A visit to Wiston Wine Estate
British wines are on the up. Camel Valley in Cornwall produces an award-winning and much-rated sparkling rosé, the Chapel Down Wine Estate of Kent sparklers are similarly highly-acclaimed, whilst Sussex has a cornucopia of wineries stretching from West to East Sussex.
One of the most famous is the Wiston Estate near Findon and this I visited yesterday.
I went with a friend – a lawyer – who is a wine enthusiast, particularly enjoying her champagne.
Although Southern fizz regularly out performs French champagne in competition they are not entitled to term it ‘Champagne’.
We took lunch in the award-winning Chalk Restaurant so-named as the Estate, owned by the Goring family since 1741, is on chalk land.
Harry Goring married Pippa from the Cape and it was she who was the staple force in converting the farm land to vineyards in 1952. Their son and his wife Kirsty have taken it forward and their cuvée and blanc de blancs are premium marquee sparklers.
After the delicious lunch -and well fuelled by 4 glasses of the Blanc de Blancs – we were booked in for the wine tour.
The chatty guide Candice soon set up a rapport with my equally chatty friend. I have been on sufficient wine tours to comment that – once you have seen one fermenting oak barrel, you have seen them all.
We then had a tasting.
My own view is that if you have paid for the tour, as well as lunch, there should be a voucher for the estate wine as I prefer some food with a tasting.
Other than as a late morning sharpener, I am no particular fan of champagne finding it too acetic and would always drink in preference a creamy Bourgogne. I drifted ’off the air’ during the tasting and told the guide (in answer to her question) that the rosé was my preference. I was rather embarrassed to say, when we talked pairings, that I like the Spanish way of suffusing lemon sorbet with sparkling wine. Beyond this I believe champagne has traded too much on its celebratory nature.
Nonetheless, I was touched that my guest bought me a bottle of rosé afterwards.
The problem for Wiston and other British estates is they do not produce in sufficient volume, so their prices are high. Their premium Blanc de Blanc is £58 and their Rose £54. Nye Timber is about £35. This is more expensive than Veuve Cliquot or Bollinger.
