Wines & Drinks from Essex

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Davenport Vineyards

Davenport Vineyards was started by Will Davenport in 1991, and today produce a number of organic win…

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English Still Wines

Freedom of the Press Bacchus 2021

Citrus, pear, almond blossom, pine nuts, some salinity and minerality, and a hint of aromatic herbs

A dry wine, aromas and flavours of citrus, pear, a little almond blossom, pine nuts, some minerality, and a hint of aromatic herbs. It is a clean, fresh, linear wine with a bit of ‘zip’, an elegant subtlety, and a good mouthfeel. Designed to be drunk in its first year or two of release, it is a wine for picnics, aperitifs, salads, fresh sheep and goat cheese (even vintage cheddar), and seafood. It also pairs very well with spicy or aromatic food. The grapes were harvested at Martin’s Lane Vineyard in the Crouch Valley in Essex on 21st September in beautiful condition and at a sugar level of 77 Oe (on average, bunches vary a little). This ripeness suited the intended style very well. Much riper and the wine would be quite ‘exotic’, much less ripe and it would tend to grass and elderflower – this is the sweet spot of fruit, elegance and drinkability. A medium length fermentation to dryness at around 15-16 degrees C, 90% in steel, 10% in sandstone amphora. The wine was then amalgamated and all held in steel (for freshness and the ‘linear’ quality) for 5 months. This wine is bright and fresh, so it has been fined using the bare minimum necessary of a vegan fining agent, and then filtered. The very minimal handling, and an approach that reduces oxygen uptake has also left a little residual CO2 from tank fermentation that never escaped: you may note some tiny bubbles on first opening which quickly disappear. This adds to the zip, mouthfeel and freshness – it also helps protect the wine. This is a natural outcome of the process, it is not fermentation in bottle, nor is it an artificial addition. Freedom of the Press is an urban winery on a hill in the Cotswolds. “That makes no sense” you might reasonably say. The original plan was to establish an ‘urban winery’ in Oxford with no vineyards of their own, buying the best grapes from across the country. They would operate more like an in-town micro brewery or boutique distillery than what most people think of as a vineyard. So that was the plan – they had a venue selected and everything. That was early Spring 2020. Covid took control of everybody’s lives, and the Oxford venue fell through. But just as it looked like it was curtains for the project they found a new home, a unit on a beautiful farm above Minster Lovell in the Cotswolds, 15 miles from Oxford.

Freedom of the Press Bacchus 2021 English White Wine

£15.49

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