This very limited production wine, Sugrue’s first Blanc de Blancs, is winemaker, Dermot’s tribute to his late brother Boz. A complex and harmonious English sparkling wine, showing aromas of green apple and subtle hints of lemon thyme. Beautifully balanced and poised on the palate, which offers good weight and notes of citrus peel, orange zest and delicate hints of strawberry through to an elegant finish.
The grapes come from the Jenkyn Place single vineyard, nestled in the Hampshire Downs. The vineyard covers five hectares of vines, on land that was previously used for cultivating hops. The vineyards sit on sheltered, chalky, south-facing slopes at 100 metres above sea level, with greensand soils over marlstone, making them ideal for growing the high-quality grapes. The greensand topsoil at Jenkyn Place is scattered with eroded fragments of chalk, creating a distinctive -and possible unique combination, which is beginning to be translated into the wines. Chalky soils are associated with more gently-fruited wines of notable finesse, while greensand soils deliver a rounder fruit profile.