(2024) This second ever release from Weyborne is a 2019 vintage wine that is 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier from their oldest vineyard, planted in 2004. Made in an oxidative style, including 3% barrel ferment, it has a relatively deep colour and has plenty of minuscule bubbles. The nose has nettle and pastry aromas, something reminding me of yellow fruits - mirabelle plum or persimmon perhaps. It's labeled Brut, but has only 2g/l dosage, so it is dry and racy on the palate. There is fruit sweetness, of English orchards and citrus, but a free-flowing acidity and hint of saltiness makes it gastronomic too. Another impressive wine from Weyborne.
(2024) For me, the best vintage so far of one of Nyetimber's flagship vintage wines. Ambition in the English wine industry is a good thing surely, and companies like Nyetimber, who offer prestige cuvées at prices that edge toward Champagne's elite, have their heads well above the parapet. They are willing to be judged by what's in the bottle, and in this case it is an exceptionally fine sparkling wine from a single vineyard plot of Pinot Noir (73%) and Chardonnay planted on greensand. It spent a full five years on the lees, and was bottled with 9.5g/l of residual sugar. The colour has a hint of gold, the mousse is fine, and aromatically it flits between raspberry and nutty russet apples, yeasty autolysis and lime and lemon zestiness. On the palate there is that zippy, streaking freshness, but there is fruit sweetness too, quite intense, absolutely concentrated and direct, but the combination of the long ageing and thrilling acidity gives a long, energising finish.
(2024) From the burgeoning English Sparkling Wine scene, this is a delightful West Sussex Brut blending the three main Champagne varieties. It's a cuvée dominated by 61% Chardonnay along with 34% Pinot Noir and 5% of Pinot Meunier. Though presented as Brut, after four years on the lees it was bottled with zero dosage.
It is a dry Champagne, but it is fruit-filled and far from austere. It has a fine mousse and a really biscuity, creamy and nutty nose, those autolytic aromas dominating the lemon and red apple fruit. In the mouth it zips along with dazzling freshness, but the nuttiness and the plush suggestion of sweet, ripe fruit at the core of this fills the mid-palate and gives excellent balance. A super impressive first tasting from this estate for me.
(2024) Nyetimber's Classic Cuvée is a multi-vintage blend of the three main Champagne grapes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Handily, typing in the code from the back label into the Nyetimber website will reveal the precise composition of your bottle: mine has 9.4g/l dosage, was disgorged in April after almost four years on the lees, and has plenty of reserve wines in the blend: based on 2019 (77%), it also boasts reserves from every year back to 2014. Shimmering light gold, there is a pastry and biscuit character, as well as a bold golden yellow apple and quince. In the mouth it is a juicy, flavourful sparkling wine with fruit that touches on the tropical before being drawn back by English orchard apples and citrus into a balanced finish. Delightful at any time, but this special release to celebrate Team GB's Paris Olympics comes in a special livery for the occasion. Watch the video for more information.
(2024) From a year described as 'temperate', this comes from the best vineyards parcels, composed of 51% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 9% Pinot Meunier. It is Brut with 9.4g/l and spent more than five years on the lees in Nyetimber's cellars. There are immediately complex autolytic notes, pastry and a touch of toast, truffle and umami/meaty nuances. In the mouth the mousse is firm and rich, and there's an overall impression of taut minerality. Fruit is lemony and limey, a hint of spice or cedar in there, and the racy line of acidity keeps it keenly focused. A decisive wine that will relax a little more with cellaring, but is racy and thrilling now.
(2020) Gusbourne is a trailblazer of the English wine scene, and seemingly endlessly inventive, with a clutch of one-off and new releases each year, both still and sparkling. The newest edition to the sparkling line-up, this is Pinot Noir from the 2016 vintage, sourced from Gusbourne's vineyards in Kent and West Sussex, and with 50% of the fruit 'dropped' - removed from the vine - during the growing season in order to strengthen and intensify the fruit that remained. A small percentage of the blend was fermented in oak barrels and the wine is Brut, with 7.5g/l residual sugar. Pale gold to straw in colour with plenty of miniscule bubbles, aromas are fresh and appetising, some hazelnut and almond, creamy and ripe orchard fruits, a hint of hawthorn. On the palate there's a juicy generosity to the fruit which is ripe, sweet and mouth-filling, verging on the peachy, but then the fine core of dazzling lemony acidity pushes through, a chalky element too, driving into a long finish. A superb English sparkling wine.
(2018) A small proportion of the Chardonnay for this cuvée from Nyetimber was barrel-fermented, and the wine was released only after a full five years on the lees. Pale straw/gold, with very small bubbles, the yeasty development is inviting, a touch of biscuit against the crisp summer orchard fruit. In the mouth it seems to have quite a sweet edge to the fruit, perhaps towards the top of the 'Brut' range I'd guess, and that, plus the creamy lees character, gives a slightly softer finish despite the wine retaining good zippy acid. It also makes it a very pleasing wine to sip, or match with white fish and sushi.
(2017) An assemblage with some wine vinified as red Pinot Noir in the blend, the overall Pinot Noir content is around 60%-75%. There's a delightful swirl of smokiness to this, lots of small redcurrant fruit that is dry and concentrated, but it is sweet too as it strikes the palate, lovely delineation, the fruit driving it against a quite creamy mousse, and a long and balanced finish.
(2017) Made from equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir by the hugely talented Dermot Sugrue of Wiston Estate, from Wiston fruit and fruit of neighbouring vineyards, this has a gentle note of toffee and nuttiness to otherwise very pure and clear fruit, the rolling but crisp mousse leading on to a pristine palate, fairly straightforward, but deliciously mid-weight with its sense of roundness and excellent acidity.
(2017) When Nyetimber introduced the first vintage of their single vineyard Pinot and Chardonnay blend last year it raised many eyebrows, ambitiously priced at £75 - £90 depending on stockist. 4117 bottles of this 2010 have now been released (this was bottle #60), the colour a pale green with gold inflections, the nose very Champagne-like with biscuit and lightly yeasty aromas and then baked apple and a fresh citrus note too. In the mouth it is bright and clear, those fresher notes of clean, cut apple and lemon and lime, fine acidity and just a lovely hint of the sweetness of the dosage and gentle toast in the finish.
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For me, the best vintage so far of one of Nyetimber's flagship vintage wines. Ambition in the English wine industry is a good thing surely, and companies like Nyetimber, who offer prestige cuvées at prices that edge toward Champagne's elite, have their heads well above the parapet. They are willing to be judged by what's in the bottle, and in this case it is an exceptionally fine sparkling wine from a single vineyard plot of Pinot Noir (73%) and Chardonnay planted on greensand. It spent a full five years on the lees, and was bottled with 9.5g/l of residual sugar. The colour has a hint of gold, the mousse is fine, and aromatically it flits between raspberry and nutty russet apples, yeasty autolysis and lime and lemon zestiness. On the palate there is that zippy, streaking freshness, but there is fruit sweetness too, quite intense, absolutely concentrated and direct, but the combination of the long ageing and thrilling acidity gives a long, energising finish. 
From the burgeoning English Sparkling Wine scene, this is a delightful West Sussex Brut blending the three main Champagne varieties. It's a cuvée dominated by 61% Chardonnay along with 34% Pinot Noir and 5% of Pinot Meunier. Though presented as Brut, after four years on the lees it was bottled with zero dosage.
It is a dry Champagne, but it is fruit-filled and far from austere. It has a fine mousse and a really biscuity, creamy and nutty nose, those autolytic aromas dominating the lemon and red apple fruit. In the mouth it zips along with dazzling freshness, but the nuttiness and the plush suggestion of sweet, ripe fruit at the core of this fills the mid-palate and gives excellent balance. A super impressive first tasting from this estate for me. 
Gusbourne is a trailblazer of the English wine scene, and seemingly endlessly inventive, with a clutch of one-off and new releases each year, both still and sparkling. The newest edition to the sparkling line-up, this is Pinot Noir from the 2016 vintage, sourced from Gusbourne's vineyards in Kent and West Sussex, and with 50% of the fruit 'dropped' - removed from the vine - during the growing season in order to strengthen and intensify the fruit that remained. A small percentage of the blend was fermented in oak barrels and the wine is Brut, with 7.5g/l residual sugar. Pale gold to straw in colour with plenty of miniscule bubbles, aromas are fresh and appetising, some hazelnut and almond, creamy and ripe orchard fruits, a hint of hawthorn. On the palate there's a juicy generosity to the fruit which is ripe, sweet and mouth-filling, verging on the peachy, but then the fine core of dazzling lemony acidity pushes through, a chalky element too, driving into a long finish. A superb English sparkling wine.
