This week on the English Bubble with Richard Bampfield MW, Wiston Blanc de Blancs 2015 and 2010 Recently disgorged.
Wiston’s vineyard sits on an ancient chalk seam covered by a shallow layer (10-30 cm) of topsoil, an ideal growing medium for vines. As in so many areas producing wines of outstanding quality, it is this chalky soil that is held to impart the complex flavours and structural elegance to the grapes and the wine itself. The tiny yields (15 hl per hectare) are critical to Wiston Estate’s purity, focus and elegance.
Selected from the chalkiest and steepest part of Wiston’s vineyard the 2015 is one of concentration of flavour, producing broad wines with impressive ability to age. Released in early 2020 and Aged in 50% mature Burgundy oak barrels and 50% stainless steel, this single-vineyard, single-vintage, single-varietal Blanc de Blancs is one to watch as it develops over time.
The Wiston Estate Library Collection (recently disgorged) presents a series of limited-edition releases from their cellar which celebrate the wines’ ability to age. Since the release of the first Cuvée from the 2008 vintage Wiston have held back small parcels from the best vintages to allow them to further mature and develop.
These are a series of unique wines which showcase the quality which English Sparkling Wines can achieve. The additional ageing in the cellars imparts wonderful depth and complexity to the wines, bringing richness, intensity, and a wonderfully long finish. The extended time before release has given the wines layers of evolved aroma and flavour paired with the trademark refreshing acidity, making for a delicious combination.
2010 was a benchmark year at Wiston and this Library Collection release was disgorged in November 2018 and has since rested on cork.
Tamlyn Currin 17.5/20 jancisrobinson.com
Wiston Blanc de Blancs 2015
"Rich and broad and voluptuous. Like the creamiest Greek yogurt folded through with the malty, fudgey depth of buckwheat honey. A brush of butterscotch, the savoury nuttiness of toasted buckwheat, but the acidity flashes through this wine with diamond-cut dominance so that, despite the richness, it is fiercely racy. Incredible persistence. Wiston is making very ambitious, serious sparkling wines."
