Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A very subtle nose gives hints of ripe yellow apple and a gentle creaminess. Lively but fine fizz on the palate brings out more of the vivid enlivening freshness, now with nuances of green apple and ripe lemon pitched against a gently autolytic background of shortbread. With its long dry lemony finish this is all about subtlety, freshness and restrained elegance.
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.