Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The 90 hectares of vineyards of this Kent-based producer include 30 hectares in West Sussex. This is their best-selling bubbly: just over half of the blend is Pinot Noir, with 40% Chardonnay and the rest Pinot Meunier, aged on lees for at least 36 months. The complex nose releases aromas of apple blossom, part-baked peaches and the faintest hint of hazelnut skins. The tingly acid attack is fleshed out by richness of baked-lemon creaminess and gently toasted flavours, among a fine, delicate mousse that persists on the palate.
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Wine Enthusiast
Chalk, flint and stone are the first impressions on the nose. These are followed by overtones of lemon and shortbread. The palate is vivid with lively mousse and a zesty backbone of citrus that encompasses flesh, pith and zest. Wonderfully vivid, energetic and alive with a dry, lasting, refreshing finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Disgorged in May 2019, Gusbourne's 2015 Brut Reserve is very good, wafting from the glass with scents of pear, toasted bread, mandarin orange, iodine and smoke. Medium to full-bodied, pillowy and enveloping, it's seamless and charming, with lively acids and a youthfully frothy mousse. This isn't as concentrated as its stablemates, but it's certainly long on complexity.
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.