Hampshire Vineyards In Britain's Top Twenty
Hurray for Hampshire! Hampshire vineyards have taken five of the top slots in Britain’s Top Twenty Vineyards according to The Real Review. The following is an edited version of the feature in The Real Review written by wine writer Anthony Rose.
Coming in at No 5 is Hambledon Vineyard. Major General Sir Guy Salisbury Jones established England’s oldest commercial vineyard in Hambledon in 1952, and it was snapped up by Ian Kellett in 1999. Although continuing to expand production, there is no loss of quality, thanks to the savoir-faire of French winemakers, Hervé Jestin and, more recently, Felix Gabillet. The prestige Première Cuvée and Rosé are excellent, but for sheer value the Classic Cuvée is an exceptional drop.
At No 6 is Hattingley Valley - one of the bigger English sparkling wineries run, until she announced her departure earlier this year, by Emma Rice, a Plumpton College graduate. Hattingley make a wide range of fizz of their own as well as contract fizz for other wineries, including Louis Pommery England, albeit in this case under the Champagne Vranken-Pommery team. Hattingley Valley have made waves this year partly because of the consistent quality of the core range, but also because they submitted both prestige cuvées, the King’s Cuvée and King’s Cuvée Rosé. The Kings Cuvée won Supreme Champion and Best Sparkling Wine at the Wine GB Awards 2020 so it was no surprise to see how well the 2015 vintage of both wines performed this year.
At No 11 is Exton Park Vineyard. Corinne Seely is a determined and talented French winemaker who has brought a unique style to this estate. After creating a new winery built to her specifications, Corinne went on to build up a unique library of reserve wines from different plots and years from which to create her blends, with up to 32 reserves in each cuvée, notably the RB32 Brut, RB23 Rosé and RB28 Blanc de Noirs and, from this year, an impressive new Pinot Meunier Rosé from a single plot at the top of the chalky vineyard.
At No 12 is Raimes English Sparkling. Fifth-generation farmers Augusta and Robert Raimes decided to diversify by grasping the nettle of growing four hectares of champagne grapes at their Tichborne Estate in the South Downs in 2011, and commissioning the talented Emma Rice at Hattingley Valley to make the wines for them. The upshot is a series of exceedingly good wines, most notably the Blanc de Blancs, Blanc de Noirs and Classic Cuvées. These wines are a little under the radar but are consistently good value.
At No 15 is Coates & Seely. Made in the cool-climate chalk and flint downlands of Hampshire, all Coates & Seely’s sparkling wine blends are pinot noir-dominant with the Rosé and the NV Brut Reserve especially noteworthy, while Brut Reserve, Rosé and Brut Reserve La Perfide all come in magnums.
At No 17 is Black Chalk, owned and run by ex-Hattingley Valley winemaker Jacob Leadley and his brother-in-law Andrew Seden. Since the impressive 2015 debut releases, Black Chalk entered a new phase of expansion in 2019, leasing 12 hectares of vineyards in the Test Valley, planted in four sites to pinot noir, meunier, chardonnay, pinot gris and pinot précoce. Its still Rosé is good, while its latest sparkling releases from the 2018 vintage, the Wild Rosé II Brut and Classic I Brut mark Black Chalk out as a winery of serious promise.
Pic Credit: Image of Black Chalk vineyard taken by The Electric Eye Photography.