WINE REVIEW
While remaining firmly focused on producing world-class still wines, Solstice has been in development at Danbury Ridge since the first harvest. At a recent tasting, consultant John Atkinson, very much an extended part of the Danbury Ridge family, described the approach as “bringing the intensities and sensitivities of still winemaking into sparkling winemaking”.
Winemaker Liam Idzikowski continued: “Just to have made another aperitif-style sparkling wine had no appeal to me whatsoever.” Solstice certainly has a lot of character, owing to considered production involving up to six months of fermentation in oak (mostly neutral, with 10% young or new oak) of the 2019 base wine which forms 75% of this multi-vintage blend.
A further 25% of foudre-aged Solera (from 2018, ’19 and ’20) was blended in for Solstice 1st Edition. The clever integration of dosage liquer, further aged in oak barrels that on its own “tastes like PX”, according to Liam, brings further nuance and suggestions of maturity.
The resulting wine is radiant and expressive, offering notes of apricot, blood orange and orange blossom as well as a pronounced almond nuttiness and subtle oxidative complexity. At its core is a tightly wound acidity that tempers the wine’s appealing broadness.
Solstice is a striking and distinctive wine that feels squarely aimed at those who like their sparkling wine to be textural and nuanced. Overall, this is a fascinating addition to the Danbury Ridge line-up.
