10 June 2024 Plan your bids now for the exceptional English wines going on auction for this Gérard Basset Foundation fundraiser.
The Gérard Basset Foundation continues tirelessly to make a vibrant and significant difference to the lives of people in the wine, spirits and hospitality industry. Jancis is a trustee and has long championed the Foundation’s work on this site. So it was with pleasure that I accepted the task of heading to The Whisky Exchange on Great Portland Street in London to preview (and report back on) the 35 English wines – most of them sparkling – generously donated for a fundraising auction.
Whisky.Auction is going to be hosting the auction to coincide with English Wine Week. The auction will include lots of the wines below (some of them quite rare!) as well as experiences. 100% of the proceeds, including buyers’ commission on the charity lots, will be donated to the Gérard Basset Foundation.
Practical details:
- what – an online auction to raise funds for The Gérard Basset Foundation
- where – hosted online by Whisky.Auction
- when – 16–25 June 2024 (English Wine Week)
- closing time – 19.30 BST on 25 June 2024
There are some truly exciting wines in the selection below, including sparkling wines with more than a decade of age, proving how well English wines age. Some of these producers were English wine pioneers, the ones who paved the way, made the mistakes which others have learned from, broke down barriers, and turned a joke of a cottage industry into one now widely recognised as having a place on the fine-wine stage.
Please support the Foundation, make a fizz and get bidding!
The 35 wines below are in alphabetical order by producer (sur)name.
Artelium
Located in East Sussex. Founded in 2018 by Julie Bretland and Mark Collins. Still wines made by Owen Elias and sparkling wines by Dermot Sugrue. Winemaker Solly Monyamane joined the team from South Africa in 2023. Bretland and Collins are passionate art collectors (hence the name) and regularly host art exhibitions.
Will be released summer 2024. From their own vineyards in East...
60% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir. Four years sur...
100% Pinot Noir. Destemmed, crushed and 48 hours cold maceration...
Balfour Winery
Located in Kent. Founded in 2002 when Richard and Leslie Balfour-Lynn planted the first vineyards. Winemaking is done by legendary father-and-son team, Owen and Fergus Elias.
Tasted from magnum. Estate fruit, picked in November. Zero...
This wine is always single vintage and almost single vineyard...
Exacting acidity but the orange and clementine fruit floods...
Bolney
Located in West Sussex. Founded in 1972 by Rodney and Janet Pratt, their daughter Sam Linter took over as CEO in 1995 and was the head winemaker until 2023 (the company was sold to Freixenet Copestick in 2022). Cara Lee Dely is now head winemaker. Bolney was one of the earliest and most tenacious pioneers of the industry.
Lots of fruit! Practically laying out a market fruit stall in...
South African winemaker Cara Lee Dely, who previously worked at...
Savoury and tight. Tomato vine and roasted apple pips. Cobnuts...
Chapel Down
Located in Kent. The first vineyards were planted in 1977 but thanks to changing hands and financial challenges was really only established as a serious commercial winery in 1995. Pioneered large-scale négociant winemaking in the UK and is England's largest wine producer. Head winemaker is Josh Donaghay-Spire.
52% Chardonnay, rest Pinot Noir and Meunier with 5% Pinot Blanc...
Mostly 2018 but a bit of perpetual reserve. 60% Chardonnay, 30%...
100% Chardonnay from the Kit's Coty vineyard in Kent. Picked in...
Exton Park
Located in Hampshire. Privately owned. Founded in 2003. Head winemaker is Corinne Seely.
Tasted from magnum. 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier from a...
Estate-grown Hampshire fruit on limestone. 100% Pinot Noir. No...
Gusborne
Located in Kent. Founded by South African orthopaedic surgeon Andrew Weeber in 2004. Head winemaker is Mary Bridges, who took over from Charlie Holland when he left in June 2023 after a decade with Gusbourne to take over head up Jackson Family Wines’ UK wine project.
70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir. Whole-bunch pressed and...
Tasted from magnum.
Undulating, mellow and mellifluous energy...
Tasted from magnum.
Singing with fruit, so much fruit! Despite...
Tasted from magnum.
Richer, sweeter, deeper, more smoky than...
Roughly 65% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir. 80 months sur lattes.
...
67% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir.
Not as outrageously fragrant as...
Hambledon
Located in Hampshire. The oldest continuous (if not always operating commercially) winery in the UK, which was first planted with vineyards in 1952. It was restored to (more than) its former glory by Ian Kellett in 1999. Head winemaker is Hervé Jestin, formerly chef de cave of Champagne Duval-Leroy.
Just under 90% Pinot Meunier, saignée, and the rest Pinot Noir...
Hattingley Valley
Located in Hampshire. Founded by Simon Robinson in 2008. Head winemaker Rob MacCulloch who took over from Emma Rice in 2022.
8% barrel fermentation with a little bit of malo. 7 years on...
This was the first wine they made – it's now a blend of reserve...
Another bottle from Hattingley's first year making wine. They...
Hundred Hills
Located in Oxfordshire. Founded by Stephen and Fiona Duckett in 2014. Stephen Duckett makes the wines with consultants from Champagne.
Chardonnay from the top of the slope in the centre-corner parcel...
100% Pinot Noir from a single hillside parcel planted on chalk...
100% single-parcel Pinot Noir. Only free-run from maceration was...
Rathfinny
Located in East Sussex. Founded by Mark and Sarah Driver in 2010. Winemaker is Miguel Symington.
Snappy, aloof, pithy. Blood orange and iodine minerality...
Aromas that hint at almond blossom, but the wine is packed with...
Poured too cold (all the Rathfinny wines at this tasting were a...
Ridgeview
Located in East Sussex. Founded in 1995 by Chris and Mike Roberts, Ridgeview is another 'founding family' wine estate (Mike Roberts was awarded an MBE in 2011 for his services to English wine). The estate is now run by their daughter Tamara, son Simon, son-in-law Simon and daughter-in-law Mardi.
Tasted from magnum. Disgorged October 2023, so 12 or 13 years...
A hot, dry summer. Around 80% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meunier. The...
100% Chardonnay from 2015, 2106, 2017 – all Sussex estate fruit...
Wiston
Located on the Sussex South Downs, Wiston Estate has been owned by the Goring family since 1743. The wine estate was established in 2006 when Harry and Pip Goring planted vines on advice from Stephen Skelton. Son and heir Richard Goring now runs the business with his wife Kirsty. Winemaker was Dermot Sugrue for 16 years, but he left in 2022 to pursue his own project and Marcus and Megan Rayner-Ward stepped into the role.
Creamy (very creamy), smooth, swirling and elegant. Pear-Tatin...
Tasted from magnum.
(NB I literally tasted the last warm drop...
Photo credit RichLegg, E+ via Getty Images
