Nyetimber 1086 Prestige Cuvée Rosé 2016
£175.75
The wine
A delicate salmon pink hue with an exceptionally fine mousse and expressive aromas.
1086 is the prestige cuvée, named for the year the Domesday Book recorded Nyetimber as a manor, which makes the estate a good deal older than its vineyards. The South Downs sit 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. Nyetimber planted its first vines in West Sussex in 1988 and was the estate that proved England could make serious sparkling wine.
The producer
Nyetimber
View all Nyetimber winesNyetimber is where modern English sparkling wine begins. The estate appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, but its wine story starts in 1988, when the first Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines were planted in West Sussex, a then-eccentric decision that changed the course of English wine.
The soils are the same chalk and greensand that underpin Champagne, the vineyards now spread across Sussex and Hampshire, and every grape is estate-grown. Under winemaker Cherie Spriggs the house has collected honours few English producers can match; in 2018 she was named Sparkling Winemaker of the Year, the first woman and the first person outside Champagne to take the title.
From the Classic Cuvée to the rare 1086 Prestige Cuvée, named for that Domesday entry, these are the wines that made the world take England seriously.
