Nyetimber Sparkling Rose 2007: a new English wine

sparkling wine

Nyetimber Sparkling Rose 2007: a new English wine

Very interested to get a chance to drink this new wine. It’s a pink fizz from one of the UK’s top sparkling wine producers, Nyetimber. This is the first Nyetimber release to be made by winemaker Cherie Spriggs, who joined in 2007. Initially, just 1500 bottles were released; the plan is to make a larger release in spring. It’s a very high quality wine, but painfully young at the moment. According to the website, the Pinot Noir grapes that were fermented on their skins to give the colour were hand destemmed.

[As an aside, I think there’s some wisdom in doing things the Champagne way for pink fizz, which is to make a batch of red wine, and blend this in separately. This is because you can use different viticulture for your red portion – go for lower yields, get better ripeness – than you would for normal Champagne, which then allows you to do extended skin contact without ending up with fierce tannins.]

Nyetimber Rosé Brut 2007 Quality Sparkling Wine, England
12% alcohol. A really distinctive wine. Quite full pink with a salmon/orange hue. The nose is assertive with some strawberry and raspberry notes as well as subtle toasty hints. The palate shows some strawberry/raspberry fruit and richer toasty/brioche hints. It’s also quite grippy and tannic, and has high apparent acidity. There’s a bit of richness, but also some savoury austerity. Overall, it’s a dense, structured rosé with real potential for development and great concentration of flavour. 92/100

4 Comments on Nyetimber Sparkling Rose 2007: a new English wineTagged ,
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

4 thoughts on “Nyetimber Sparkling Rose 2007: a new English wine

  1. Sounds interesting. I’m usually a blanc de blancs kinda guy, but my limited experience with English fizz suggests that we do a better job with Pinot Noir.

  2. I take your point about the flexibility in going the red wine and blending route. But surely this is just the saignée method – the “other Champagne way” ?

    I think a few producers use a hybrid of the two – saignée most of the way, then red wine addition as needed to complete.

  3. Ian, there’s a third method as well. Leaving the red grapes in the press overnight for colour extraction. I know Benoit Lahaye in Champagne uses all three methods for his rose.

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