Cradle Valley Pinot Gris 2025
£19.45
The wine
Refreshing and light, with pear, lemon peel and green apple, and mouthwatering acidity.
Cradle Valley is the still-wine label of Rathfinny in Sussex, planted in 2012 three miles from the Channel on the South Downs. Pinot Gris has pink-grey skins, so anything more than the briefest contact draws colour the style does not want, and in a climate this cool the grape keeps a cut and a precision that warmer regions simply cannot give it.
The producer
Cradle Valley
View all Cradle Valley winesCradle Valley is an English producer in East Sussex, part of the exciting new wave of cool-climate winemaking on the chalk and clay of the South Downs. England's marginal climate, once a handicap, now yields fresh, aromatic wines of real character. This is homegrown wine with a bright future.
The estate focuses on aromatic whites suited to the cool English conditions, above all Pinot Gris with a little Chardonnay. Long, gentle ripening under mild southern skies gives fruit of lively acidity and delicate perfume. Careful farming makes the most of every sunny hour.
In the cellar, clean, modern winemaking protects the fruit's freshness and aromatics. The wines are crisp, fragrant and beautifully balanced, showing just how far English still wine has come. Precision is everything in a cool climate.
Cradle Valley offers a taste of the English wine renaissance from the Sussex countryside. Fresh, aromatic and food-friendly, its whites are a delicious expression of a cool and hopeful terroir.
