Hazel End Vineyard Three Squirrels Brut 2015

A delicious alternative to the usual French grapes, this lively sparkler is made from a unique blend of Muller Thurgau, Huxelrebe and Reichensteiner from vines averaging 25 years old. These have produced a wine with acidity and minerality which some prefer to its better known rivals. The secondary fermentation was undertaken by the celebrated, multi-award winning Dermot Sugrue, and his magic touch is in evidence here. Displaying riper, rounder fruit than most English Sparkling Wines, it nonetheless has the hallmark freshness from bracing acidity and low dosage. Red apples and pear abound on the nose and palate, and rich biscuity notes lace through, the result of 5 years lees ageing.

It was the hot summer of 1976 that induced Charles and Petronella Humphreys to plant vines on a particularly dry slope on their farm just a mile to the north of Bishops Stortford in Hertfordshire. It took nearly twenty years and two changes of site before the first commercial crop was harvested in 1996 but, since then, the wines from Hazel End have enjoyed a growing reputation