RATHFINNY

A barnstormer of a brand new release from one of England’s most celebrated wineries. Here we have a vintage fizz, aged for three years in bottle, with a pinot noir-dominated blend, all for well under £30. Stating the obvious, that’s some serious value for money. Expect layers of red apple and crystallised ginger, from a producer that’s spearheaded Sussex to become the UK’s first county-wide winemaking PDO (protected designation of origin) — so we can officially address this as a ‘Sussex Sparkling’. £28.98 (£26.95 for six), Lea & SandemanRob Buckhaven, Metro (Jun 2020)

This is the first ‘Cuvée’ wine released at Rathfinny and it is the intention that wine will be the standard-bearer for the estate going forwards. They will always release vintage wines at Rathfinny, so it is rather unusual, but also interesting, that while others will generally list an NV as the entry-level wine, here, this position will be filled by a vintage release, which should keep people on their toes if nothing else. As Mark adores Pinot Noir, and they have 45% of the 60ha in production devoted to this grape, it was always going to form the backbone of this wine.

The Drivers are at pains to point out that they ‘age the wine for their customers so they are ready to drink on release’. This is a rather odd philosophy for vintage fizz, but given the ripeness that they achieve on their estate and also the low dosages which they include in their wines, the wines always seem unusually forward and so perhaps this is not only a sales tool but it is also based in fact. I haven’t tasted an older vintage (the first releases were the 2014s and I noted that they were not going to live particularly long at the time) but I expect them to at least make five years at the very least

Anyway, this is a 57% Pinot Noir, 22% Chardonnay, 21% Pinot Meunier blend with only 5 g/L dosage and it carries a weighty, green-gold hue and a rather full-framed delivery on both the nose and palate. There is a lot of wine here for a rather competitive price and if they have set out to make a Bolly-shaped-sparkler, for a tenner cheaper than the real thing, then they have done a good job.

There is a heady perfume and an apple and cinnamon compote theme here which is rather alluring and I feel that they have certainly managed to make a wine which suits both their site and their tastes.