Sharpham wins “best wine to accompany South Devon crab”

Sharpham wine has won the “best wine to accompany South Devon crab” from judges during English Wine Week.

Celebrating English Wine Week, Visit South Devon has announced the winner of its search for a Devon wine to accompany its South Devon crab.

The 2010 Sharpham Estate Selection from South Devon Sharpham estate was pronounced the winner by a panel of judges with an honourable mention given to Knowle-based Lily Farm’s Brut Sparkling Rosé.

Those taking part in the blind tasting of 16 wines from an assortment of producers across Devon included wine writer Susy Atkins, Master of Wine Xenia Irwin, local wine merchant Nick Borst-Smith, Ben Foster of Newton Wines, James Dart from Dart’s Farm and Jonathan Woollatt from Chris Piper Wines.

The judges were invited to find a wine that would go really well with the assortment of South Devon crab dishes which had been created by Devon Wine School’s Carol Peebles from fresh crab donated by David Markham from crab specialists, the Blue Sea Food Company.

Atkins said of the winning Sharpham wine, which is made from 100% Madeleine Angevine (£10.95 from www.sharpham.com), “It had just the right balance of crisp acidity and juicy fruit flavours to go with the crab.”

The winning wine will be showcased at the forthcoming South Devon Crab Festival.

“The quality of wine being made in Devon today is very high – hugely improved from a decade ago. Devon’s wine scene is now exciting, modern, dynamic – as the line-up in this blind tasting showed,” Atkins added.

The Wines tasted blind were:

Gribbleford White, Eastcott Estate, Northlew

Summermoor Dry White, Summermoor Vineyard, Swimbridge

Yearlstone No 6, Yearlstone Vineyard, Bickleigh

Manstree Mayval Dry, Manstree Vineyard, Shillingford St George

Sharpham Estate Selection, Sharpham Vineyard, Totnes

Furzehill White, Eastcott Estate, Northlew

Manstree Old Vine, Manstree Vineyard, Shillingford St George

Pebblebed Rosé, Pebblebed Vineyards, Topsham

Sharpham Rosé, Sharpham Vineyard, Totnes

Summermoor Rosé, Summermoor Vineyard, Swimbridge

Yearlstone Number 3, Yearlstone Vineyard, Bickleigh

Eastcott Estate Brut, Eastcott Estate, Northlew

Yearlstone Brut, Yearlstone Vineyard, Bickleigh

Sharpham Sparkling Brut, Sharpham Vineyard, Totnes

Pebblebed Brut Sparkling Rosé, Pebblebed Vineyards, Topsham

Lily Farm Brut Sparkling Rosé, Lily Farm Vineyard, Knowle