Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Touches of vanilla, cream and lovely hints of oatmeal allude to developing, evolving autolytic notes. These are edged with pure lemon, giving equal expression to emollience and freshness. On the midpalate the creamy, generous richness of yeast comes through, providing stucture and a canvas against which tart apple and Amalfi lemon can play. Depth and serious intent shows amid the sensuously fine fizz. Although this wine is refreshing and bright now, more bottle age will make it even more alluring. The pure and lasting finish leaves you wanting more.
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.