Forget France & ignore Italy

If you?re having a staff get-together or entertaining clients, it?s all about the best of British wines.

As a nation, we?ve never been more patriotic. The royal celebrations last year saw street parties take place up and down the country, sparking a return to the community spirit of decades ago.

And now, companies are choosing to forego the traditional choice of champagne for their office parties by selecting award-winning English wines, says Damian Clarkson, managing director of premium events caterer The London Kitchen.

Not only is English wine eco-friendly ? it?s estimated that wines shipped in from overseas can carry a 190g CO2 per glass carbon footprint, the same as a three-mile car journey ? it?s also helping the flagging economy by providing jobs and income.

In 2011, Barack Obama was served a Sussex vintage by the Ridgeview Estate at the state banquet held in Buckingham Palace. Wills and Kate?s guests drank Chapel Down, which hails from Kent, at the royal wedding. And numerous bottles have pipped foreign labels to the post by winning prestigious awards; Chapel Down picked up a gold medal for its sparkling Vintage Ros? Brut at the International Wine Challenge in 2011.

Clarkson recommends five home-grown wines that are sure to wow clients:

2007 Nyetimber, Classic Cuv?e, Sussex (pictured)

2007 Gusbourne Estate, Blanc de Blancs, Kent

2010 Camel Valley Pinot Noir Ros? Brut, Cornwall

2008/9 Bolney Estate Cuv?e Ros?, West Sussex

2009 Ridgeview Victoria Ros?, Sussex.