Hambledon Vineyard Premiere Cuvee

Description

Hambledon Vineyard Premiere Cuvee is the flagship Hampshire Sparkling wine from Hambledon Vineyard and was first released in 2015. One of the very best Hampshire sparkling wines.

Hambledon Vineyard is England’s oldest commercial vineyard. It was founded in 1952 by Major General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones who was a trailblazer for English wine-making. The vineyard passed through a couple of owners until Ian Kellett acquired the vineyard in 1999. Ian would eventually go on to study wine-making at Plumpton College and, in 2005, convinced that sparkling wine production was the way forward in the UK, a 10-acre ‘test bed’ of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier was planted on a combination of 27 different vine clones and rootstocks to see which gave the best results. In 2023 the estate was acquired by a consortium consisting of the UK oldest wine and spirits merchants, Berry Bros & Rudd, and Symington Family Estates, owners of Cockburns, Dows, Grahams, Warres et al. 

The estate comprises some 200 acres of vineyards, spread over numerous sites, which are situated on chalky slopes around the village of Hambledon. The chalk of the South Downs is an extension of the chalky soils in Champagne. The Newhaven chalk on which the vines grow was formed on the seabed of the Paris basin some 65 million years ago and is found in the best Chardonnay areas of the Côtes des Blancs in Champagne. The grapes are all hand-picked and undergo a double selection for quality, once in in the vineyard, and once before pressing at the only gravity-fed, state-of-the-art winery which allows for wines to be made with the minimal possible intervention. In 2011 Hervé Jestin, formerly one of Champagne’s leading chefs de cave, was appointed as the consultant wine-maker and directs all winemaking at the Estate.

Hambledon Vineyard Premiere Cuvee is a carefully blended selection of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier with the addition of some specially matured reserve wines. The cuvee is 67% Chardonnay, 11% Pinot Noir and 22% Pinot Meunier. It is a blend of 2 different vintages with around 2 to 3% of the wines fermented in specially selected French oak barrels to add complexity and structure. Malolactic fermentation took place to soften the minerality. The wine is aged for a minimum of 62 months on the lees. Dosage is 2.5 g/L.