August 2011

Under £6

Tesco Finest Manzanilla

From manzanilla specialists Barbadillo, based in Sherry’s Sanlúcar de Barrameda, this dry fortified white is delightfully refreshing with a Twiglets-like savoury-yeasty quality, enhanced by the classic see-breezy dryness and tangy freshness of the style. £5.29, Tesco

Under a Tenner

2009 See Saw Shiraz and Mourvèdre

Blending of the two classic shiraz regions of the Hunter and Barossa Valleys, smoky, liquorice-spicy aromas lead to opulent flavours of peppery blackberry-sweet fruit layered with a northern Rhône-esque tarriness. £6.74, down from £8.99, until 16 August, Waitrose.

Splash Out

2008 Chablis Premier Cru La Forêt, Jean-Claude Bessin

A delicate layer of smoky oak covers this modern Chablis whose full-flavoured, crisp apple fruitiness is concentrated and nutty and finishes with an intense mineral bite. £13.95, down from £21.50, Berry Bros & Rudd Summer Sale (08002802440).

Ends