England: Rathfinny Estate - Blanc de Noirs 2020, Sussex Sparkling (BCorp Sustainable)

Read Alex's Producer Profile on Rathfinny

This is a vintage sparkling wine, made from 86% Pinot Noir and 14% Pinot Meunier. 12% alcohol. 

"The quality of flavours is excellent, and it has the savoury weight of Pinot Noir rather than the flesh of Chardonnay", Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine.

"A glorious wine that sits alongside any overseas creation", Matthew Jukes, World Renowned Wine Writer & Critic:

It has three years of ageing on its lees; lees being dead yeast cells formed by the second fermentation in the bottle which impart yeasty, toasty, bready flavours before being removed or "disgorged".

Rathfinny's style across the board aims for very dry, pure, refreshing wines with a very lively fruit character, with complexity imparted by the lees ageing rather than by oak barrels - indeed one thing you notice when visiting the winery is how few oak barrels they have (no more than a handful of them for ageing red wine destined for their pink sparkling and for their occasional still red). 

It is drinking very nicely now but also has considerable ageing potential (2030+).

Dosage is always very low at Rathfinny, thanks to their later harvests and long lees ageing, dosage being the addition of sugar (and often aged reserve wine) to fill the space left by the removal of the lees (disgorging) and to ensure the wine is balanced.

This wine has just 3 grams of sugar per litre - it's "bone dry" and low in calories.

I live around 30 minutes away from the out-of-this-world beautiful Rathfinny Estate, and worked there for some months during my winemaking studies.

The estate is just three miles from the sea and overlooks the Cuckmere Valley with the Seven Sisters cliffs in the distance, hence the outline of the cliffs appearing on the label. 

All of their grapes come from the estate's single-site vineyard which runs almost continuously down the Cradle Valley, with 385,000 vines across 93 hectares (230 acres).

Topsoils are incredibly thin, and then it's all about the chalk - the same chalk that runs through northern France (throughout parts of Champagne & Burgundy) into England. The oldest vines are now 14 years old. 

It's an interesting site with pros and cons (like all vineyard sites!): being so close to the coast it's frequently windy, thus the growing season here is longer than most other producers (though slow ripening is what you want for concentrated flavour precursors), while the overriding benefit is that disease pressure and especially frost risk is low. 

Yields are very low - windy sites do compromise the rate of photosynthesis - while the grapes are intentionally small, ideal for high quality sparkling in achieving fruit with low phenolics (e.g. bitter tannins), moderate sugar, and high acidity for freshness, longevity, and balance. 

Rathfinny is a hugely ambitious producer with a very long-term vision; the owners - the Driver family - talk in generations, not years, which I greatly admire and respect, and is a line I have heard repeated time and again by many if not all of the world's most lauded wine producers i.e. it's a marathon, not a sprint. 

As wine writer Henry Jeffreys affirms, there can be no doubt that they have proven all naysayers wrong with the quality produced here - the quality they are achieving is undeniable - albeit they are certainly playing a long-game financially. 

But you don't go into quality wine production - anywhere in the world - for instant gratification and to make a quick return, and especially not when it comes to long-aged bottle-fermented sparkling wine. When you start out, it can take the best part of a decade just to get product to market! 

The takeaway for me here? Pay no heed to naysayers and keep doing what you have set out to do. If all pioneers in all walks of life had listened to naysayers, then where would be?

These wines are poured in many of the finest hotels and restaurants, as well as being exported to Asia, Europe and the US.

Chef Michel Roux Jr is a huge fan and pairs dishes with their wines (previously at Le Gavroche and now at the Langham Hotel); Rathfinny's classic and pink are the house pour sparkling wines at the hotel's Wigmore restaurant. 

This is no wonder given several of Rathfinny's wines have in blind tastings trounced longer-established and much more expensive sparkling wines from elsewhere - blind tastings are always the true test, given any label bias is eliminated (this bias having proved to be highly significant).

Rathfinny is a family-owned and run business with a major focus on sustainability, being BCorp Certified. 

Food Pairing:

Roast duck, venison, Asian-style crab cakes, pork belly or roast pork with apple, mushroom risotto, charcuterie, aged cheeses, umami-rich dishes. Also of course with smoked salmon or trout.

What the critics say

Matthew Jukes: "A glorious wine that sits alongside any overseas creation. It is plush, silky, layered and effortlessly classy while maintaining a freshness and crunch".

Jancis Robinson, Master of Wine: "Disgorged 8 May 2024, after at least 36 months on lees. Mid-gold colour, toasted sesame, baked apple, white chocolate, sea salt and lemon sherbet. The quality of flavours is excellent, and it has the savoury weight of Pinot Noir rather than the flesh of Chardonnay. Fluffy, frothy bubbles. Long, classic length with dried apple, spice, elderflower and lots of yeasty complexity. I appreciate how the Brut dosage and the high acid soften each other out. Beats many a champagne".

94/100 (Outstanding: elegance, resonance, ageing potential) - Anne Krebiehl, Master of Wine