County Business Clubs’ Wine of the Month July 2023

Stopham Brut 2018

This month’s Wine of the Month comes from Stopham Wine Estate which is nestled just behind the South Downs near the village of Pulborough in West Sussex.  

Stopham Vineyard was established in 2007 with the planting of 21,000 vines on a six-hectare (15-acre) estate by its owner, Simon Woodhead. Simon has focused on producing well-made and high quality wines which are fairly priced from his winery. His wines are always clean and fresh with a nice balance of acidity and fruit. 

About the wine

Stopham 2018 Brut production was 10,000 bottles and it is made of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir grapes which makes it close to a Blanc de Blanc (made from White grapes only). You may be also be aware that 2018 was the best vintage in a generation and so we have all been patiently waiting for 2018 vintage brut wines to come through for launch. Typically, most English sparkling wines are aged for between two and four years in the bottle which gives them a lovely toastie flavour. The flavour is imparted from the yeast that was initially used to turn the ferment, made from pressing grapes, into an alcoholic wine. Sometimes all or part of the ferment is also aged in large oak barrels which again can add complexity and depth to the wine.  

Comment from the winemaker’s Tom and Simon: “Our Sparkling Wine spent 24 months on lees before disgorgement and has a lovely taste of honeyed brioche with grapefruit and citrus fruits.”

Michael’s comments

I was excited to try this wine as Simon always produces clean, fresh and well structured wines. What I like about this Brut is that is it has a delicate and enticing nose with lemon and grapefruit on the palate together with a “butteriness”. It has a very pleasant richness that comes through and just the right level of acidity. As this is predominately made from Chardonnay, it is a good wine for ageing and for those that 

enjoy a Blanc de Blanc this is great value and accessible now rather than waiting anything up to 10 years for a typical Blanc de Blanc to be at it’s best. 

This wine retails at £29.45 a bottle and can be purchased directly from the vineyard at  https://stophamvineyard.co.uk/product/stopham-estate-sparkling-2018/ The team also offer a great tour of their estate and tasting so book in online for this.

Written for County Business Clubs Sussex by Michael Yeoman, English Wine Specialist and producer of Spirit of the Downs, award-winning local artisan brandies and grape spirit.