Digby Fine English Brut NV 750ml

ABOUT This has quickly become one of the most lauded sparkling wines from England since launching in the summer of 2016. This fizz is in its element at home on a Tuesday evening or a party celebrating one of life’s big moments. This was conceived as a ‘little brother’ for the flagship Reserve Vintage. Founded upon some of the house’s most expressive Pinot Noir base wines, the Digby Brut NV gains a vitality and mellow richness from the addition of more mature Chardonnay reserve wines. The blend is balanced with a generous dash of Pinot Meunier to bring a bright and cheerful tone. An assemblage of chalky and sandstone sites make up this very ‘English’ bottling. Stainless steel is the primary fermentation and aging vessel here promoting vibrancy, though 5% of the final blend spent nine months in neutral French barrique. Malolactic fermentation is now fully carried out whereas the earlier bottlings it was blocked. The current vintage wine is then blended with 25% of older wine that has been aging in tank. The wine was bottled with a coarse filtration and without fining and they hit with the liqueur de tirage spending a little over three years on lees aging and gaining complexity. The wines are disgorged to order and hit with a 10 gram dosage prior to aging for an additional six months on cork prior to release. DATA Grapes: 50% Pinot Noir - 35% Chardonnay - 15% Pinot Meunier Vineyard: Four sites throughout the North & South Downs: Primarily Dorset & Kent with supporting sites in Sussex & Hampshire Vine Age: Varied: Average 12-years-old Soil Type: Varied: Predominantly chalk & clay with a smattering of greensand Viticulture: Sustainable & conventional Fermentation: Inoculated – 95% stainless-steel & 5% second use French barrique Skin Contact: None Aging: Primary: 9 months in stainless-steel (95%) & second passage French barrique (5%)Secondary: 38 months in bottle Residual Sugar: 10 g/L pH: 3.2 Total Acidity: 8.4 g/L Total Production: 2,500 cases TASTING NOTE Pale gold. This wine is toasty, spicy and shows complex aromas of Rainier cherries and lemon verbena. The palate supports the complex aromas with the addition of a honeyed almond and not quite baked apple pie flavors. Very fine and elegant with an incredible amount of finesse and charm.