Rosé

Bursting with fragrant notes of rhubarb, strawberry, raspberry and wild roses, Wiston Rosé NV is joy in a glass. Superbly elegant, this Gold medal winning English Sparkling wine has tiny, persistent bubbles and a refreshing acidity that makes one go back for more.

Location: South Downs, West Sussex. A natural sun-trap, and protected from prevailing winds, the south-facing vineyard slope benefits from maximum sun exposure, promoting ripening.

Climate: Moderate rainfall, cool winters and temperate summers couple with cool breezes from the south coast, allowing the grapes to ripen slowly but fully and retain the crucial acidity and freshness vital for the production of high-quality sparkling wine.

Soils: Wiston’s vineyard sits on an ancient chalk seam covered by a shallow layer (10-30 cm) of topsoil, an ideal growing medium. As in so many areas producing wines of outstanding quality, it is this chalky soil that is held to impart the complex flavours and structural elegance to the grapes and the wine itself.

Philosophy: Wiston Estate believes in sustainable viticulture, using natural methods to optimise health and balance in the vineyard. The vines require careful tending by hand, one by one, to ensure that the leaf canopy is optimised.

Harvest: carried out by hand by a team of skilled pickers, over 2 weeks usually mid-late October.

Pressing: The current Rosé NV is largely from grapes harvested and pressed in 2014 with reserves from 2009 and 2013. The grape varieties were pressed separately in whole bunches using a traditional, gentle Coquard basket press – as used in the Champagne region - to preserve the delicate fruit flavours and aromas in the juice.

The Pinot Noir (for the red wine which is added at dosage) was crushed and destemmed, and after a brief cold soak was fermented on its skins to achieve good colour and fruit character. Fermentation was short and quick to avoid extraction of tannins and to gain as much colour and fruit intensity as possible.

Fermentation & maturation process: The juice was fermented entirely in stainless steel tanks. Each component of the final assemblage wine went through malolactic fermentation and was allowed to rest on its lees prior to bottling in July 2015, bringing additional complexity and structure.

After blending, cold stabilisation and bottling (tirage), the wine underwent a slow secondary fermentation and was then kept on its side, under crown cap (sur lattes) at cool 9-11 degree temperatures for 3½ years, while it matured and took on flavour and structure through the process of autolysis. Autolysis is one of the crucial processes in the production of high quality sparkling wines, imparting a unique combination of complex flavours and textural finesse (it is worth noting that Champagne must spend only 15 months on its lees). The bottles from our current release of our Rosé NV were riddled and disgorged in February 2019. To preserve the wine’s natural poise and balance a dosage of 10g/l was required to complete the wine.