Tasted August 2008

It's been a while coming, but we've finally got some more stock of Chapel Down's brilliant wines in. In English wine terms they're a big player, making wine for other producers as well as sourcing grapes for their own wines from all over the South East. The best of their wines however are made from the product of their very own 25 acre vineyard at Tenterden in Kent. For English wine virgins, Bacchus is the must-try grape as it is perfectly suited to our cool and sometimes (strike that, let's say 'often') damp conditions.

Grape: 100% Bacchus (a crossing of Sylvaner, Riesling and Muller Thurgau)

Region: Kent, England

Soil Type: Well drained sandy loam

Winemaking: Carefully selected grapes are left untainted by oak, with total freshness acheived by stainless steel fermentation

ABV: 12%

Tasting Note
If I blind tasted this, not only would I be very confused about the variety, but I would never guess that it was English. Gone are all the leafy, hedgerow fruit characters of lesser Bacchus-based wines and in comes an incredible freshness and real vibrancy. The nose is full of elderflower and peach, with great tropical fruit on the palate. What makes this really stand out though was a thrilling minerality, which really drives through to the finish - if I closed my eyes I could see myself in Alsace with a glass of Grand Cru Riesling in my hand.

Cellaring
I'm going to get another bottle of this and keep it a couple of years, just to see what happens. I suspect it will be rather fine and interesting by 2010, but is delicious, so there's no need to keep it!

If you like this, why not ... join me on my Rieslign bandwagon! Try teh Alsatian Hunawihr, Riesling Grand Cru Rosakcker, or maybe our new wine from the Rheinessen in Germany - Guntrum's Rieslign Kabinett.