There would have been a moment when Picasso picked up a paint brush for the first time or Michael Jordan threw a basketball for the first time. In a very clumsy parallel, this wine is England making serious Chardonnay for the first time and it’s incredibly exciting to have been here when it happened. There’s a mineral ‘crunch’ that permeates the aromas, as if someone was proffering a handful of crumbled rock under your nose, but that is pierced through by a seismic amount of lime and grapefruit, which animates the senses followed by flavours that are somewhat akin to a continental breakfast: toast, lime marmalade, apricot strudel, lemon curd and grapefruit segments! The real achievement here is the ripeness at the centre of the wine, the fulcrum which allows the other parts to work in balance and harmony. 11.5% alc. Unfiltered. Drink now-2026.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com (previous vintage) “Tasted blind. Nutty. Oatmeal. Polenta. Lemon. Even smells a little like lemony goat’s butter. Angular – almost like a rectangle. You feel this wine in the split seconds before you taste it. A little skinny but the texture is brushed taffeta and a hint of the graininess of pear skin. Starts off like citrus rocks, glittering with cold minerality. Quinine, saline, edgy. Then it starts to shift, like a crystal sun-catcher as the light moves from dawn to midday. Lemon and grapefruit sweeten to tangerine and bitter orange, there’s a brush of vanilla, of clove, of nutmeg, it unfolds slowly and without fanfare. You have to stop to listen to notice it. The finish tingles, persistent, insistent. There is a little flair of anarchy, but even then, it’s tongue in cheek. The finish is just a little on the sour side. Needs food. More oak sweetness as it warms, the acid standing forward of the oak and the oak forward of the fruit, but with a beetroot-leaf salad dressed simply with olive oil and lemon juice, it all fell into place, and the latent sweetness of the fruit beamed through. Have with food!“ 17 points