I recently tasted two brand new wines from Black Chalk with winemakers Jacob Leadley and Zoë Driver; these are the second vintages (2022) of the brilliant Paragon and Inversion. Talking about the approach for the two wines, Jacob told me:
“When we set out to create these wines, we basically wanted to add to the range, but we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do. When we went down the clonal route, certain clones shone, and the 777 clone was the catalyst for having this idea for making a Blanc de Noirs and Blanc de Blancs that are slightly outside of what people expect of those two wines.”
I was really impressed with the inaugural 2020 release of these wines, particularly the complex, oaky Paragon, so I was really excited to try the latest 2022 vintages.
Zoë added on the 2022 vintage: “The fruit is so bright and pure when it comes in, it’s so beautiful that you we want to try and just retain that.”
Both wines have been treated with so much care, with a real focus on exploring the nuances that the selected Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier clones bring. The resulting wines are masterclasses in precision, focusing on fruit rather than autolytic complexity.
Black Chalk Paragon 2022
100% Chardonnay (clones 95, 121, 76, 131)
50% aged in oak foudre, no malo
This is made from the best parcels of Chardonnay and fermented with aromatic yeast strains, resulting in an incredibly perfumed sparkling wine.
On the palate there are bright orchard fruit flavours of crisp green apple, with light tropical and peachy depth, crystalline minerality and lemon freshness, and an almost sherbet lemon-like tingle on the finish. The oak is superbly judged, more subtle than the toasty 2020 vintage, which ensures the bright fruit and precision in this wine really shines.
Black Chalk Inversion 2022
73% Pinot Noir, 27% Pinot Meunier (clones 777, 386, 521, 977, 978, 115)
97.5% aged in stainless steel, no malo
The Pinot Noir characteristics leap out of the glass immediately. There are also lightly bronzed hues, with strawberry, cherry, dried raspberry aromas.
The palate is focussed and concentrated, full of summer red berry flavours, with just a hint of strawberry shortbread complexity. And again there’s this lovely, chalky minerality that lingers on the finish.
This is such a beautiful wine that has all the character of Pinot Noir red fruit, but presented in the form of a pure, bright sparkling wine.
