We set up to label and bottle all Barbara and Cherry's 2006 Wyfold Sparkling

In our tractor barn at home. Which now has a drinks retail licence! (No, we are not opening a shop there. Or a bar. Tho' yesterday you might have been forgiven for assuming we had.)

The two generations of Laithwaites and Postlethwaites came together.

On trestle tables. Ben P. polishing the bottles (dusty because we've had for 6 months), passing to Henry L. operating the labeling machine; the simplest job but then it's his machine and due to a late night was all he could do, passing to Nathalie, Cherry and Barbara adding the 'collarettes', finally Kaye and me filling, sealing and stacking the boxes.

There are only seventy cartons of six but takes a while.

Wyfold Vineyard Quality Sparkling English Wine has a neat label; Pink for Cherry, Palatinate purple for Barbara, a bright green swoosh for the vineyard and a tree.

£17.99 a bottle, which certainly wouldn't cover the costs were the girls and their helpers actually to cost their hours of labour.

So when we finished we lined up eight other English Sparklers and a couple Champers including a bottle of our own Laithwaite Grand Cru Vintage Champagne; one of the grandest fizzes we do. Two or three of the others and the Wyfold were well up there with basic Champagne. Not the Grand Cru level yet. But... This is the girl's first vintage, so they will improve.

Confirms my - and increasing numbers of others - view that outside of Champagne the best place for fizz is little old, now-warmer-and-not-as-wet-as-it-was.... England!

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