Jenkyn Place to add blanc de blancs to range

Hamsphire winery Jenkyn Place is preparing to add a vintage blanc de blancs to its range from the 2015 vintage, winemaker Dermot Sugrue has revealed.

Jenkyn Place winemaker Dermot Sugrue said the time was right for the estate to add a blanc de blancs to its range (Photo: Wiston Estate)

Sugrue, the former winemaker at Nyetimber and current winemaker at Wiston Estate in West Sussex, said that the quality of the Chardonnay grapes at Jenkyn Place last year – a vintage in which grapes were picked as late the first week of November – was such that “the time was right” for a blanc de blancs.

Last year Jenkyn Place added a Blanc de Noirs to its range of sparkling English wines, with the Jenkyn Place Blanc de Noirs 2010 joining their vintage Brut Cuvée and Sparkling Rosé.

Jenkyn Place’s Cuvée is made with a major proportion of Chardonnay with smaller amounts of Pinot Noir and Meunier.

Sugrue, who has been the winemaker for the Simon Bladon-owned Hampshire estate since 2008, said that he intended to reduce production of the 2015 Cuvée to accommodate a blanc de blancs.

“I’m going to make a smaller amount of Cuvée this year, and we [Sugrue and Jenkyn Place owner, Simon Bladon] both agree that it’s time to make a blanc de blancs.

“We really need to go for Chardonnay [from] this year. We waited for such a long time to get the ripeness last year.

“It could have been the case that instead of picking on the second or third of November we could have picked on the 24th or 25th [to avoid botrytis threat], because there was a marked botrytis threat, [but] there was no botrytis last year.

“Remarkably it remained dry and warm, and we just didn’t have that night-time infection of botrytis which can spread throughout Chardonnay really very quickly because it’s so thin-skinned. So we left it [and] we got really, really good ripeness on it.

“It won’t be available to taste for six years after vintage – at least 2020 or 2021 – but now’s the time to make it and I think it’ll be really, really good.”

Jenkyn Place’s Chardonnay grapes are grown on fast-draining greensand soil on the estate’s south-facing North Downs vineyard. In 2015 the grapes were harvested on the 1, 2 and 3 of November.

Sugrue explained how the early development of the Jenkyn Place 2015 Chardonnay grapes in tank had impressed him so much that he had been compelled to upgrade his assessment of the vintage.

“I had a two-week break from the winery over Christmas,” he said. “Coming back and tasting them in the first few days of January I thought, oh wow, these are seriously good, so I upgraded my appraisal of the 2015 vintage on tasting those wines. I think they’re going to be really, really interesting.”

The winemaker, who also produces his own label Sugrue-Pierre English sparkling from a similar blend to that of Jenkyn Place – 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir with little or no Pinot Meunier, with the wines fermented partially in stainless steel and part in old oak Burgundy barrels – said the 2015 Chardonnay bore a striking similarity to the wine of the 2010 vintage, the most recent of JP’s Cuvée releases.

Jenkyn Place planted its first vines in 2004, making its first vintage in 2006 under the late Mike Roberts of Ridgeview. Sugrue made his first vintage for the estate in 2008.

The winemaker said that, overall, the 2015s were “good wines” from a considerably reduced yield, with smaller bunches and berries than from the “exceptional” 2014 vintage.

“It’s difficult to tell at this stage whether they will be earlier-maturing wines or may require extra time,” he added. “My feeling is that they could require extra time.”

The news of Jenkyn Place’s intention to produce a blanc de blancs comes as fellow Hampshire estate Exton Park announced the launch of its – and the UK’s – first 100% Pinot Meunier rosé.

Meanwhile Kingscote Estate in West Sussex has also announced the release of three new wines: a white Pinot Noir, an Albariño/Bacchus white blend and a new vintage of its award-winning Fat Fumé oaked Bacchus.

The 150-acre Kingscote Estate released its first vintage in 2014. As well as the wines above, the estate also produces a sparkling Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier blend, a dry Chardonnay and a line of sparkling cider.

Kingscote executive winemaker Owen Elias commented: “I’m excited to be able to bring some completely new Kingscote wines to market this year including some of the rarest English wines ever with the aromatic White Pinot Noir and characterful Albariño Bacchus.”