How it tastesMouthwatering orchard apple and lemon curd on the nose, with hints of melon and brioche behind them. Full-bodied and textured for a wine of 12%, with a steady stream of fine bubbles, high acidity, plenty of fruit and a lovely creamy finish. Pinot Noir 50%, Chardonnay 40%, Meunier 10%.The producerCoates & Seely began in 2008, when two old friends — Nicholas Coates and Christian Seely, one from finance and one from winemaking — set out to make a sparkling wine to rival the best in the world, and found their site on the ancient chalk downlands of Hampshire. The vineyards lie on either side of a secluded V-shaped valley at 50 to 100 metres, a mile north of the chalk stream of the River Test and three miles south of the high ridge of Watership Down; the chalk soils and clay caps throw up rugged flints that hold the sun's heat and warm the topsoil, while the enclosed valley traps the last of the late-summer and early-autumn warmth to ripen the fruit. The vineyard is worked without pesticides or herbicides and with only limited fungicide, and the vines are picked by hand at optimum maturity, when crisp acidity, sweet fruit and saline minerality are in balance. Rigorous fruit selection is followed by vinification in stainless steel tanks and concrete fermentation eggs, with the second fermentation in bottle by the méthode traditionnelle; the non-vintage wines make extensive use of reserve wines from previous years and are aged between 24 and 36 months on lees, which is where the depth comes from. The house are former winners of Best Overall Wine, Best Sparkling Wine, Best Blanc de Blancs and Best Sparkling Rosé at the UK Wine Awards.Food and drinkingServe at 8–10°C, in a white wine glass. It has the weight for roast chicken, a creamy fish pie, smoked haddock or a wedge of aged Cheddar, and stands up to fried food as well as anything does; drink over the next two to three years. No decanting. The bottle is closed with a traditional sparkling-wine mushroom cork. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
