Hattingley Valley Classic Reserve
- Decanter
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Wine
Enthusiast -
Wilfred
Wong -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Winemaker Notes
Blend: 48% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir, 17% Pinot Meunier & 2% Pinot Gris
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Subtle and complex, this wine has nuts, citrus, flint, green apples and blossom on the nose. Complex, with a core of fruit supplemented by savoury bread flavours. Green apples, quince, honey, lemons, pear skins mingle with nuts, spice and a touch of flint. Assertive mousse and a bold green apple and honeysuckle finish. Blend : 53% Chardonnay, 31% Pinot Noir, 16% Pinot Meunier
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Wine Enthusiast
High-toned fruit and nut aromas lead on this rich and multifaceted fizz. It’s reminiscent of lemon candy, marzipan, raw almonds and butterscotch. A wonderfully zingy, lemony acidity and persistent mousse lifts the palate. It’s remarkably ripe considering England’s climate, but balance, length and freshness abound.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
No doubt here, the Hattingley Valley Classic Reserve Sparkling Wine puts England on the map as a bona fide producer of bubblies. This wine exhibits pleasing aged character and a long and crisp aftertaste. This is a perfect choice as an aperitif wine. (Tasted: January 17, 2018, San Francisco, CA USA)
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Disgorged in February 2019, the latest rendition of the NV Brut Classic Reserve is showing well, exhibiting scents of yellow orchard fruit, apricot, dried white flowers and crushed chalk. On the palate, the wine is medium-bodied, fleshy and enveloping, with good depth and balance, nicely integrated acids and a precise finish. This still needs some time to unwind after its disgorgment, so if possible, forget it for a few more months in the cellar.
Hattingley Valley was founded in 2008 by Simon and Nicola Robinson in Hampshire, England with its chalky soils and climate ideally suited for sparkling wines. They planted their first 7.3 hectares on a south-facing site with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier using laser-guided planting technology. Today, the team manages over 24 hectares (60 acres) of vines across two well-situated sites. Led by winemaker Emma Rice, Hattingley sparkling wines are all made in the traditional method with the highest quality standards – leading the charge for the English Sparkling wine movement.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
The limestone soils of England’s southern end have proven ideal for the production of British sparkling wine. While it might seem too damp and cold for grape growing in England, recent warm summers and the onset of global warming signify great future growth for the British wine industry.