My great-uncle Dr Brendan O'Regan was one of the most distinguished Irishmen of the 20th century. An innovator and a visionary, he is synonymous with the creation of the world-famous hotel school at Shannon Airport, the founding of Duty Free, and his work as an ambassador for peace in Northern Ireland. Brendan also invented the Irish coffee, but that is another story. Prestige cuvées – rare, extended-aged bottlings made from exceptional vintages – represent the very finest wines a house produces. They are the bottles that stand on the world stage: Bollinger has La Grande Année, Laurent-Perrier has Grand Siècle, Pol Roger has Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill. At Sugrue South Downs, we have Cuvée Dr Brendan O'Regan. The 2018 vintage is widely regarded as the finest England has produced in the modern era. After the “Beast from the East” swept through, the vines enjoyed a long, warm summer that rivalled the famous heat of 1976. Seeing how promising the season was becoming, we made the decision to "green harvest" – painstakingly removing excess grape clusters so that the vines could focus their energies on producing the very best fruit. It proved a risk worth taking. A tiny portion of the vintage’s exceptional Chardonnay and Pinot Noir was set aside, fermented in old Burgundy barrels and then aged on lees for more than 72 months. Now, eight years after harvest, the wine is densely layered with ripe yellow fruit etched with chalky minerality. While already hugely complex, it has the structure and concentration to age beautifully for another decade and beyond.
