Wine of the week: Kent’s epic Chardonnay sparkler

published 10 May 2019

2014 Chapel Down, Kit's Coty, Coeur de Cuve, North Downs, Kent, England£100, chapeldown.com

I have nothing less than a global scoop this week: 2014 Coeur de Cuve is the second vintage release from the remarkable Kit's Coty vineyard, and it goes on sale any minute. Kit's Coty is an exceptional 95-acre vineyard with a perfect southerly aspect and pristine, free-draining chalk soils.

When the yields are restricted the resulting fruit is epic. Made from the "heart" of the chardonnay grapes' first pressing, the juice undergoes wild fermentation and maturation on its lees in French oak for seven months. Immediately sensational on both the nose and palate, this is a grand wine with an expansive flavour and terrific potential.

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If you want to form an image of just how serious the Coeur de Cuve is prior to taking the £100-plunge, then 2014 Kit's Coty, blanc de blancs (£40) is closely related to its elite stablemate.

Again, this is a 100% chardonnay sparkler, but this time only 20% of the wine is matured in oak and so this is a nimbler number with an edgier feel.

Both wines are absolutely top drawer and they build on the success of the lovely 2013 releases which brought this special vineyard to our collective vinous consciousness.

I expect you have one question to ask are they worth it? They wouldn't make it onto the page if I had any doubts.

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

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.