As English wine gets better and better, JILLY GOOLDEN's taste-test proves...French wine's met its Waterloo!

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For years, English wine has been dismissed as being no match for more sophisticated vintages from across the Channel.

But brilliant weather and clever grape choices mean that, this year, experts believe wines from England and Wales — where there are now 432 vineyards — may be as good as, if not even superior to, their Gallic rivals.

So we asked wine expert Jilly Goolden to take a ‘blind’ taste test to see if this can really be true. We chose eight popular wines with similar blends, vintages and prices. Could Jilly tell the difference between the English crop and French versions — and which did she prefer?

For years, English wine has been dismissed as being no match for more sophisticated vintages from across the Channel. So we asked wine expert Jilly Goolden to take a ‘blind’ taste test to see if this can really be true.

WHITE

BOLNEY ESTATE PINOT GRIS, 2013, SUSSEX

£16.99, Wine Pantry, winepantry.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: Wow. This is sensational. It’s as silky and smooth as a baby’s bottom, with a little talcum powder sweetness. I love the gentle perfume and the hint of sweetness.

It’s head and shoulders above its Italian rival. It’s hard to believe our favourite tipple, Italian pinot grigio, is made from the same grape. This is light-years better and worth the extra bucks. It’s so deliciously different — I’m plumping for an exciting English wine producer.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

Bolney Estate Pinot Gris and Kulmann Pinot Gris

CORRECT

KUHLMANN PLATZ PINOT GRIS, 2013, ALSACE

£8.99, Majestic, majestic.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: Very ‘so what?’. It tastes a lot rougher — like biting into a conker. You’d need some food to mop up the rather harsh flavour. It’s a bog-standard French wine — I suspect from Alsace. Very traditional with no crowd appeal.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

CORRECT

JILLY’S FAVOURITE: English

CHAPEL DOWN FLINT DRY CHARDONNAY MIX, 2013, KENT

£9.99, Waitrose, waitrose.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: A reasonable white — I think a mix of chardonnay and other grapes. The slightly unpleasant fizziness reminds me of drinking liver salts for a hangover. The grapes taste very fresh, which I put down to young vines and not enough sun. That means it’s English.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

CORRECT

MACON VILLAGES CHARDONNAY, 2013, BURGUNDY

£9.49, M&S, marksandspencer.com

JILLY SAYS: The rich, straw colour suggests a grape from mature vines ripened under a hot Mediterranean sun. It’s a very acceptable chardonnay with a satisfying peachy and slightly nutty flavour — and no fizziness. Delicious and unquestionably French.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

CORRECT

JILLY’S FAVOURITE: French

ROSÉ

Somborne Valley Estate Rosé 

CAMEL VALLEY ROSÉ, 2013, BODMIN, CORNWALL

£16, Wine Pantry, winepantry.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: Rosé used to be dismissed as a girlie drink — cheap, cheerful and a bit too sweet. But it’s grown up massively, as this lovely bottle proves. The great thing about a good rosé like this is it has enough dryness and depth of flavour to complement every style of food. I doubt it’s English because I don’t believe any producer has cracked rosé yet.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

WRONG

CALVET ROSÉ, 2013, SANCERRE

£14,99, Waitrose, waitrose.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: They’re so alike, they could be twins. This has the same streamlined quality and depth. It’s a tough call, but I’m going for English.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

WRONG

JILLY’S FAVOURITE: Even

SOMBORNE VALLEY ESTATE ROSÉ, 2013, HAMPSHIRE

£9.49, Waitrose, waitrose.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: Just one sniff and my teeth are on edge. It smells sickly sweet and tastes horribly sugary. It’s like eating a three-year-old’s mashed-up sweetie collection. I’m getting everything from Slush Puppies to bubblegum. It’s a disaster. I reckon it’s English. They’ve jumped on the rosé bandwagon and tried too hard. Yuck.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

CORRECT

LA GRILLE PINOT NOIR ROSÉ, 2013, MASSIF CENTRAL

£8.99, Majestic, majestic.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: This is a gorgeous pinot noir. It’s a coral colour and smells of strawberries and cream. It tastes deliciously clean, dry and not too sweet. It’s everything I want from a producer who knows his stuff, so I believe it’s an experienced French grower.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

CORRECT

JILLY’S FAVOURITE: French

RED

Gusborne Estate Pinot Noir and Red Burgundy Pinot Noir

GUSBOURNE ESTATE PINOT NOIR, 2011, KENT

£17.45, Berry Bros, bbr.com

JILLY SAYS: Divine. This cannot possibly be English because we struggle to make good red. Pinot noir’s a tricksy little grape. Like a flirty girl, she’s incredibly fussy and demanding and will storm out unless the conditions are perfect. I reckon this is from Burgundy — home of the pinot noir.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

WRONG

NICOLAS POTEL BOURGOGNE PINOT NOIR, 2013, BURGUNDY

£12.99, Majestic, majestic.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: A really mediocre burgundy — definitely English. We may have come on by leaps and bounds with sparkling and white wine, but our temperature makes it really hard to ripen grapes enough to produce a smooth red. This is like drinking red wine and soda. Definitely not for me.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

WRONG

MY FAVOURITE: English

BOLNEY ESTATE PINOT NOIR, 2013, SUSSEX

£15.99, Wine Pantry, winepantry.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: It’s a little acidic, which makes me think the grapes are under-ripe. A good burgundy should be smoother and more rounded. It’s a good effort but I reckon it’s from a new English producer.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

CORRECT

RED BURGUNDY PINOT NOIR, 2012, BOURGOGNE

£8.69, Tesco, tesco.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: This isn’t a great burgundy. There’s a rather unpleasant lingering aftertaste of compost. And it’s rough around the edges. But I still reckon it’s French.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

CORRECT

JILLY’S FAVOURITE: French

Chapel Down Kent Sparkling rosé and Alexandre Bonnet Rosé

SPARKLING

NYETIMBER CLASSIC CUVEE, 2009, SUSSEX,

£31.99, Waitrose, waitrose.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: This is English — and all the better for it. It manages to do everything a good champagne should. It’s soft, delicate, subtle and incredibly moreish.

I’m convinced it’s from the South Downs, where the best English fizz is from. Believe it or not, the average temperature is marginally warmer than in Champagne itself. Making champagne this good is like climbing Everest — and they’ve done it. Hooray!

JILLY’S GUESS: English

CORRECT

NICOLAS FEUILLATE, NV, CHAMPAGNE

£31.99, Tesco, tesco.co.uk

JILLY SAYS: It’s hard to credit this bog-standard champagne is made from the same grape following the same method. Unlike the delicious English fizz, it tastes as if it has been thrown together on a production line. It’s coarse. The producers are resting on their laurels and it shows.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

CORRECT

MY FAVOURITE: English

CHAPEL DOWN SPARKLING ROSÉ, NV, KENT

£22, M&S, marksandspencer.com

JILLY SAYS: Delicately fizzy — just how rosé champagne should be. Rosé used to be a smoke screen for inferior quality because you can hide shortcomings with a boost of sugar. But pink fizz has pulled its socks up. This is utterly delicious. I think it’s French because — while we’ve mastered champagne — we still haven’t cracked sparkling rosé.

JILLY’S GUESS: French

WRONG

ALEXANDRE BONNET ROSÉ, NV, CHAMPAGNE

£21.59 (normally £26.99), Waitrose, waitrose.co.uk

Jilly says she's thrilled she got some wrong and that she preferred some English wines

JILLY SAYS: This is lovely, but not quite as good. I like the rounded, gentle taste but it needs more body. Unlike any other rosé, champagne rosé is made by adding red wine to white wine, blending and then making it fizzy. Normally you would ferment with red skins to give the body. I think it’s English because the other is undoubtedly French.

JILLY’S GUESS: English

WRONG

MY FAVOURITE: English

JILLY’S OVERALL VERDICT: I’m actually thrilled I got some wrong and that I preferred some English. It proves how far our wines have come. We have been creeping up to challenge France for the past few years. And now, as this shows, we’ve done it!

OVERALL SCORE: English wine: 4 French wine: 3