Wine Advisor
Nyetimber, Blanc de Blancs 2013
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: William Kelley
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.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
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.
About the Producer
Nyetimber is a producer of sparkling wine in southern England. It is considered one of the UK's leading wine producers and its wines have regularly featured at diplomatic and royal functions in the UK. Nyetimber's wines are made in the méthode traditionnelle from the classic Champagne blend, and are often mistaken for Champagne in blind tastings. All wines are made from the estate's own vineyards, which are spread throughout the South Downs hill range in West Sussex and Hampshire. The terroir in the hills is very similar to Champagne. The cool climate helps to achieve the slow ripening and subsequent acidity levels required for top-quality sparkling wine. Nyetimber's plantings are confined to the three main Champagne varieties: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. Wines are made by the traditional method. The grapes are gently pressed and the base wines are fermented in stainless steel. After the secondary fermentation in bottle, the wine is left to age on its lees before disgorgement. Since 2006 when the vineyards were extended, production has reached 400,000 bottles per year, although in 2012, due to poor weather and strict quality control, no wine was released. Nyetimber makes a range of wines, with the vintage Classic Cuvée as the standard bearer. This wine shows red-fruit aromas, and a creamy, fresh palate with more of a citrus character, and has great potential for aging. The range also includes a Blanc de Blancs, Demi-Sec and Rosé, plus the Tillington Single Vineyard cuvée. The estate was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, and was once the home of Anne of Cleves, the fourth wife of Henry VIII. Its history as a wine producer is not quite as long – it was first planted to vine in the mid 1980s, and the first vintage, a Blanc de Blancs, was released in 1992.
