The Fizz Festival, Knutsford #Blog
Briony Wilson
20th November 2018
Over the weekend Tegan and I were delighted to be invited to Knutsford for the annual Fizz Festival. This was the 4th Fizz Festival held in Cheshire and for the first time held in the wonderful event space at The Courthouse. This was an invite we were not going to turn down, both lovers of fizz, but on different ends of the wine-spectrum.
When we arrived at the event, we were greeted by Janet Harrison the organiser, and provided with our Fizz Guide, Glass and Competition sheet. The event is made up of 13 separate stations, and your ticket entitles you to a free tasting of all fizz on offer at each; most tables have around 4 wines to sample. This is the perfect opportunity to give everything a try and stock up in time for Christmas, as you can buy by the bottle or by case and many were happy to even arrange delivery.
Since there were so many wines available, we are just going to mention a few of our favourites and something we can highly recommend you give a try. Our very first sample was actually our favourite of the entire event, Ambriel Sparkling of Sussex, making delicious award-winning wines from the family’s vineyard. Whilst Tegan and I both loved the wines from this vineyard, we differed on our favourite bottle. Mine had to be the Ambriel Classic Cuvee, a traditional blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, it was crisp and balanced and would work well with canapes or seafood. Tegan however raved about the Abriel Blanc De Blancs (white wine from a white grape only) 2010 crafted from hand selected clones of Chardonnay, it has been nurtured in the bottle for 6 years and is a refined very English wine with a citrus hint. This bottle really stood out from the others as being something truly different packed with flavour.
Corks Out is a wonderful Cheshire supplier of wines with 5 stores across the county and the teams are all very knowledgeable about their wines. Here we sampled the Gusbourne Brut on suggestion that it was a delightful English Dry White – it was. This was ripe with fruit flavours, and was a hit with both of us. However, the second Fizz we tried divided our opinion, I personally wasn’t a fan, but Tegan really enjoyed it. Described as an Australian version of a prosecco, it ferments in the bottle and is unfiltered so is slightly cloudy, it has very strong green apple flavours and citrus zing. It was almost like a craft ale with its bottle top, rather than the usual cork you would expect from a fizz.
Lyme Bay Winery are a small dedicated West Country company, passionate about producing delicious award-winning English Wines, Ciders, Liqueurs and Meads, from their home in Devon. The Sparkling Rose’ really stole the show here, and as neither of us are Rose’ fans, it was a surprise. It is a classy Rose’ boasting a bright fruit driven palate, with an emphasis on Honey, Cherry and Almond flavours. This wine has unsurprisingly won many awards including Great British Food Awards 2017: Best English Wine.
We are always delighted to see one of our members at Cheshire events and this was no exception, Suzanne and Matthew from Winding Rivers Liqueurs were here sampling their delicious ranges that go very well with fizz. I must admit I am no stranger to their liqueurs, but it has been a while since I’ve seen them in the run up to the festive season, so we gave both the Tea and the Christmas Pudding Liqueurs a try. The Tea Liqueur is the ultimate after dinner tipple, it tastes just like a After Eight and is actually made using a fellow TC member – Carslake Tea’s; Chocolate Mint Tea. The Christmas Pudding Liqueur, however really stole the show and as someone who loves Christmas pudding but can rarely manage it after all that food on Christmas day, this is the solution, if you closed your eyes, you would not be able to tell the difference I promise.
Finally Hudson and Bond are the exclusive distributor of ‘Chocolate in a bottle’ something that everyone must try. It won’t be to everyone’s taste and is not a traditional wine, in the fact it tastes like liquid Ferrero Rocher. It is actually a light sparkling Chardonnay, created using the classic Champagne method, infused with delicate notes of cacao and hazelnut. This would be delightful with pudding at Christmas. This was in the out of the ordinary category of the competition and we can see why but is definitely worth a taste for anyone with a sweet tooth.
Through-out the event Janet was running a Peoples Choice Award, each winery had put in one of their wines in to one or more category’s from; Best English Sparkling Wine, Best Champagne, Best Sparkling Wine, in the rest of the world and Out of the Ordinary, for everyone to then choose their favourite, below are the results from the competition.
- Best Champagne: Esprit de ChampagneChampagne David COUTELAS sponsored by McAlister Family Law
- Best Sparkling Wine UK: Lyme Bay Winerysparkling rosé sponsored by Lund Bennett Law
- Best Sparkling Wine Rest of World: Crémant Jean-Claude Buecher sponsored by The Courthouse Cheshire
- Out of the Ordinary: Chocolate in a Bottlesponsored by Bentley Manchester
Thank you to Janet and her team for inviting us and to all the winery’s involved we had a fabulous time and cannot wait until the next one. This is the perfect Cheshire day out and would be the ideal gift, keep an eye out on there website and socials for the next date. You won’t want to miss it!