Enjoy learning more about wine with us

To book a wine tasting call us on 020 8288 0314 or to get in touch by email please click here.

BOOKINGS: 020 8288 0314

ThirtyFifty - Hens

Wine News

Champagne approves new hybrid variety Voltis

09 December 2021

Hybrid grape variety Voltis has been approved for use in Champagne vineyards.

Voltis is a hybrid crossing between Vitis berlandieri, Vitis rupestris and Vitis vinifera. The new hybrid grape has finished a 6 year trial in Champagne and now has been approved to be used. The hybrid was created in collaboration between INRA (Montpellier, France) and the Julius Kühn Institute (Siebeldingen, Palatinate, Germany).

Voltis was developed to be total resistant to powdery mildew and high resistance to downy mildew. Blends will be limited to 10% Voltis and joins the other 7 permitted grape varieties in Champagne. With 99% of Champagne grapes are made up of Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay, other grape varieties include Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio Petit Meslier and Arbanne.

It is hoped that the Voltis grape’s fungal resistance will help reduce the reliance on heavy metal and carcinogenic fungicide copper sulphate.

Interviews and News for Champagne

UK Wine Show 173 Champagne Closures with Roger Begault of Duval-Leroy

UK Wine Show 173 Champagne Closures with Roger Begault of Duval-Leroy

Champagne house Duval-Leroy is experimenting with a new type of closure to replace the traditional champagne cork. We catch up with Roger Begault to find out more.

Prestige fizz getting pricier

Prices of top Champagnes are shooting up despite the economy heading the other way.

Asda Champagne sales are up

Supermarket chain Asda is reporting an increase in sales of Champagne which they say bucks the overall market trend of decreasing sales.

Champagne exports falling

Champagne shipments worldwide are falling as Champagne enters its most important trading period.

Moët buys champagne house

Moët Hennessy has acquired Montaudon Champagne to add to their portfolio of prestigious brands.

Champagne sales hit Majestic

Majestic Wine has reported a 2.9 per cent fall in like-for-like sale for the ten weeks ending January 5, triggered by a fall in Champagne sales.

France is world's number one but there is trouble in Champagne

France has overtaken Italy as the world's biggest producer but in Champagne yields are to be cut to stabilise prices.

Bubbles hold the flavour of fizz

It's the bubbles that give Champagne its flavour confirming the long-held view that Champagnes with a fine and persistent mousse, or stream of bubbles, are of a higher quality.

Sub £10 Champagne

Lidl cuts the price of Champagne to under £10 a bottle and other supermarkets discount heavily.

Royal family to plant vineyard

Royal family to plant vineyard at Windsor Castle.

Champagne increases yield to meet demand

The permitted yield of grapes for the upcoming harvest in Champagne is to be increased to 12,500 kilogrammes per hectare (kg/ha) to cope with growing demand for Champagne.

Harvest underway early in France

The 2011 harvest has started early in Bordeaux and Champagne.

Decanter hosts panel tasting of grower Champagnes

Decanter magazine's first-ever panel tasting of grower Champagnes concludes that grower champagnes have character, sophistication and are good value for money.

Tesco lightweights champagne bottles to help the environment.

7.2% weight reduction in standard 75cl Champagne bottles sold at Tesco

Quick the French are coming!

Pierson Whitaker Grand Cru Champagne house has partnered with English landowners in Hampshire to produce a sparkling wine called Meonhill.

Sparkling wine from across the world makes a splash in the UK

Sparkling wine sales are outperforming Champagne in the off trade.

Champagne crops hit badly by frost

Early budding vines in Champagne spurred on by a warm March are hit by April frost.

Australia has best growing season in decades while Champagne has one of the worst

Australia is set to benefit from the best growing conditions in the past twenty years but Champagne has seen the worst growing season in decades.

Champagne shipments dip thanks to the French

The volume of Champagne shipped in 2012 was 14 million lower than 2011 thanks to a slump in Christmas trade and a decline in Champagne sales in France itself.

A third of drinkers can't tell difference between Prosecco and Champagne

Mintel report shows 36% of sparkling wine consumers say there is little difference between Champagne and Prosecco.

China to protect the Champagne name

China has agreed to protect the name Champagne so that only wines produced in the French region can bear the name.

The Xmas build up begins with discounted Champagne under £10

Christmas deals in the wine aisles begin.

Prosecco sales bubble over as Champagne falls flat

Global sales of Prosecco have overtaken Champagne.

Immigrant workers in Champagne region exploited

Immigrant workers found living in exploitative conditions but there to work the champagne harvest.

Where is the UK fizz in the Government

Government spending on fizz revealing.

Champagne exports set to outstrip domestic sales

Champagne volume and value sales are up driven by exports.

Still 30% of UK wine consumers haven't tried English Wine.

ThirtyFifty customers give their views on English Wines

France reigns at IWSC competition

IWSC release Northern Hemisphere 2015 results

What links the Forth Bridge and Champagne?

Burgundy, Champagne and Forth Bridge all given World Heritage status

Online retailer of the year delists big name champagnes

Roberson Wines delists major champagne brands

Drappier makes 'extreme' Champagne using single varietal Pinot Gris

Champagne producer Michel Drappier has made the first vintage of Pinot Gris Champagne at his property in the Aube.

What's hot, what's not in the wine world?

Australia, New Zealand and Prosecco grow at the cost of traditional rivals

Vive Le English Sparkling Wine!

English Sparkling Wine beats Champagne in blind tasting

Champagne Jayne beats the CIVC

Champagne Jayne wins her case against the CIVC

Boat launch champagne banned

Australian coastguard bans bow bottle smash launch

Bad weather gives Champagne nothing to toast about

Champagne economy majorly affected by weather

Chambong latest drinking fad?

New champagne vessels launched

Bolt is new CEO of Champagne House

Usain Bolt has been appointed CEO at Maison Mumm

Sparkling wine sales continue to climb

Sparkling wine sales grew by 9% in the last year.

Blue wine, now blue fizz, but you’ll have to look fast

Scientist discovers blue cloud of gas escaping Champagne bottle when opened at a warmer temperature.

Bubble size, now they can measure it with a microphone

If Champagne bubble size is important to you, and for some it is, then you will be relieved to know that the bubbles hum as they are formed, telling the listener how big they are.

Buried Champagne from the 1890s tasted for the first time, and the conclusion?

Champagne producer Pol Roger whose cellar collapsed in 1900, burying up to to 1.5 million bottles, has this week opened and tried two of the recently recovered bottles.

Russia forces Champagnes to be re-labelled Sparkling wine in Russia

The recent Russian law has left Champagne companies flat and banned them from using the term Russian word for Champagne, shampanskoye.

Champagne 2021 vintage looks tough

The weather in 2021 has simply not played ball with French producers. The Champagne region was hit badly by frost, hail and persistent mildew as well as spring rain which has resulted in yields expected to be down by 45%.

Champagne approves new hybrid variety Voltis

Hybrid grape variety Voltis has been approved for use in Champagne vineyards.

Champagne finishes early harvest as UK starts

Just as Champagne's last grapes have been picked, the UK is gearing up for its harvest, with picking times getting earlier in the season for all producers.

Bad press for Champagne

A bad week for Champagne as grape pickers are rescued from people traffickers and the drink is ranked as overrated.