Hambledon Vineyard gears up to launch English Première Cuvée Rosé

Hambledon Vineyard, nestled on the border of the South Downs, is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its vines with the release of its first Première Cuvée Rosé, a “timeless expression of our terroir,” according to its winemaker.

Hambledon is England’s oldest commercial vineyard, established in 1952 by Major-General Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones. The vineyard changed hands in 1999 when Ian Kellett and wife Anna Krits-Kellett bought the estate.

Kellett’s venture into winemaking is something of a second (or third) life for the former biochemist turned managing director of a top ten investment bank in London. Following a 15-year career waking up at 4.30am to commute into the capital, the Yorkshire-born producer caught the wine bug.

He began studying oenology at Plumpton College in Sussex with a view to restoring Hambledon’s vineyard and making a name for himself in English wine.

In 2005 Kellett planted a 10-acre ‘test bed’ of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier to see which of the 27 different combinations of vine clones and rootstocks gave the best results. The following decade came to be seen as what Kellett calls a “10-year pre-revenue exercise”, with 2014 marking Hambledon’s first vintage under new management.

In 2010 Kellett managed to convert the vineyard into a company, raising funding from third party minority shareholders, and securing UK and EU government funding via the RDPE programme.

Hambledon Vineyard now comprises over 80 hectares of vineyards, 75% of which were planted five years ago as the result of an expansion. The winery itself is now also undergoing an expansion to keep up with the growing capacity, and a tasting room and visitor centre are also planned to be completed in 2022.

The challenge is in “trying to maintain family control of an ever-expanding asset”, Kellett says, but so far, he seems to be coping.

Seventy years on from when the first vines were planted, Hambledon boasts a Classic Cuvée Brut, Classic Cuvée Rosé, and Première Cuvée.

In October this year the English wine estate is planning to complete the set with a Première Cuvée Rosé, based on the 2016 vintage.

The non-vintage expression, made with 87.5% Saignée method Pinot Meunier, was bottled in 2017 and will be disgorged this summer ahead of its Autumn release date.

Tobias Tullberg, associate winemaker at Hambledon, tells db: “We’ve always anticipated having a première and a première rosé as well, but this was the first time where the wine actually fitted what we wanted to do.”

Approximately 3,500 bottles of the first Première Cuvée Rosé are set to be released this autumn.

“In the premier range, we’re just trying to make the best English sparkling wine that we can, year in and year out,” says Tullberg. Indeed, Hambledon did not bottle the expression this year. The winemaking team approaches the Première Cuvée range with no “financial limits”, focusing solely on making the best non-vintage expression possible.

“What we’re trying to do with both our ranges is to make a timeless expression of our terroir,” Tullberg explains.

As a non-vintage expression made with majority Saignée method Pinot Meunier, the first bottling of the Première Cuvée Rosé “could be something completely different” from the next, says Tullberg, “but it will still have the same personality”.

He adds: “It shouldn’t have too much of a difference for a consumer year in year out; it should remain consistent in quality.”

However, quality is bound to improve as the vines age. “Our vineyards are maturing and our reserve wines are maturing as well,” he says, meaning the future looks bright for the English sparkling producer.

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