Winemaker Notes
Elegant and pure, Blanc de Blancs is our signature sparkling. The 2019 vintage was named National Champion at the CSWWC this year. Characteristically complex, bright and balanced, we select our finest parcels of Chardonnay for this ageworthy wine.
It's the perfect choice for sophisticated celebrations and is ideal with seafood or lighter dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2019 has turned into one of the top vintages yet for this wine, consistently one of England’s top blanc de blancs sourced both from the Kentish clay and the Sussex chalk sites. The restraint of the vintage is certainly evident in the 2019 Blanc de Blancs, but it’s far from austere—over pure, ripe grapefruit and charred lime notes are white pepper top notes and pale shortbread richness, presented a little more reductively than some of the warmer vintages here. This manages to weave in a beautifully delicate thread of old oak and lees aging richness without swamping the purity of the fruit, finishing long and citric.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
The limestone soils of England’s southern end have proven ideal for the production of British sparkling wine. While it might seem too damp and cold for grape growing in England, recent warm summers and the onset of global warming signify great future growth for the British wine industry.