Danbury Ridge - Chardonnay, Crouch River Valley, Essex, England (2020)

TASTING NOTES

Stylish, rich and round Chardonnay with ripe orchard fruit, honeysuckle, tangerines, popcorn and toast. Think premier cru Burgundy - you would be very hard-pressed to imagine this delicious wine coming form anywhere else!

Sourced from three of the estate's vineyards and aged in 229L Burgundian barrels on the gross lees for 10 months with bâtonnage. 

A really ambitious project, Danbury Ridge is seeking to redefine premium wines from a country increasingly putting itself into the conversation of fine still wines. 

Mike and Heather Bunker grew up in Southend-on-Sea but moved (via Hong Kong) to land 20 miles north near the village of Danbury. It had previously been planted to orchards but following the success of nearby historic trailblazer New Hall, they decided to refocus on grapes. 

This particular corner of Essex, the Dengie peninsula east of Chelmsford, bounded by the Blackwater river to the north and Crouch river to the south, and known within the English wine world as Crouch Valley, is especially dry, escaping the worst of prevailing storms from the south-west and is, crucially, generally frost-free.

Winemaker Liam Idzikowski and consultant, John Atkinson, MW is also convinced that it is the smectite, London Clay soils and gravels below the surface of the local vineyards rather than the more infamous chalk of even-more-southern England that play an important part in determining the undoubted quality of Danbury Ridge’s still Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.