(2024) The Blend here is 35% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot Meunier, plus 30% Pinotage. It's an 'assemblage' with 2% made as a Pinot Noir red wine. It was bottled in 2018 and disgorged in March 2021 with residual sugar of 9.2g/l. Nicely meaty and yeasty on the nose, there's an umami aspect to small red berries. In the mouth the mousse is quite luxurious. There's a crispness with the zippy citrus acid core here, but that redcurrant and cranberry fruit character and hints of spice and meatiness gives mouthfeel and richness.
(2024) From a family owned and run producer, a Champagne with a delightfuly deep cerise colour coming from the addition of Pinot Noir made as a red base wine into the blend. Gorgeous rose-hip and cherry finesse and elegance runs through the nose and palate, a little toast, and dazzling raspberry-sharp acidity to balance. This is Brut, with around 9g/l dosage, but it finishes gastronomic and savoury. A bargain at Mann Fine Wine's price - other retailers sell for £10 per bottle more.
(2024) From Dorset a sparkling blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay with just 2g/l dosage. Made using the traditional method, 50% is fermented in neutral barrels with natural yeasts, before the second ferment for a minimum of 24 months on the lees. This bottle mostly from the 2019 vintage, with 18% reserve wines and disgorged 11th July 2023. Lots of foamy mousse and a very delicate mother of pearl to peach colour. Quite a lot of leesy, bready autolysis here giving some toast and cinder toffee, then a real mouth-filling wine with plenty of ripe berry sweetness, but the low dosage and thrust of lemony acidity gives real zip and real gastronomic appeal.
(2024) The Goring family's West Sussex estate, Wiston, was planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir in 2006. This wine spent 42 months on lees and was bottled with 8g/l dosage. Quite a deep bronze colour, an indication that this is an 'assemblage' with 15% vinified as red wine, there's a lovely rhubarb and hint of truffle depth to tangy raspberry fruit. The palate marries vibrant Seville orange, more raspberry and a hint of juicy strawberry, but with excellent acidity never wavering at the core. Long and delicious from ace winemaker Dermot Sugrue.
(2024) The 2010 blend is 45% Chardonnay, 44% Pinot Noir and 11% Pinot Meunier, my bottle disgorged January 2020 after almost 10 years on the lees with 9.7gl residual sugar. This is absolutely fresh - in some ways seeming more fresh than the 2013. The foamy cushion of mousse subsides to reveal distinct biscuit and buttery notes to small, redcurrant-like fruit and citrus peel. That toasty element - rarely found in pink sparkling wines - gives a richness and softness on the palate. A much more crisply-focused raspberry and lemon thrust of fruit and acidity asserts on the mid palate, leading the way into a shimmering acid finish, the dosage just softening the edges nicely. At time of review The Wine Society's price of £120 is very keen.
(2024) The new vintage of Nyetimber's Prestige Cuvée is an assemblage, with 14% still Pinot Noir joining a blend of 64% Pinot Noir and 36% Chardonnay. It was fermented in stainless steel, with old oak barrels used to age the red wine portion. It spent almost six years aging on the lees, and was held back an additional three and half years post disgorgement. Peachy-pink in colour, aromas are of raspberry and strawberry, but there's a fascinating nutmeg spice and chestnut background. In the mouth, again raspberry giving a tart, dry appeal, a streak of Seville orange acidity lengthening the finish. The mousse does add a cushion of textural softness, but this is decisive, savoury and complex wine.
(2023) Petite Douceur is Gosset's off-dry rosé, the extra sugar combing with extra-long maturation to produce a bronze-tinged wine with rich red fruit and a delicate sweetness. The fruit is all Grand Cru, a blend of 60% Chardonnay from Avize and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and 40% Pinot Noir from Bouzy, Ambonnay, and Cumières. It's an assemblage, made with 7% still Pinot Noir. It's a full, raspberry and strawberry scented wine with quite robust fruit flavours and a certain umami, savoury character. The fruit and cushion of mousse fills the mouth. In truth it comes across as just off-dry, with lovely weight, texture and acidity all fleshing out and cutting through the sweetness. A deliciously well-balanced Champagne. Ocado and Waitrose online are among the stockists, though at time of review the quoted supplier has a very keen price.
(2023) 100% Pinot Noir. Carlo says his valley always gives very aromatic Pinot, in both dry and sparkling wines - even the freshly picked grapes have pronounced strawberry and red fruit aromas. This coppery-pink wine certainly has some strawberry on the nose, also a touch of truffly smokiness, a hint of white pepper too. It is indeed aromatic. The wine is Brut, but in the mouth has a dry, small redcurrant fruit character, a little custardy richness, but the acid here from vineyards at over 400 metres is key. Flavourful rosé, and precise.
(2023) A few Champagne houses, notably Moët & Chandon, have launched special 'Ice' versions of their standard wine, specifically made to be enjoyed poured over ice. Following a very similar path, this from Cava giant Freixenet, is blended to be sweet and rich. Garnacha and Pinot Noir are blended and aged for a year on the lees, the wine bottled with 45g/l of residual sugar making it 'Semi-Seco', the equivalent of Demi-Sec in Champagne. Raspberry and icing sugar aromas leap from the glass, a little touch of buttery pastry from the time on the lees too. In the mouth there's definite sweetness and buoyant fruit flavour, but the acidity is really very good meaning this has balance. I think perhaps the pressure is slightly lower too, so that there is no real feeling of dilution. Good fun this - not a serious wine, but we all need a bit of frivolity in our lives now and again. Watch the video for more information.
(2023) A pink vintage Cava made from Pinot Noir, this spent 20 months on the lees. A delicate salmon pink, the nose is pretty with a touch of elderflower to raspberry and something a little riper, like guava or mango. In the mouth more of that full-fruited character, this is all about fruitiness and pretty floral characters, though the acidity is very well judged and the cushion of mousse gives a quiet sense of opulence. Quite unusual and very enjoyable.
