“Recently I tasted three English sparkling wines that seem to be, like the Tassie wines, getting better and better. All were crisp and acidic, and all seemed an equal to some of the best Australian and French wines,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.

Neighbours came for drinks and snacks at the end of a sunny Sunday. 

The new neighbours hadn’t met the old neighbour, so it was a celebratory introduction because we literally live one on top of the other in a stairwell comprising three units each of three bedrooms. Which reminds me: did you hear about the last remaining unit in our apartment block? It was last but not leased. 

Given the celebratory nature of the occasion, I served a Tasmanian sparkling that is, I believe, good value for money at around $35 a bottle, a Pirie non-vintage sparkling. 

As I poured this bubbly, I asked if the neighbours had any experience with Tasmanian wines, offering the opinion that wines from down south seemed to be getting better and better. 

One of the new neighbours said: “I’m a great believer in finding a wine that you like and sticking with it. A sparkling I like is the Jansz, from Tasmania I think, and it’s around $30 a bottle for the non-vintage.” 

“Yes,” I said, “that’s a commendable stance, but this one is about the same price. And what I like about this is the finer bead and the lovely pale straw colour combined with the citrus bouquet. I prefer it to the Jansz.”

On taste the Pirie had a clean, green-apple flavour, a crispness that delighted, with traces of the bready/brioche flavour you get in French champagne, with this wine being made in the traditional method rather than by secondary fermentation in large tanks (think of Spanish Cava) or even via carbonation like some real cheapies.

Biting my tongue, I refrained from telling my neighbours that the brioche flavour is produced from what is known as autolysis, an effect that is evident after a wine spends time in contact with the lees post-fermentation. 

Lees are not the stuff of romance: they are the dead yeast cells and other particles that are normally removed by the process of fining wine. 

In any event, ageing wine for a time on lees gives the bready, yeasty flavour that imparts a creaminess and complex aromas to wines like champagne. 

I’d spent enough time already waxing lyrical about the wonders of sparkling wine to go down any more technical rabbit holes, but I did later tell my required dad joke: “what’s green and goes ‘rabbit, rabbit? A very confused frog.”

However, I did mention that I’d recently tasted three English sparkling wines that seem to be, like the Tassie wines, getting better and better. 

All were crisp and acidic, and all seemed an equal to some of the best Australian and French wines. There were a number of English sparklings that won awards in the 2024 Sommelier’s Awards including one I’d tasted a Weyborne Estate NV Family Reserve, the description of which reminded me of the taste of the Pirie: “Racy acidity alongside bitter and autolytic notes, and a textural palate dominated by green fruit”. 

The only non-neighbour guest, my son, had something to say about the fact that normally colder climes, such as Britain and Tasmania, are now producing better wines: “climate change”, he said, shaking his head in disgust. We all stared into our glasses. 

“If you really think that the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money.” –Guy McPherson