Spec me Some Good Champagne

molinari · 7 Sep 2015 at 08:38

It may not be Champagne but I went on a tour and tasting at Nyetimber in West Sussex on Saturday and ended up buying a selection of their ~~Champagne~~ English Sparkling Wine. Firstly, the vineyard and outbuildings are absoluetly stunning, it's a beautiful setting. Led by Brad Greatrix, who along with his wife is the winemaker at Nyetimber, the tour was very interesting, and I was able to have a good chat with him. They only grow the classic Champagne grapes, make it in the traditional method, and use only estate grown grapes. We could see that the grapes were still small and green becuase of the bad summer, they're not at 'veraison' yet, so the outlook for this year is not looking promising.

We tasted 3 of their wines, the first being the just released 2010 Classic Cuvee which is their standard bottle of sparkling wine. We also tried the Rose and the Demi-Sec which were both good although the Rose wasn't quite up with the Billecart Salmon Brut Rose which is a similar price and fantastic.
I ended up buying a couple of bottles of the 2010 Classic Cuvee which is lovely and worth every penny of £25. I also picked up a couple of bottles of the Blanc de Blanc 2007 and the Tillington Single Vineyard 2009 which I'm looking forward to trying.

Not Champagne, but still very good.

randomshenans · 7 Sep 2015 at 09:02

Nyetimber is really nice. We had it when we got engaged for our meal at Roganic, it does a very good job against actual champagne and I'd take it over a lot of "known brand" champagnes.

Martynt74 · 7 Sep 2015 at 09:40

I don't know if I'm unlucky but I've had 4 bottles of Nyetimber now and other than the 2007 Blanc de Blanc they've been fairly average.

I much prefer Camel Valley/Ridgeview.

molinari · 7 Sep 2015 at 10:28

Marvt74 said:
I don't know if I'm unlucky but I've had 4 bottles of Nyetimber now and other than the 2007 Blanc de Blanc they've been fairly average.

I much prefer Camel Valley/Ridgeview.

If you haven't done so, give the 2010 a try, I think it's lovely and better than previous releases of the Classic Cuvee.
I'm down in Padstow in October (eating at Paul Ainsworth and then Nathan Outlaw

), and I saw earlier that Camel Valley is only a few miles away and they have the last tour and tasting of the year whilst we're in the area, so I'm going to try and book us in

.

Martynt74 · 7 Sep 2015 at 18:40

Will try it. Think I had the 2004 and 2006 versions.

randomshenans · 25 Sep 2015 at 15:45

Stocking up ready for 4th December. We're having a Christmas dinner with friends, which happens to be just after my 30th too, so perfect for me. Last year there were 9 of us and we got ruined.

Were 9 last year and 15 this year, so we have to beat this

taB · 25 Sep 2015 at 22:19

Do you just drink champers at this gathering? Very dedicated!

FrenchTart · 25 Sep 2015 at 22:25

Knowing RS I think he literally drinks champagne instead of water...

randomshenans · 26 Sep 2015 at 19:45

Yea, you've got to put some training in, but it can be done.

randomshenans · 2 Oct 2015 at 13:08

Marv or TaB, you must have tried some Armand de Brignac? It's something I've never tried, but thought it needed doing. *orders*

andicole0 · 2 Oct 2015 at 13:10

Wait for the McLaren Xmas sale there will be some Chandon left after failing to celebrate much.

Andi.

randomshenans · 5 Oct 2015 at 20:05

Oops

taB · 12 Oct 2015 at 14:46

randomshenans said:
Marv or TaB, you must have tried some Armand de Brignac? It's something I've never tried, but thought it needed doing. *orders*

That's a shiny bottle!

I have had it but was towards the end of a multi champagne afternoon (CIVC or something like that). Overall impression was that it wasn't great but that's probably because I'm a snob.

A mate tells me this stuff is stunning but I've not tried it myself: http://www.boerl-and-kroff.com/. Have any of you lot come across it?

In other news, I saw this and thought it topical: http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2015/10/us-company-invents-the-champagne-bong/

randomshenans · 12 Oct 2015 at 15:22

I've not heard of it.. I'll have to contact them and get them to send me some, I'm all for seeing what it's like.

I will soon see what this is like anyway, I'd say I am a bit of a Champagne snob myself and I'm sure it won't be a Salon, but I'll see either way.

randomshenans · 13 Oct 2015 at 10:38

I tried to find a reseller I could just buy directly for the Boeri stuff, but it isn't looking easy! I'll no doubt have to order direct.

I saw this this morning: http://armanddebrignac.com/2015/06/blanc-de-noir-now-available-for-pre-order/

Very much gimmacky, although looks funky

I assume that's what they're going for...

taB · 13 Oct 2015 at 12:40

Very bling.

In other poncey fizz news Bolly have launched a £3.5k magnum of RD 1988 in Crystal decanter for the new Bond movie. There's a more affordable normal vintage 2009 Spectre wine too which has quite a nice cool box...

randomshenans · 13 Oct 2015 at 14:09

Ha I was sent that the other day by a friend. Thought it was a bit steep for a standard jazzed up vintage boll, but sure it'd make a nice collector.

taB · 13 Oct 2015 at 14:16

Standard vintage one with shiny box is £250 for 3 bottles + the metal 1 bottle box so not too dear but yes, the RD magnum is a tad on the pricey side...

NickK · 15 Oct 2015 at 09:24

taB said:
Very bling.

In other poncey fizz news Bolly have launched a £3.5k magnum of RD 1988 in Crystal decanter for the new Bond movie. There's a more affordable normal vintage 2009 Spectre wine too which has quite a nice cool box...

Being an RD fiend I think that's probably way to pricy..

Also James Bond has always been Grand Annee.. so the shift to RD is a marketing push to justify the RD's higher price and exclusivity..

taB · 15 Dec 2015 at 15:25

Had half a dozen cases of wine delivered today. Just one bottle of this though:

IMG_20151215_151657%252520%2525281%252529.jpg

Saving it for when the wife's sprogged next year.