Grape support for England v Slovenia.

The nation’s footie and non footie fans will be settling down at 3pm tomorrow to watch, we hope, a smooth transition for England through the group stages of the World Cup. After the lethargic and inhibited performance against Algeria, the English football punditry team has been out in force dissecting the current mood of Capello’s squad.
However it is now time to focus on the positives and support our team, not only on the field but make the move from gripe to grape and take your place on the English Wine supporters’ bus. Apart from The World Cup, why now? The timely 2009 vintage marked a strong team performance on quality and volume, with 3.1 million bottles produced after a couple of challenging seasons in 2007 and 2008, when only 1.3 million bottles were made. The English wine industry has now selected its grape varietal equivalents of Rooney, Gerrard and co, and is producing quality sparkling wines, dry, appealing aromatic whites and an attractive midfield line up of refreshing, fruity roses. We must also mention the youth team development programme because the English wine industry is burgeoning and, with the vines that are being planted now, production will have doubled by 2015.
Back to the big match and my wine selections for England (12/1) v Slovenia (250/1):
Three Choirs Rose 2009, £6.49, Waitrose. Whilst the players are warming up and before the vuvuzelas start, enjoy a dry, refreshing glass of this competitively priced rose.
Chapel Down Bacchus 2009, £9.99, Majestic and Waitrose. During your mid match break try this dry, flowery, spicy and full flavoured white. A lovely wine for the stay-at-home supporter who doesn’t want to leap about in the pub.
At half time don’t forget to put your bottle of English sparkling, in a bucket of ice and water because you will need 45 minutes to get this chilled.
Ridgeview Cuvee Merret Bloomsbury 2007, £19.95, Waitrose. Perfect to celebrate the hoped-for English victory, so at the end of the match crack open a bottle of this sparkling, which is dry, elegant and creamy.