Nyetimber Classic Cuvée Multi Vintage NV (37.5cl)
£22.25
The wine
Classic Cuvée is the Nyetimber house blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, made by the traditional method with the second fermentation in bottle and long ageing on lees.
Multi Vintage rather than non-vintage is the estate own term, and it means the same thing: a blend across years assembled for consistency. 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. This is the half bottle.
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.
