New highs in Hampshire

Is this the most refined English Blanc de Noirs I've ever tasted?

In 2020, Jacob Leadley took the keys to a new winery on what was previously Cottonworth vineyards in the Test Valley, Hampshire. In one fell swoop, his ‘Black Chalk’ wines, previously a side-project at Hattingley Valley using bought-in-fruit, became a 12 hectare grower estate.

It’s a beautiful place, right in the sweet spot for this county where the Cretaceous chalk swings round from Champagne and the daytime temperatures are warm. The nights might get a bit chilly - and spring frosts are always a risk - but the potential of the area has attracted plenty of attention.

Leadley, together with Zoe Driver, is an English producer with a real start-up mentality, “winemaking led”, as he puts it (rather than market, or brand, or woudn’t-it-be-nice-to-have-a-vineyard - led). Which is all very well, of course, but meaningless if the wines don’t say much. Fortunately, the 2020 vintage - a fortuitous one to have as your first in England - has plenty to say here.

After the two main releases last year, profiled here:

…Jacob and Zoe have released a Blanc de Blancs and a Blanc de Noirs from 2020 called, respectively, ‘Paragon’ and ‘Inversion’. Here they are (and take a look, label designers - wouldn’t you pick these up??)

“We didn’t just want to make another Hampshire blanc de blancs”, Leadley says of the Paragon (3535 bottles produced, RRP £65). “We wanted to make our mark”. The ripeness of the 2020 growing season helps for sure - “there was some natural weight in the wine”, Leadley explains - but the decision taken was to put some of the best, ‘purest’ Chardonnay into a new 3200l Rousseau oak foudre. This ended up being just under half of the blend of Paragon (the other half of which went into steel). The wine, which, like all the Black Chalk 2020s, did not undergo malolactic fermentation, spent 26 months on lees before being disgorged in summer 2023.

It’s a blanc de blancs rather unlike any other I’ve tasted in England; the oak is present, ‘not hidden’, as Jacob explains - there’s even a touch of grain on the label - and the sweet nougat, jasmine and turmeric-like spice welcomes you in with some confidence. As the wine warms, though, the gentle lemon-syrup and golden apple fruit comes to meet it and the whole thing flows with an unusual balance of delicacy of texture, plushness of aroma and piercing focus. I’ve been so surprised at how well these 2020s have done without malolactic, too - they’re perfectly lean, without austerity or hard-tangy acid (or the sweet-sour effect that comes from trying to balance it with dosage).

Oakiness can get up the snouts of wine folk, but I think this wine will make an impact (although I’d imagine the following years, when the foudre is second/third/fourth fill and beyond, will see it quieten a little). Even the very best English Chardonnay sometimes needs a little amplification, and here the very smart oak - rather than long lees time or reserve wines - is called into action with fine effect. It’s one of the most impressive English Blanc de Blancs I’ve tasted.

On to the ‘Inversion’ (1939 bottles, RRP £65). Here is the sort of Blanc de Noirs that I seriously dig - a sparkling wine that kills you with pure, flowing fragrant fruit in the same way as a great still Pinot does, but all held in this narrow, chalky pose, totally unencumbered by winemaking impositions (oak, lees, oxygenation or any of the usual culprits). “There’s nowhere to hide”, Driver says.

And there’s nothing to hide, either - it feels directly plugged in to the source in a way which instantly reminded me of Champagne Blanc de Noirs from Cedric Bouchard, Fabien Cazé and Cedric Moussé, vivid and detailed with blackberries (and their blossom), Victoria plum and white pepper, fluid and delicately-extracted without any sense of grip or girth (nor any of the green/veggie side that English Pinots can sometimes slip into). It’s largely clone 777, an intense, small-berried and low-yielding Burgundian clone that tends to ripen well in England. There’s the merest touch of warmth here - cinnamon, brown bread - with 17% Meunier and 3% old oak fermentation. The dosage balance is perfect, and the finish has that subtle acceleration of mineral intensity that marks out really fine sparkling wine.

In a very non-shouty, precise and understated way, it’s an absolute beaut.

The wines will be available from the Black Chalk winery and online shop in the coming weeks.