Leckford Estate Brut 2011

Leckford Estate is Waitrose’ own vineyard, planted at their Leckford Estate farm in Hampshire. Waitrose worked with Ridgeview to produce the wine, and the 2011 is their first vintage.

I found this a lot more fruity on the nose than many other English Sparkling wines. Definite apple & stone fruit with subtle nutty character and baked pastry notes.

Beautiful pale golden colour in the glass with constant fine streams of bubbles.

Like the nose, this wine has a strong fruity palate. Good crunchy citrus lemon kick with smooth creamy flavours of apple, peach and apricot. The slightly harsh bubble makes the wine feel lighter than it actually is.

Aftertaste is quite subtle, with lingering flavours of peach and yeasty notes. We drank alongside the suggested pairing of smoked salmon, which definitely helped to bring out the best qualities of the wine.

It’s an enjoyable bottle, maybe slightly too fruit focussed. However, it’s a good first vintage and this will be one to watch to see how it evolves in future releases.