THE GRANGE, HAMPSHIRE, CLASSIC
The CLASSIC is made with grapes from 2015, the second harvest from the Burge's Field vineyard, but the first time we sent our grapes to the much-garlanded team at Hattingley Valley, led by Emma Rice and Jacob Leadley.
Hand-picked and bunch pressed in mid-October, at the end of a disappointing summer in terms of sunshine, the juice was fermented mainly in stainless steel tanks with a proportion going into aged oak barrels. After some malolactic fermentation to further soften the gentle acidity the 11 base wines were then tasted and blended in a ratio of 55% Chardonnay, 28% Pinot Meunier and 17% Pinot Noir. Secondary fermentation in bottle was followed by 33 months ageing on lees before the wine was disgorged in February 2019 and dosed at 8g/l with 12% alcohol by volume.
We feel this to be a very promising first wine from our new winery team and look forward to the extra complexity that reserve wines will bring to the CLASSIC next year.
