It has been a challenging and disappointing year for most in many respects, but one thing that certainly hasn’t let us down is the wine. It’s traditional for us to do a festive rundown of the ’12 Wines of Christmas’, but with so many superb wines tasted throughout the year, it was next to impossible to narrow the selection down to just 12 wines.
So this year the team has worked together to select the Great British Wine ‘Class of 2020’. It’s a chance for all of us to look back and reflect upon the best wines of the year, covering still and sparkling wines from across England and Wales.
We’ll be revealing a new category each day for the first ten days of December – so do keep checking back to see if your favourite makes it to our list. If not, feel free to comment below with your favourites.
Menu – GBW Class of 2020
Day 2 | Still White Chardonnay
Crisp, focussed and increasingly textured – the quality of English and Welsh Chardonnay has been fantastic this year.
Lyme Bay Chardonnay 2018
Selected by John:
“One of the best English Chardonnays I’ve tasted full-stop. The 2018 Essex-grown fruit brings an almost New World ripeness that makes this a hugely satisfying wine.”
Gusbourne Chardonnay Clone 809 2018
Selected by Sam:
“Chardonnay unlike any other. The 809 clone used to make this wine has aromatic, Muscatesque qualities that set this wine apart from most Chardonnays. Oak takes a back seat to florid citrus, stone fruit and floral flavours. The perfect wine to rehabilitate an ABC-er.”
Ancre Hill Chardonnay 2018
Selected by Robbie:
“The highlight of 25 wines I tasted during #WelshWineWeek. Vigorous, lean, chiselled, acidity-driven style of Chardonnay for which the UK is becoming popular. One must marvel at all that intensity from a non-chaptalized 10.5% Welsh Chardonnay.”
Gusbourne Guinevere 2018
Selected by Alex:
“Excellent – harmonious balance, integrated oak, textural, long spicy finish. For me, best vintage of Guinevere to date and one of the top three English Chardonnays of all time.”
