Wiston’s vineyard sits on an ancient chalk seam covered by a shallow layer (10-30 cm) of topsoil, an ideal growing medium for vines. As in so many areas producing wines of outstanding quality, it is this chalky soil that is held to impart the complex flavours and structural elegance to the grapes and the wine itself. The tiny yields (15 hl per hectare) are critical to Wiston Estate’s purity, focus and elegance. The 2015 harvest was carried out by hand by a team of skilled pickers in late October and early November.

Weather: The 2015 growing season began positively with a warm, frost-free period encouraging bud burst. Temperatures cooled for the remainder of the Spring but re-warmed in time for flowering in July (albeit two weeks later than normal). As a result, the yield for the year looked set to be good. A cool summer, characterised by untypically cold nights, meant grapes were slow to develop, with veraison much later than normal. However, September improved significantly ending the month with a relative heatwave that continued into October. Harvest began on the 22nd October and finished on the 3rd of November. October’s warm, dry weather conditions resulted in a small to medium crop of exceptionally ripe, and healthy grapes. The year is one of concentration of flavour, producing broad wines with impressive ability to age.

Technical Information:
Grape Varieties: 100% Chardonnay
Ageing: 3 years on the lees
Dosage: 8 g/l
Disgorged: July 2019
Drink: Now to 2024

Tasting Note: Selected from the chalkiest and steepest part of Wiston’s vineyard, Blanc de Blancs 2015 is elegant and complex, with notes of tangerine, honeydew melon, honeysuckle and brioche. Aged in 50% mature Burgundy oak barrels and 50% stainless steel, this single vineyard, single vintage, single varietal Blanc de Blancs is perfect for immediate drinking and will also cellar beautifully.

The Wiston Estate has been owned and managed by the Goring family since 1743. It took Pip Goring, wife of current owner Harry Goring, three decades to convince her husband to turn the family's turkey production into a winery. The first vines were planted in 2006 on the chalky soils of the South Downs - a land with all the hallmarks of the famous Côte des Blancs - and their 16 acres of vineyard are spread over a 6,000 acre estate.

Wiston use no herbicides on their soil and still utilise the traditional Coquard press, one of only four outside of France and the only one of its kind in the UK. With a large surface area and exceptionally gentle pressing, the Coquard enables extraction of the very highest quality juice and combined with Wiston's minimum intervention winemaking, the end product best reflects its vineyard origin and the characteristics of the vintage. Now led by famous winemaker Dermot Sugrue, Wiston are one of the frontrunners in the English sparkling wine industry.

Cellar Master: Dermot Sugrue
Winery Location: South Downs | West Sussex, England
Annual Production (bottles): Undisclosed