Hambledon, Première Cuvée, Sparkling, Hampshire, England
Description
Aromatics of wax, nuts, spice, honey and citrus abound in this one. The palate is vibrant with ripe pear and a touch of cherry, cranberry and grapefruit. A complex, mouth-filling, dense and intense wine.
Jamie Goode, Sunday Express (April 2023)
Hambledon Vineyard has a long and fascinating history. Not only does the village have the reputation as the cradle of cricket, long before Lord’s, it seems, but it is also the location of the first English commercial vineyard, courtesy of the Francophile Sir Guy Salisbury Jones, who developed the vineyards in the early 1950s.
After an uneventful hiatus, the vineyard was purchased by Ian Kellett in 1999, and his investments of both patience and capital are now yielding fruit, quite literally, in the form of some of the best-located Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes in the country. A standard-bearer for the quality England can achieve, this is a remarkably assured wine with a firm, acidic spine, complexity, and detail—great focus and precision.
Berry Bros. & Rudd