Winning Wines from Hambledon Vineyard for English Wine Week

So, that was English Wine Week! I hope you all enjoyed learning more about the wines being made on our own little old island and, more than that, I really hope you’ve had a chance to taste them!

It’s been a great opportunity to shine a spotlight on the industry here in England and Wales and share information about wines and producers. The conversation on Instagram has been electric and I love surprising people with the successes of English wine - particularly of the sparkling kind. In a number of blind tastings, English sparkling wines have scored more highly than wines from top Champagne houses, like Bollinger and Roederer. 

In a blind tasting organised by Noble Rot magazine in 2015, one English vineyard came ahead of Pol Roger, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot, bagging the highest score of all the wines tasted. Located on Hampshire’s South Downs, on the Newhaven Chalk formation, Hambledon Vineyard possesses the same terroir that can be found in the very best sites of the Côte des Blancs in Champagne - could this be the reason it produces such winning wines?

I’m sure that current owner, Ian Kellett has something to do with it too - after purchasing the estate in 1999, he made it his mission for it to produce the very best English sparkling wines from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and turn England’s oldest commercial vineyard into a flagship success story. With the help of a world class winemaker, Hervé Jestin, who was recommended by family friends at Pol Roger, he did just that.

During a virtual tutored tasting with Ian, I sampled three of the estate’s most iconic non-vintage cuvées: the Hambledon Classic Cuvée; the Classic Cuvée Rosé and the Premiere Cuvée. I found that all of the wines had a unique texture and grip on the palate, making each sip interesting and exciting. Ian explains that because they have a gravity fed winery, meaning that the wine hasn’t been electronically stimulated, the long chain polymers remain unbroken and it is these that give the wine texture. This kind of scientific insight is one of hundreds that Ian imparts - the research he has conducted into every single crevice of Traditional Method winemaking is extensive as it is fascinating - and it’s far too much to write here in order to do it justice!

But, back to the wines. Hambledon specialise in non-vintage cuvées, partially because of the unreliable English weather year to year and also because they have perfected a house style to be proud of. For the Classic Cuvée, they run a Solera system, which acts as a cornerstone for the Hambledon style. The wine spends three years on the lees and they blend and bottle later in the year to gain advantages in flavour and complexity.

The result is a very impressive Classic Cuvée, with texture, depth and complexity, but still crisp and refreshing as the perfect aperitif. It has a nicely aromatic nose of green apples and pear, alongside the citrus, with an underlying layer of warm bread. The mousse is lively and refreshing and a sip is like crunching into a crisp Granny Smith apple. 

With all of his their wines, Ian is seeking pinpoint accuracy and a linear acidity. It was a pleasure to find this in the Classic Cuvèe Rosé too, due to the high Chardonnay component (90% of the blend). The colour is less of a pink and more of a pale burnt orange with a golden glint - the shades of a sunset. The objective was a ‘biscuit-dry’ wine with a red fruit expression and a crunch on the palate - I would say they’ve nailed it. The sparkling rosé for non-sparkling rosé drinkers.

As a passionate food lover, all of Ian’s wines are food wines, none more so than the Premiere Cuvée. It’s seen 10 to 15% of oak, compared to the 2 to 5% of oak in the Classic Cuvée, giving it more texture, structure and colour. The bubbles are finer (Ian compares the bubbles in the Classic Cuvée to homeycomb and this to a baked meringue with a soft gooey centre) and the result is a softer, creamier mouthfeel, with a sustained length. The high Chardonnay content (73%) gives the palate accuracy and attack - it’s much more of a vinous style of sparkling wine. This is the wine that gives Dom Perignon and Krug a run for their money - and it did in a tasting held at 67 Pall Mall, where it scored higher than both of them.

If you’re new to English wine, I would encourage you to begin your journey here. Remember, English wine is for life, not just for English Wine Week!

Find out more about Hambledon here.