2010 NYETIMBER ‘Cuvée 1086’. Sussex, England

45% Chardonnay, 44% Pinot Noir, 11% Pinot Meunier, aged on the lees for 6 years.

Nicely described on the website of their distributor, Liberty Wines:
“Nyetimber is based in the heart of West Sussex, on what is regarded as a perfect site for the production of sparkling wine. The estate was established in 1988, with just over 14 hectares planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier. Ever increasing demand for Nyetimber’s sparkling wines led to considerable vineyard expansion from 2006 onwards. Nyetimber now has eight carefully selected vineyards across Sussex and Hampshire, with a total of 160 hectares under vine.
The estate is owned by Dutchman Eric Hereema who, with his winemaker Cherie Spriggs, has installed an impressive cellar. All their grapes are estate grown and pressed parcel by parcel by a Magnum press imported from Épernay in Champagne. Based in the South Downs in West Sussex, Nyetimber’s vineyard holdings now include land in Hampshire and Kent, mostly over limestone which is favoured for is good drainage and low vigour. The vines are rigorously managed to ensure good flavour concentration and de-leafing is carried out to maximise the exposure of the grapes to sunlight. Cherie Spriggs won the IWC ‘Sparkling Winemaker of the Year’ in 2018; she is the first winemaker outside of Champagne and the first woman to achieve this impressive accolade.
Nyetimber was the first producer to produce English sparkling wine exclusively from the ‘Champagne varieties’ of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier.”

This was the first English ‘Prestige Cuvée’ and we used it in a blind tasting of ‘Prestige’ Champagnes in November 2019. Tasted blind, no-one guessed it was English and everyone thought it was on the same quality level as the others shown that day (Krug, Cristal etc etc).