A dreamy stunner with a discreet flavour

2017 Flint Vineyard, Charmat RoséThis English sparkling wine is the finest rosé made from the Charmat method that Matthew Jukes have ever tasted.

Matthew Jukes
By Matthew Jukes
published

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2017 Flint Vineyard, Charmat Ros, England£21.99, reduced to £20 per bottle each if you buy six, FlintVineyard.com

This is the first sparkling wine made by the Charmat method to be released in England and it is a dreamy stunner. Frenchman Eugne Charmat developed this system in which the secondary fermentation (the creation of the bubbles in the still wine) takes place in a stainless steel tank rather than in the bottle (as it does in traditional English sparkling wine or Champagne).

Using the same technique as Prosecco, this wine is as far removed from Italian fizz as you could possibly imagine. It is made from four different grapes solaris, bacchus, reichensteiner and rondo all whole-bunch-pressed using a gentle "Champagne setting". Some of the wine is aged in French oak for four months and during this period, the lees are stirred to bring more body and flavour to the whole. The fermentation is not rushed and so the resulting bubbles are incredibly tiny and elegant.

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Owner and winemaker Ben Witchell and his wife Hannah are two of the most thoughtful people I have encountered in our home-grown wine scene. This is evident from the stunningly designed bottle and the discreet flavour of this beautiful wine. With red-cherry tones and pin-sharp acidity, this is the finest ros made from this method that I have ever tasted, from any country in the world, let alone from within our shores. This wine is a game-changer and the Witchells should be very proud of their creation.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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