Spring Tasting of Gold / English Sparkling Wine

As frosty February days gradually yield to the promise of seasonal change, our vineyard awakens from its slumber with a flurry of activity. Pruning shears in hand, we dance with the vines, coaxing forth the magic of another fruitful season ahead.

Hello friends, and welcome once again, we hope that you are very well. We’re here with another diary entry for you on life and times at our Eridge vineyard, so make yourself comfortable, it’s fika time.

Since our last update, we began – and completed – the major vineyard job of Winter; pruning. It’s vital that this happens before the sap in the vines begins moving once again, to ensure vine health and bountiful harvests. Then once completed, the follow-on task is called ‘raising the wires’.

This means adjusting the wires running between the posts, in readiness to support the lovely new growth, and ensures proper vine canopy management, sunlight exposure, and vine training throughout the growing season. Vineworks oversaw this brilliantly – Daniel leading with the pruning, and Bianca the team raising the wires.

In medal news, this month it was a real honour to receive the confirmation that our Blanc de Blancs 2018 has been awarded a Gold Medal by The Drinks Business. They are the major UK wine trade publication, and the award was at their Spring Tasting. Our smallest release so far, at only 2500 bottles, we are moving through this special sparkling pretty quickly… Have you tried it yet? Don’t wait too long!

What about future wine releases from us? How are they coming along? Well just last week we held ‘Dosage trials’ for three new wines: Magnum 2020, Blanc de Blancs 2019 and Brut 2020. An important step in creating all high quality Traditional Method sparkling wine, dosage trials involves experimenting subtly with different sugar levels to determine the ideal ‘dosage’ for each sparkling wine to achieve the perfect sweetness, balance and style before final bottling.

We made the big decisions we needed to and are really happy with those calls. And now we cannot wait for you to taste! And yes, you read that correctly, we did say Magnum…

Finally our warm congratulations to the brilliant team at Trishna London for retaining their Michelin Star for the 12th year running. Our wonderfully versatile 2019 Brut Rosé is available by the glass at this amazing restaurant on Blandford Street in Marylebone Village, who are creators of fine contemporary Indian coastal cuisine. English sparkling wine and Michelin starred Indian food… sounds like something you need to experience doesn’t it?! 

That is all for us this time, so eat and drink well and we will see you again very soon.