The first Blanc de Blancs from the esteemed English winemaker Dermot Sugrue- friend of the shop and winemaker at Wiston. This is Dermot's tribute to his late brother, which has received stunning reviews. It is made in very small quantities.
Here are the words of Tamyln Currin, writing for Jancis Robinson, who gave it an incredible '18' score:
Made with 100% Chardonnay, from 100% Hampshire vines. A single vineyard planted in 2004 at Jenkyn Place, on greensand and fractured chalk soils. Vinified in stainless steel, no oak. Dosage 9 g/l.
"This took me into a wordless lacuna from the moment I put the glass to my nose. A hinterland. An unoccupied interior. There is an expression, chiaroscuro, from the Italian meaning 'light-dark'. It's when an artist allows the shape and substance of the form to be defined only by the way light falls against it. Silent contrast. Black and white. Shadows and light. (...)
I will tell you that this astoundingly beautiful wine is chiselled to within an inch of its bones and yet it is charged with the purest canon of English fruit. I will tell you that it is so spicy that I just assumed the base wine was oak fermented and aged, until I read the notes. I will tell you that it is long and mineral and like a flashing blade of Valyrian steel although it cuts through ripe pear and elderflower honey and cold full-cream milk sitting in a pail on a flagstone floor."
