2018 Rathfinny Blanc de Noirs

"100% estate-grown grapes, 85% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Meunier. Dosage 3.5 g/l. Disgorged 24 January 2022. The Rathfinny vineyard is in Cradle Valley on the South Downs of Sussex. South facing, three miles from the sea, light thin clay loam over chalk. The winery runs on solar energy and deploys waste-water recycling. They've planted indigenous hedging and trees for windbreaks and biodiversity, and are working with Natural England, the National Trust and South Downs National Park to improve local habitat, regenerated the natural chalk grass downland and create wildlife corridors.

Liquorice nose. It's hard to believe the dosage is so low, because the ripeness and roundness of fruit on this wine is exceptional. Pin-point-fine bubbles snap the lemon and blueberry fruit into taut lines. There's a cool stoniness, like mossy concrete; an almost imperceptible peppery nuttiness; and then the wine momentarily widens into sweet pear before narrowing into a piercing finish. Drink 2022-2028."  Tamlyn Currin, JancisRobinson.com