Wine Region: Sussex

(2026) Well, this is undeniably delicious and fine. The 12th release from Dermot Sugrue's own operation, farming 20-year-old vines in Sussex, it is 60% Pinot and 40% Chardonnay, and 40% of the base wine was fermented in French oak barriques and older, 600-litre demi-muids. It then had 32 months on the lees. Pale lemon/straw with copious minuscule bubbles, aromas are captivating, spanning a hint of toast and Brazil nut, fresh ceps, and an airy, light but nutty russet apple. There is an ozone and mineral salts freshness too. In the mouth, the wine burst with ripe, exuberant and sweet fruit. It's not sugar, this bottled with just 6g/l dosage, but it is fruity to its core, without sacrificing elegance or vivacious punch. So much dazzling, saline acidity and that bready, nutty hint of richer depth beneath the rippling surface. Fabulous.

(2026) Now on its sixth vintage, this is 100% Pinot Noir grown on the sandy, silty Redmoors vineyard. The wine spends a minimum of two years aging on the lees. Fine, delicate colour and bubbles, and the the nose has a raspberry and rose-hip, quite sherbetty brightness. In the mouth it is lively and yet a creaminess and strawberry bon-bon character adds softness, finishing alert and crisp, with a salty lick of acidity. A delicious rosé.

(2026)

This beautifully packaged pink is a limited summer edition of Nyetimber's rosé. I am not 100% certain if it is the same wine as their regular N.V. rosé, also composed of estate-grown Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

This is mostly made from fruit of the 2022 harvest with 14% reserve wines from 2021. It was bottled with 9.5g/l dosage after three years resting on the lees. Its light to medium pink colour suggests fruitiness, and indeed raspberry and redcurrant run into pomegranate aromatically, with a hint of cedar and biscuit adding some depth. In the mouth the red fruit has a pulpy sweetness, but this really is beautifully balanced, citrus acid with a twist of bitter lemon or grapefruit giving quite a gastronomic, grown up personality that is still so easy to sip, and very appealing.

(2025) Nyetimber's 1086 is their prestige cuvée, matured on the lees for almost nine years and bottled with 9.4g/L of residual sugar. The 2014 blend is 50% Chardonnay, 50% Pinot Noir with no Pinot Meunier. Eleven years on from vintage and there is a hint of burnished gold to the colour, and an incessent stream of minuscule bubbles. Aromas are toasty, with biscuit and brioche, but a clear line of lime too, and something stony and mineral. In the mouth it is riven by rippling, sheer acidity, but there is texture and weight to balance, again an invigorating lime and lightly saline freshness, with the nutty biscuit tones underpinning. An extremely stylish release with intensity and yet a natural, unforced elegance and clarity.

(2025) The Rosé bottling of 1086 is a blend of 72% Chardonnay and 28% Pinot Noir. Despite having been aged on the lees for over 60 months it is remarkably fresh and zippy. Small red fruit like redcurrant and rose-hips mingle with delicate floral highlights and a hint of brioche and vanilla. It pours with a lively and persistent mousse, a dosage of 9g/l giving it enough easy charm, but the spine of acidity and clarity of fruit is lovely, sweetness and a gastronomic berry tartness freshening the finish.

(2025) A special bottling for Laithwaites in conjunction with English Heritage, with a contribution to the charity feom sales. It's a blend of the three main Champagne grapes. A lovely nose, direct and lemony, but buttressed by a rich autolysis giving creamy, biscuity tones. The palate too has a great freshness and intensity, lemon and keen, juicy apple, with a fine line of acidity that is a counterpoint to underlying richness.

(2025) Ace English wine maker Dermot Sugrue and his wife have released this barrel-fermented and aged saignée of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from the excellet 2023 vintage. Much darker than is fashionable, bronze-to-cherry in colour, with small red berries like redcurrant and cranberry. In the mouth it is textured, dry, the intense red berry character continuing yet given real zip with a saline tang to the acidity and the merest squeak of oak tannin adding some earthy depth. Very good. Noodles, by the way, is their dearly departed lurcher.

(2024) A fine rosé, blended from 78% Pinot Noir along with Pinot Meunier and 5% Pinot Précoce, a.k.a Frühburgunder. The base wine was partially fermented in Burgundian oak barrels and stayed on the lees for 53 months. The wine has only 6g/l dosage, yet there's such a strawberry shortcake impression of creamy and sweet summer pudding fruit on the nose, the autolysis sits very nicely. In the mouth the mousse is gently persistent, and that strawberry fruit edges into a sharper raspberry and lemon acidity, a touch of barrel spice and elegant, cool length.

(2024) The Goring family's West Sussex estate, Wiston, was planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir in 2006. This wine spent 42 months on lees and was bottled with 8g/l dosage. Quite a deep bronze colour, an indication that this is an 'assemblage' with 15% vinified as red wine, there's a lovely rhubarb and hint of truffle depth to tangy raspberry fruit. The palate marries vibrant Seville orange, more raspberry and a hint of juicy strawberry, but with excellent acidity never wavering at the core. Long and delicious from ace winemaker Dermot Sugrue.

(2024) One of three sparkling wines that Roebuck will release from 2018, such was the quality of the vintage in its Sussex vineyards. This is a blend of Chardonnay (47%), Pinot Noir (42%) and Pinot Meunier (11%), around 5% barrel-fermented.  The wine spent 48 months on the lees. It has a really vivacious, sparky personality, and although there's plenty of biscuity richness and creaminess, lemon and crisp apple, plus a hint of umami savouriness add to the complexity. The mousse is tight and energetic, all the citrussy fruit anchored by some truffle and toast toward the finish. It's a taut, intense style, done very well.