Berry Bros. & Rudd English Sparkling Tea by The REAL Drinks Co.

Berry Bros. & Rudd English Sparkling Tea by The REAL Drinks Co.

Product: 10008252090
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Berry Bros. & Rudd English Sparkling Tea by The REAL Drinks Co.

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Available for delivery or collection. Pricing includes duty and VAT.

Description

For a limited time, Cellar Plan members can enjoy a 20% saving on this product, with the discount automatically applied at checkout. This offer will revert to 10% at midday on December 16th.

We have worked with The REAL Drinks Co. to create this fine sparkling tea. It is made from a single-estate, first-flush tea from the Puttabong estate in the hills of Darjeeling. The pure mountain air, unique soil and altitude at the Puttabong tea estate all give character to the tea leaves, which are hand-harvested, rolled and dried to enrich the aroma and taste. The tea is steeped ahead of a prolonged fermentation process to create a delicious and complex alcohol-free alternative to our favourite wines. Bright in the glass, it has a fragrant nose of soft fruits, tea and dried flowers, while the palate is dry and gently foaming. It offers fruit and spice notes, with a gentle bitterness, a hint of oak and a grape-like freshness.

Unlike many sparkling wines, this won’t benefit from additional ageing. We recommend enjoying this in the next few months, served chilled.

Davy Żyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd

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About this WINE

The REAL Drinks Co.

The REAL Drinks Co.

The REAL Co. was founded by David Begg in 2017, with Adrian Hodgson as Co-founder. It started life in a garage as David and Adrian experimented with a variety of tea strains, with a view to exploring tea’s incredible flavour potential. Today, the team are based on the Waddesdon Estate in Buckinghamshire – the UK home of the Rothschild family – working out of a state-of-the-art Fermentery. Despite scaling up over the years, the team still pride themselves on an experimental and innovative approach, albeit now married with methodical scientific analysis. The REAL Co.’s mission is to create alcohol-free expressions that stand up to the very best wines, with a firm gastronomic focus. David says, “Right from the beginning, we were always tasting our liquids in a wine glass. We’re not trying to make a wine, but a top-quality drink that lifts food in the same way that wine does.”
With the “low-and-no” category still in its early days, The REAL Co. have set themselves apart as a true leading light in the alcohol-free drinks industry. We’re delighted to partner with them for our very first Own Selection Sparkling Tea.

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England

England

The Romans introduced the vine to this country, but winemakers ever since, from the medieval monks at Warden Abbey to the pioneering oenologist Ray Barrington Brock, have found it fiendishly difficult to make successful wines in such a marginal climate. They have also found them equally difficult to sell. Recent years have seen a marked improvement across the board, both in terms of viticultural and vinification techniques, and in the weather.

The authorised grape varieties have been selected for their ability to ripen in England's adverse and challenging climate. They inlcude the following varieties, mainly of German origin:

Huxelrebe
A crossing of Chasselas x Courtillier Musqué. It is often used for dessert wines because of its naturally high sugars and its susceptibility to 'noble rot'. It has a mouthwatering acidity and pronounced aromas of elderflowers, and a grapey, intense fruity palate.

Madeleine Angevine 7672
It is a high-yielding, cold-climate resistant grape, which thanks to its relative low acidity, lends itself well for blending with more high-acid varieties. On its own it produces light-bodied, fruity wines with a pronounced muscatty bouquet.

Muller-Thurgau (Rivaner)
A vigorous, early ripening variety, crossing of Riesling x Riesling, once the core ingredient of the German Liebfraumilch wines, and among the first grapes planted in the U.K. Its popularity is on the wane.

Reichensteiner
A Müller-Thurgau crossing with Madeleine Angevine and Calabreser Fröhlich. A widely planted variety in the UK , thanks to its ability to ripen reliably, and and its high yields. The wine is quite simple on its own and is often used for blending in both still and sparkling wines, sugar levels.

Schonburger
A Pinot Noir - Chasselas Rosé - Muscat Hamburg crossing. This grape has earned a good reputation in the UK, yielding white wines with low acidity, fleshy texture, delicate Muscat overtones (evocative of a less pronounced version of Gewürztraminer).

Seyval Blanc 
The most widely grown variety in the UK, a heavy cropper  heavily and reliable performer even in cold vintages. It is often used for blending -still or sparkling wines- , and can even take oak ageing. The single varietal versions display crisp acidity, with neutral flavours.

Auxerrois
This grape is mainly grown in Alsace, where it is usually blended into 'Edelzwicker' and it comes from the Pinot Blanc family. In the UK it is useful as a sparkling wine base (adding body to the blend), as well as on its own.

Bacchus 
A crossing of Silvaner, Riesling and Müller-Thurgau, originating from German vineyards. A pronounced aromatic grape, with high sugar and lush fruit character. The best examples of Bacchus wine age well and develop interesting flavours. This is one of the UK's ameliorateur varieties, capable of producing quality wines.

Chardonnay 
With plantings on the increase, it is used for sparkling wines blends, along with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. There also some good examples made into still, varietal wine. 

Kerner 
A Trollinger (Black Hamburg) and Riesling crossing. This is a very successful grape in the UK climate, that yeilds ripely fruity wines. Stylistically it bears many similarities to Riesling 

Optima 
A Silvaner - Riesling and Müller-Thurgau crossing , high in natural sugars and hence suitable for 'late harvest' wines.

Orion 
A hybrid originating from the Optima and Villard Blanc graes.  A new generation of hybrid varieties bred both for wine quality and disease resistance. A recent introduction in the English vineyards. Early examples show wines of good fruit and aromatics.

Phoenix 
Another recently created hybrid from Bacchus x Seyve Villard 12-375, bred for quality and disease resistance. Currently planted in a few vineyards.

Würzer
A Müller-Thurgau - Gewürztraminer crossing with quite pronounced, spicy flavours.

The vast majority of English wine production is white wines and, over 90% of that originates from the above varieties. The wines are typically light-bodied, low in alcohol, perfumed and floral, and with refreshing acidity. Sparkling wine is the definite style that holds most promise for quality wine production: Made generally by the traditional mèthode champenoise and from the classic champagne grapes (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay).

Investment at estates like Nyetimber has found that England's chalky soil and cool climate are capable of producing sparkling wines of the highest quality.

Camel Valley in Cornwall also exemplify the quality now found in in these cool and pleasant lands.

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When is a wine ready to drink?

We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.

Not ready

These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.

Ready - youthful

These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.

Ready - at best

These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.

Ready - mature

These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.