2013 Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs
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Tasting notes
All fruit is estate-grown on south-facing, sandy or chalk soils on the South Downs. Grapes are harvested by hand, parcel by parcel, when optimal ripeness is achieved. Cool spring but minimal frost damage in 2013, followed by a warm and dry July and a temperate September and October. Harvest began 8 October and lasted for 12 days. A small portion of the Chardonnay was fermented and aged in new oak barrels. The wine then spent more than five years ageing on the less before riddling and disgorgement (code: L13TG2771C02). Winemaker: Cherie Spriggs. Vegan-friendly. TA 7.5 g/l, pH 3.14, RS 9.5 g/l. Tasted blind. Pale straw. Broad and complex on the nose. Lightly toasty. Seems pretty evolved though still pretty brisk. Good balance of fruit, evolution and acidity. Some interest here. (JR)
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Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Lot number L13BB4981B01. 100% Chardonnay, aged on lees for 57 months. Disgorged December 2018. RS 9.5 g/l. More yeasty than the classic cuvée , richer and more concentrated too. High acidity that is well countered by dosage. There's a slight apple-skin bitterness on the finish, which leaves a touch of sourness lingering, but that's a minor element of the overall flavours, which are classic and satisfying. (RH)
The 2013 Blanc de Blancs is made from Chardonnay from West Sussex and Hampshire, picked October 8–24 and disgorged April 2018; it contains 9.5g/L residual sugar. Clear silvery in hue, it has quite an intense bouquet. Perhaps here I am seeking more steeliness and reserve and less toastiness. I want my Blanc de Blancs aromatics with nerve! The palate is balanced with sour lemon on the entry, sharp acidity and plenty of baked apple notes, but it needs more complexity on the finish.
The 2013 Blanc de Blancs offers up a delicate bouquet of confectioners sugar, honey and crisp yellow orchard fruit, complemented by subtly reductive hints of shrimp shell and iodine. Medium to full-bodied, racy and precise, it's fine-boned but penetrating. The 2013 is a charming, comparatively immediate Blanc de Blancs from Nyetimber.