Langham Estate Blanc de Blancs NV
£41.45
The wine
A fine, tense expression of English Chardonnay, opening with balsam, gooseberry and poached pear.
Blanc de Blancs is Chardonnay alone, which gives the leanest and longest-lived sparkling wine and shows the chalk most directly. English sparkling wine works because southern England sits on the same band of chalk that runs under Champagne, and a warming climate has brought ripening within reach. The maritime influence gives the acidity its cut. Langham Estate is at Crawthorne Farm in Dorset, just under ten miles from the coast, and makes everything on site.
The producer
Langham Estate
View all Langham Estate winesLangham Estate is one of the most exciting names in English sparkling wine, named Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year by the IWSC in 2020. Jancis Robinson has described its distinctive style as à la Selosse.
What began as a hobby vineyard planted by John Langham at his Dorset family home became serious in 2009, when his son Justin planted Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier at Crawthorne Farm. Head winemaker Tommy Grimshaw now crafts low intervention, traditional method wines from this single site.
The range shows real character, from the structured Corallian and Pinot led Culver Classic Cuvées to a vinous sparkling Rosé and a fine, tense Blanc de Blancs, all grown on Dorset chalk.
Distinctive, mineral and full of energy, Langham's sparkling wines are among England's very best. They combine chalky precision with a bold, vinous style. This is English fizz at its most compelling.
