Bruce and Sibylla Tindale’s High Clandon Estate Vineyard in the Surrey Hills boasts spectacular views over gorgeous countryside towards London. It’s a beautiful, peaceful oasis with an award-winning sparkling wine to match…the owner’s have coined ‘quintessence’ (the most perfect example of quality or class) to describe their wine and I think it fits the bubbles and ambience perfectly.
The vineyard is just 1 acre and they make 1 wine producing around 1500-2500 bottles per year depending on the harvest. The vineyard was planted in 2005 and is situated on a chalky limestone South-East facing slope, ideal for the classic champagne varietals of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunièr and Chardonnay. In fact, it’s the same chalk limestone soils found in Champagne. Bruce and Sibylla manage the vineyard entirely themselves, having both learnt what to do at Plumpton College, they carefully hand manicure the vines and use very minimal intervention just to keep mould (which can be devastating for bubbles!) off the vines. Bruce and Sibylla take great pride in producing quality over quantity and strongly believe the English terroir delivers in creating excellence in the glass.
Not only are the grapes carefully created but the winemaking process is also a prestigious affair. The grapes are sent over to Emma Rice at Hattingley and it takes 5 years before they are released for sale! Each bottle is produced using the traditional champagne method (this is a really good explanation of the different ways to make sparkling wine if you’re interested!) and has a long bottle maturation process of five years on the yeast lees (deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast from the fermentation process). The ageing process adds body, depth and complexity to the sparkling wine.
Each year the weather, the land and the vines produce a unique wine with it’s own identity and personality, literally… as Bruce and Sibylla choose a specific name for each vintage.
When visiting I had the pleasure of trying the 2015 vintage, Endymion – from Greek mythology and perhaps more famously a poem by John Keats, the poem begins with the line ‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’. This wine is well structured – it maintains it’s crisp citrus that develops into more rich peach and tons of toasty, biscuity complexity from the ageing process. It’s very elegant. I also sampled their small-batch made Liqueur that’s infused with herbs from the garden and their very own homemade honey – a delicious digestif. As well as a 48%(!!) herbal gin that despite the high alcohol was pretty good.
And of course I had to take home a bottle…The Halcyon Cuvee. Halcyon – denoting a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful. This one is from a beautiful summer back in 2014. I’m yet to try it but with the description of: ‘exuberant and ultra-fine mousse; confit peaches, ripe citrus on the nose; alluring flavours of pineapple, dried mango and biscuit’…my mouth is watering at the prospect.
Their latest wine (2016) the Euphoria Cuvee will be released in July this year…a state of bliss and heightened excitement. Coming out of lockdown and a (hopefully) post-Covid summer sounds Euphoric to me!
But it isn’t just me who thinks the wines are delicious, they have won 7 golds and 2 silver medals at international wine awards over recent years which Bruce modestly believes currently makes them the most gold medals per acre in the UK! Who said size matters?!
Their signature event is the annual launch of their Quintessence, typically in July, where that year’s vintage is launched alongside a Sculpture and Art exhibition from local artists where sales also support the local charity, Cherry Trees. The Glass Barn is High Clandon’s beautiful tasting room where tours and tastings can be booked by getting in touch with Bruce and Sibylla via their website.
High Clandon is a tiny boutique winery, with stunning views and passionate owners whose ethos is ‘fun winemaking’ and who aim to delight the customer on all levels. Their sparkling wine glitters with accolades – this place is a hidden gem.
Great blog Ellie. I shall look forward to going to High Clandon in July. David