English Oak Vineyards is not too many miles from Poole and definitely worth a visit if you are seeking out some quality vintage sparkling wine for home or a special occasion.

You may or may not have heard, but English Sparkling Wine competes with and beats the best of Champagne.

You've probably heard the saying that the best French wines (those within our budget) are only sold locally and never get exported. I would say that this equally applies to what English Oak produces.

English Oak concentrates on supplying local restaurants and premium hotels, who can really showcase the wine as part of their approach to local produce, local food.

A decision was made by English Oak to only do vintage expressions of their wines, and only do sparkling wines. Any excess of grapes produced beyond what they can handle is readily sold off, rather than creating non-vintage or still wines.

We went to a tasting session and as usual had a short tour of the vineyard, a look at fields and vines, which can be a bit risky with the British weather. Anyone trying to create a vineyard in the UK has a huge task in front of them, years of hard work, and everyone thinking they are mad. But, without the passion, no one would make the first step. I'm glad they did.

Luckily we were the only party there for the tasting session, so it ended up being a very private session and ended up having a few more top ups and trying an extra bottle.

Engelmann Cuvee - this would make a great start to anyone's day or party celebration. Big nose and long finish, yards ahead of standard non-vintage even of my beloved Veuve Clicquot NV for less money. Here lies the rub with English Sparkling Wines, there is a price ceiling before the irrational comparison against French Champagne kicks in a sways the buyer's decision of those that have not tried it before, to make a safe decision. Why risk buying a vintage English Sparkling Wine in a restaurant when you can get a French non-vintage for maybe not much more.

This is why I urge those that like their wine and food, to try some tastings of English wines and see which ones you like. You may not like them all and English sparkling wines are on the whole better than the still wines.

Once you have found one or two that you like, then you can order with confidence, whilst doing something to support local/British businesses and impressing your friends with something different.

Chinkapin Rose - hmmm, at first I thought twice about the name :-) but they said they came up with a name to reflect the nature of the wine. On so many instances rose wines of any variety has ranged from the bad to the downright terrible. Thankfully this was a good one. Soft and not acidic, fragrant berry notes and good finish.

San Gabriel Blanc de Blanc - now this one is not for the start of the party, too delicate. It should be enjoyed once things have settled down to appreciate its refined clean taste. Would go lovely with a fish dish. Nothing wrong with having a sparkling white instead of a still one with fish or shellfish.

There was a Blanc de Noir bottle on show, but that vintage was still maturing away behind the scenes, so we could only see the label and nothing to taste.

Website: English Oak Vineyards

I've been to English Oak and Furleigh Estate now, if you needed a couple of pointers.