Two rare but brilliant English sparkling wines from Fox & Fox

2015 Fox & Fox, Mayfield, Essence Pure Chardonnay Brut

I met Gerard Fox five or six years ago at a tasting. He mentioned that he and his wife Jonica had got into the wine game, back in 2004, by planting some vines, and that they were pretty happy with their early releases. I tasted their 2011 Mayfield, Essence Blanc de Blancs, back in 2016 and also their 2013 Mayfield Tradition Blanc de Noirs, in 2018, and wrote up both in my column for the Daily Mail.

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Each Fox & Fox release is tiny, a thousand bottles here and a thousand bottles there. Since the early days, the vines are finding their feet and two new releases are worthy of extremely high praise.

The 2015 Essence is sublime and it grows on the palate into a lovely crisp apple and lemon balm cocktail. It is a perfect paean to the great chardonnay grape. A slimline creature, with only 12% alcohol, it wears a generous 11.5g/L dosage, so this is a slender, but curvaceous wine. With superb class throughout, the nose starts quietly and it expands and relaxes into a delicious and thoroughly moreish creation.

In addition, 2014 Fox & Fox, Mayfield, CV Chairman’s Vat Brut (£40, foxandfox.wine; £39.99, thebritishwinecellar.co.uk) is a tighter, more energetic and less louche number with only 8.5g/L dosage, and it is a blend of pinot noir, chardonnay and pinot gris. Dry, layered and intellectually stimulating, it is a brilliant wine with chalky, sour acidity on the finish and lush fruit throughout.

• Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)

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Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

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

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.