County Business Club Wine of the Month December 2021

So we are now in the build-up to Christmas festivities and down time with family and friends. This month we have chosen a wine from Dermot Sugrue who is widely regarding as one of the most influential and proven wine makers currently in the UK.

Background to Sugrue

Dermot started brewing beer at 15 and moved onto making wine at the age of 16. This passion continued with Dermot working multiple harvests in Champagne, head winemaker at Nyetimber as it was setting the scene for English wine. He moved to Wiston Estate in 2008 where he creates wines for many local vineyards including Digby, Jenkyn Place, Black Dog Hill and his own boutique brand Sugrue which has been producing wonderful wines which have been lauded as being some of the best wines produced in the UK. Dermot uses ex burgundy barrels to add complexity to the maturation of his wines.

This year Dermot won Wine GB Boutique Producer of the Year 2020 & 2021 and Wine GB Trophy 2021 – 2021 for the second year running

The wine commentators notes for this wine are;

“The 2015 Cuvée Boz, released at the end of February 2021, is 100% Chardonnay from the Jenkyn Place Vineyard in Hampshire. This has a light mousse and a greenish tint. The well defined, complex and harmonious nose unfolds to reveal green apples, crustaceans and subtle hints of lemon thyme. The palate is very well balanced and poised, quite weighty in the mouth, offering citrus peel, orange zest and faint traces of strawberry toward the elegant finish. This is an outstanding English sparkling wine from Dermot Sugrue, certainly one of the best that I have tasted.”

Neal Martin – 94/100 points

Key facts for Cuvee Boz

GRAPE: 100% Chardonnay

VINEYARDS: Jenkyn Place Vineyard, Hampshire, planted 2004

SOIL TYPE : Greensand with fractured chalk, approx. 100m above sea level

YIELD: 2015 vintage – 6,200 bottles produced

VINIFICATION: 100% fermented in stainless steel, with malolactic fermentation

MATURATION: Bottled July 2016. Just under 4.5 years aging on lees.

DRINKING WINDOW: 2023 – 2036

Sugrue wines can be purchased directly from www.sugruesouthdowns.com or on request from Brighton and Hove Wine Club 

Social – @sugrue_south_downs @dermotsugrue sugruesouthdowns

Wine insight – Blanc De Blanc

The term Blanc De Blanc is used when the wine maker only uses the white grapes typically Chardonnay but can be other varieties such as Seyval Blanc and Pinot Meunier grapes. Chardonnay is particularly good for aging and so this wine is recommended to be laid down in a cool dark place for further aging and development of the flavours. This wine can be drunk at its best until 2036, if you can leave it until then!

Michael Yeoman,
brightonandhovewineclub.co.uk

Michael Yeoman owns Brighton and Hove Wine Club and also creates a range of Sussex spirits using the pomace from English wine production. He specialises in working with small batch wine producers in and around Sussex and the South Downs.