Cuvée 2015 has been ageing in Wiston's cellars for three years, fermented in five to six year-old Puligny-Montrachet barrels, giving it the ability to gain character over time. A blend of all three classic Champagne grape varieties combined with a very low dosage at disgorgements: this has a wonderful clarity of fruit flavour.

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: 45% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, 22% Meunier
Ageing: 4 years on the lees
Dosage: 8 g/l
Disgorged: Aug 2020
Drink: Now to 2024

Tasting Note: Refreshing and fine, with fragrant notes of an English Orchard, nectarines, honey and brioche, Wiston Estate Cuvée 2015 displays an opulent expression of Wiston’s Cuvée style. With impressive depth, its filigree texture retains Wiston’s signature precision and elegance, that gives more than a nod to French bone structure.

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