Exton Park sets out English ambition

The latest addition to the English sparkling wine category has set out ambitions for high quality based on single vineyard production and a significant reserve wine component to its blends.

Corinne Seely with some of the young Pinot Meunier vines at Exton Park

Exton Park works exclusively with grapes from its 55-acre vineyard on the chalky soil of Hampshire’s South Downs. Owned by local businessman Malcolm Isaac since 2009, the vineyards are managed by Fred Langdale, who has worked around the world but most recently for major English producer Nyetimber.

Meanwhile the winemaking is overseen by consultant Corinne Seely, who got to know Exton Park during her previous involvement with fellow Hampshire estate Coates & Seely, but also brings experience from Bordeaux, the Douro and Tasmania, among other places.

Introducing the wines and estate ahead of this week’s London Wine Fair, where Exton Park will be present on the English Wine Producers stand, Seely emphasised her focus on building up stocks of reserve wine each year to create a consistent, more complex non-vintage style that represents the majority of the house’s production.

“It’s difficult to manage because each vintage is different,” she told the drinks business. “We have four years of reserve wine which we can keep in tank for 10 years or move into barrels.” With a view to experimentation in this direction, Seely, who used to work for Pessac-Léognan’s Domaine de Chevalier, revealed that she had already acquired a few old barrels from this same appellation.

Although Exton Park fared better than many producers in Sussex and Kent during the wet summer of 2012, when Nyetimber took the decision to harvest no grapes at all, Seely chose to keep the entire crop back for use as reserve wine.

Langdale echoed her commitment to building up a strong blending base of reserve wine, saying: “In my view England is set for non-vintage wines. You can really play with what you’ve got and the English weather is so fickle. For customers, if you are able to produce a consistent brut each year then they are happy.”

Exton Park’s south-east facing vineyards

The majority of Exton Park’s production at the moment comes from its first 12 acres of vines that were planted in 2003. Over time this will be bolstered by fruit from a second planting in 2008, yet more in 2011 and a final 25 acres that went into the ground in 2013.

“It’s very important for us not to be buying grapes,” maintained Langdale as he set a limit on future production, noting that there was no further suitable land left to plant with vines on the estate.

For Seely, this tight focus marks an important change from her previous winemaking experience in England. “The big, big difference from Coates & Seely is that Exton is a single vineyard,” she remarked. “But even in a single vineyard you can have a very good selection of different tastes.”

In addition to this focus on reserve wine, Seely outlined her enthusiasm for working with not only the estate’s three grape varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – but also different plots within this single vineyard.

While Exton Park’s initial release is 10,000 bottles, Seely observed that ultimately she would like to keep back 25,000 bottles of brut reserve each year for further maturation. “If you want to achieve something at the top you need to start at the bottom, and you can’t be too greedy,” she remarked.

Such is the emphasis on reserve wine here that the estate’s current plan is to adopt a similar approach to Champagne by releasing a vintage expression only in the best quality years. “We don’t want to do one every year,” confirmed Seely.

Another key element to Exton Park’s quality ambitions is its Bucher nitrogen press, which Seely suggested was currently the only one of its kind in the UK. “I want to preserve the freshness, to avoid using too much sulphur and avoid too much oxidation pre-fermentation,” she explained. “Nitrogen allows you to press rosé for four or five hours.”

Meanwhile in the vineyard, Langdale has steadily been refining his methods since joining the venture in 2008. This includes testing out a Chablis training system of cordons on some young Pinot Meunier vines to encourage “a much lighter, thinner canopy, bigger bunches and better quality fruit.”

The high chalk content of the soil at Exton has also led Langdale to review his rootstock, moving away from the UK’s widespread SO4 in preference to 41B and later-ripening Fercal.

However, with the combination of young vines and an unpredictable climate, Langdale highlighted the challenge of drawing conclusions at this early stage in the vineyard’s life. “Every single year has been completely different,” he remarked. “We get different lots performing differently each year.”

For Seely, who works closely with the vineyard team, especially on issues such as yield control, “It’s very important for Pinot Noir not to have too many bunches and to have mature skin because the way we make Pinot Noir it gets its flavour from the skin.

”For the moment, Exton will sell direct, with most of its production destined for local restaurants, wine bars and shops. While the initial range features a brut, rosé and blanc de noirs – all with an RRP of between £24.95 and £27.95 – there are plans for another new addition in time for Christmas and some of the wines based on the 2014 harvest will be available in magnums, although these won’t be released for several years.

Confirming that Exton Park is now her only client in England, Seely, who remains based in Bordeaux, added: “I like to keep in touch with other vineyards around the world.”

However, she acknowledged English wine as “a very big and very personal challenge,” pointing to the value of lessons learned from her early days at Domaine de Chevalier during Bordeaux’s disastrous 1991, 92 and 93 vintages.

“I learned to deal with bad years so it’s exciting to work in a country where you have to deal with difficult climatic conditions,” Seely remarked. “And we can achieve such fantastic wines from the vineyards that we have here.”

As for the mood surrounding English wine, which saw production rise by 42% last year alone, Seely highlighted the strong sense of community within the industry and welcomed the relative lack of restrictions for a winemaker in England compared to France.

“I already know that French companies are looking to buy vineyards here,” she remarked of the growing interest in this rapidly evolving, increasingly ambitious industry. From her own perspective, Seely concluded “I have more fun here than making wine in a place like Bordeaux. England is blossoming, it’s the start of something special.”