WINE REVIEW
Oxney is one of the longest-standing Organic English Wine producers, and at 35 acres is the largest single estate Organic vineyard in the country.
I’ve been tasting their wines since the very first vintage, and have visited and stayed at the vineyard several times. Whilst saying they are underrated is, I feel, selling them short, they are one of the country’s hidden gems.
Take this latest Brut 2019, for example, glistening and golden in the glass and with a nose to match, full of red apple, cranberry and nectarine notes, with lemon rind, honey-roasted cashew complexity and a hint of marmalade.
The palate is initially linear and brisk, with lots of crisp apple and orchard fruit freshness. It’s a low dosage style, just 1.5g/l, and the Liqueur d’Expedition (the wine used to top up after disgorgement) comes from a special Solera system that Oxney has developed. This brings a lovely biscuity and nutty complexity and adds great depth to an otherwise precise and strait-laced sparkling wine.
