Nyetimber Vineyard
The Nyetimber Estate in West Sussex is currently the largest vineyard in the UK with 438 acres under vine. The first Nyetimber vines were planted in 1988 by an Anglophile couple from Chicago, Stuart and Sandy Moss. They had discovered the geological similarities between the Champagne region in north eastern France and southern England and after much research chose the Nyetimber Estate to realise their ambition to find a location outside France where it would be possible to produce sparkling wine to rival champagne.
Nyetimbers signature champagne style wine, the top selling Nyetimber Classic Cuvée is a blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, and is considered to be one of the best English wines. Nyetimber sparkling wine has been described by wine expert Oz Clarke as "Exactly what classic champagne is supposed to taste like". Classic Cuvée is produced by the traditional method and is aged in the bottle for at least three years before it is released, which results in a classic, creamy, rich sparkling wine.
Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs is an elegant fizzy English wine, with a lovely bright straw yellow colour with hints of green, and a soft mousse. Made from 100% chardonnay grapes, the nose has flavours of lemon, apple, jasmine, butter and vanilla with hints of caramel and marzipan. There is a clean fresh green apple entry on the palate quickly followed by classic Chardonnay characters of baked lemon and minerals. Blanc de Blancs wines, translated as "white of whites", are traditionally considered to be the premium wines from a house as they have the greatest ageing potential.
Buy Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs.
As well as having top selling English sparkling wines, Nyetimber have also won many trophies and awards. In 2009 their awards included winning the IWSC Trophy for "Best Worldwide Sparkling Wine" for an unprecedented third time and the IWSC "UK Wine Producer of the Year" trophy for the fourth time.
On the BBC2 Programme "Oz and Hugh Raise the Bar", wine buff Oz Clarke and comedian Hugh Dennis visited Nyetimber, after sampling some Nyetimber wine Oz commented that not only did it taste as good as Champagne, it tasted better! High praise indeed!