Chardonnay:

• Nose: Give it a good swirl to unlock the high-quality fruit and subtle oak character

• Mouth: Thirst quenching acidity of green apple and lemon curd, followed by a long extension of the wine on the palate, with a steely citrus finish

• Conclusion: A little shy while young so worth opening up; decant or use a large Burgundy glass

• Food: Local goat cheeses, dressed crab, poached fish, seafood pastas

Pinot Noir:

• Nose: Super carbonic, wild strawberries, red brambly fruit and floral notes.

• Mouth: Crunchy cranberry, raspberries with a layer of light smoky tannin

• Conclusion: A light elegant red, very much in vogue with its low extraction

• Food: We recommend you drink this in the sun, paired with Charcuterie, and serve slightly chilled (14c).  Also pairs with grilled aubergine, salty cheese, fatty fish salmon/tuna, duck, pork and venison

Chardonnay grapes suitable for still wine is one of the most elusive varieties in the UK. Working with two vineyards we may just have found the solution – one site near Petworth, West Sussex which has very sandy soil resulting in low-yielding, highly aromatic ripe fruit. The second site, just 30 minutes away, was in West Marden, West Sussex which has a loamy flint-rich soil which produced lively acidity, citrus and green apple purity.

Once in the cellar, the grapes were foot stomped in the press and given around 1 hour of maceration to extract flavour and texture from the skins. The wine was gently pressed and fermented with classic Burgundian yeast in neutral oak barrels.

Full malolactic fermentation then took place to help build mouth feel and naturally soften the wine’s acidity.

The wine was aged for 7 months in neutral oak barrels bought second-hand from Romaric of Domaine Chavy-Chouet. 

Pinot noir is without doubt our favourite styles of wine to make…it is also the hardest wine to produce in the UK. Over these last 4 years we have been working with the single clone Pinot Noir Précoce and this year we continued this for 80% of the story, but we have been working to refine the style and included 1 tonne (20%) of Burgundian clones (mostly 777). Our style has always been very light, cool climate, low extraction, and elegant. This year we doubled down this path with the goal of making a supremely pretty pinot.

20% destemmed, 80% whole bunch, carbonic maceration in concrete tanks. Very light extraction with minimal pump overs, early pressing on day 7, and fermentation was completed in concrete tanks. After fermentation, the wine was aged in new oak (12%) and neutral oak (8%) and concrete tank (80%) for the remaining volume. Malolactic fermentation was completed, and the wine was further aged on lees for 7 months before bottling.