Wiston Estate Cuvée 2020

A beautifully focused wine with fantastic ageing potential

Wiston Estate’s 2020 Cuvée is our first vintage release from this memorable year. The world descended into lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, and the UK experienced a near perfect spring – with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures in April and May. The favourable conditions in Findon Park Vineyard, where the grapes for this wine come from, meant that we avoided spring frosts which hit many other areas of the UK and northern Europe. Weather was for flowering in June, and a warm and pleasant summer followed – allowing the grapes to reach a potential alcohol of 13% and a pH of over 3.3. The lack of disease thanks to the favourable conditions allowed us to leave the fruit hanging on the vines for as long as possible to reach the perfect level of ripeness.

The grapes were hand picked in mid October, and the varieties pressed separately in our coquard basket press – ideal for styles like this, allowing each variety to show boldly. The Pinot Noir, Meunier and Chardonnay were then fermented separately in aged French oak barrels. They were rested on lees until spring, then blended and fermented again in-bottle for a cool, slow three years. The first bottles were riddled and disgorged in 2024, and like all our wines, aged on cork to finish.

• Blend 57% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Meunier
• Vintage 2020
• Bottling Our wines are bottled the summer after harvest, which is the moment they begin their second fermentation, which gives them their bubbles and evolved character. 2021
• Alcohol 12%
• Dosage The dosage indicates the amount per litre of sugar in the 'liqueur de dosage', a mixture of wine and sugar added to the bottles when they are disgorged at the end of the ageing process, to ensure balance and harmony in the final blend. 0 grams per litre
• Food Pairing Seafood carpaccio, oysters, halloumi and citrus salad