Gusbourne Brut Reserve 2016
-
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Winemaker Notes
Deep gold, dark and rich, with a delicate mousse and persistent perfume of honeyed green apples with hints of lemon, white peach and toasted nuts. The palate is fruit driven, with red apples, poached pears and bright red berry fruit. It displays subtle flavors of peach and developed toasty notes of freshly baked bread, roasted nuts and apple pie before a long, elegant and rounded finish.
Blend: 40% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Meunier, 27% Pinot Noir.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Hints of green apple and lemon zest parade themselves with sprightly ease, assisted by the still frothy foam that's dancing and dazzling, bright and spiky one moment, creamy and mellow the next. A lovely, lively and nonetheless elegant sparkler of purity and freshness.
Other Vintages
2019-
James
Suckling
-
Wine
Enthusiast
- Decanter
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wilfred
Wong -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
-
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine
Enthusiast
Gusbourne takes its name from John de Goosebourne, owner of the estate back in 1410 when it bordered the sea in the South East of England. In 2004 our founder Dr Andrew Weeber planted the first vines with a clear vision and a single goal: to create English Sparkling Wines that would stand up alongside the very finest offerings from across the globe.
Focusing on just the classic grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, all the grapes used in our winemaking are sourced solely from Gusbourne vineyards, and we only make Vintage wines. Though England is very much cool climate territory, in relative terms our vineyards benefit from an exceptionally warm and dry maritime climate, which enables us to achieve full ripeness every year – whilst still being classically fresh, our wines tend to display an extra level of roundness and approachability. Our vines are tended with great care and attention to the environment, using only organic fertilisers, whilst time and complexity are the name of the game in the winery, where 250-300 wines are made each vintage (some under wood), with our key Cuvées ending up being assemblages of up to 120 wines each.
Gusbourne is the only three-time winner of the International Wine & Spirits Challenge English Wine Producer of the Year, and we are the proud recipients of over 200 awards at international competitions - in 2019 alone we were awarded 23 gold medals and 8 trophies. Our wines are not in widespread distribution, but can be found in leading restaurants, top hotels and luxury department stores. They are also served in the Royal Households.
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.