Revolutionary Nyetimber

Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2009, England

(£35, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Farr Vintners, Lay & Wheeler)

Very refined, accomplished and elegant fizz from the producer that really kick-started the modern English sparkling wine scene. This point was made particularly vividly because, at the same tasting, we were treated to the 1992 Blanc de Blancs – the first wine made at Nyetimber, the wine that launched a thousand others, from what is now the oldest Chardonnay vineyard in the country. (The 1992 we tried, disgorged in September 2015, was golden in colour and flavour, dry with savoury mushroom, bready flavours, a touch of leather and white chocolate, quite mellow on the finish.)

We love the vivid, bracing 2007 Blanc de Blancs (you can read Susie’s review in this piece). This 2009 is a change of tempo: less zingy, slightly richer and more succulent (for the first time a small percentage of the wine was fermented in new oak barrels) and very fine textured, dry and appley. One to stick in the cellar for a few years at least, if you have the patience. (Peter, March 2016, 8/10)