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 2014 harvest was carried out by hand by a team of skilled pickers in late October and early November.

Weather in 2014: A dream year for UK vineyards with little frost, very good flowering weather, a cool wet August, but warm September and October. Most growers had very good crops with excellent sugars and acids. Still wines very good and sparklers up to the high quality of 2009. Total harvest 6.32 m bottles off 1,506 hectares.

Technical Information:
Grape Varieties: 66% Pinot Noir & 34% Meunier
Lees Ageing: 4.5 years
Dosage: 6 g/l
Bottling date: July 2015
Disgorged: 7th December 2021
Drink: Now to 5 years

Tasting Note: The fruit from the 2014 harvest was of exceptional quality and the resulting wine has evolved into an excellent example of Blanc de Noir, abundant with complex character and intensity of flavour. Aromas of lemon cake and macadamia nut deliver an inviting a sense of opulence. A round and weighty texture on the palate, abound with notes of rhubarb, dried orange and greengage. Further finesse shows through on the long finish, with hints of Himalayan pink salt and electric freshness, a subtle note of sweetness of Braeburn apple. Undeniable potential to age further.

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