Winery notes 
"This wine pays tribute to David Herd, who established Marlborough’s first commercial vineyard and winery at Auntsfield in the 1870s. Using David’s original vineyard site and specific Muscat Clone, this wine is made by applying the Methode Ancestrale technique, which can be traced to production of the first sparkling wine “Blanquette de Limoux” in 1531. As in the 153o’s, and 1870’s, fermentation with natural yeast is completed in bottle. The result is a wine that honours the foundational work of our ancestors and celebrates continued discovery and pleasure.

With each bottle being it’s own fermentation no two bottles are exactly the same. With little sulphur in bottle, this wine evolves in the glass. Initially this wine has fresh aromas of fresh apple, elderflower, nashi pear with hints of mint, and wild honey. In the glass, the brighter apple and pear notes dissipate and reveal more of the Muscat floral and exotic spice aromas. The palate has a fresh and crisp acidity, with tangy green apple. It is light and lively. With a slight brioche and almond complexity giving some generosity to the palate at this early stage of life.

The historic Petits Grains Muscat block is exactly where it all started at Auntsfield in 1873. These vines are trained along the old wire and Manuka posts as they historically were. This block has the potential for heavy crops, so we spend a lot of time carefully removing leaves very early in the season before flowering to reduce the bunch sizes and number of berries that set. Each bunch is carefully tended to during the growing season as this variety is fragile and requires optimum conditions to fully express the incredible aromatics of Muscat.

Limited Edition of just 820 bottles produced."

This wine is made with 100% Pinot Blanc from Cremant d'Alsace AOC. It is crafted in the same fashion as champagne using the traditional method and the result is a fresh, light and fruity sparkling wine with green apple and lemon aromas, fine bubbles and a delicate palate.

This sensational champagne gets five stars from the Regional team. It's a beautiful rounded, dry, full bodied champagne with crisp greengage aromas and notes of tangy nectarines supported by the firm acidity and characteristic freshness of Chardonnay, which is the predominant grape variety in this blend. 

Most of the grapes in this wine and those in all Ruinart champagnes are grown in the Côte des Blancs and Montagne de Reims terroirs in Champagne.

* The House of Ruinart was first established in the Champagne region in 1729 and was inspired by a monk. 

This great Champagne is made by the Epernay based producer, Champagne Lombard, and it is staggeringly good quality with amazing balance and complexity for this price. 

Smooth, zingy, citrusy and beautifully toasty. A rare good deal. 

Perrier-Jouet Blanc de Blancs is a free spirit - vibrant, dynamic, independent. Bright and fresh as the morning dew, it is the perfect champagne to serve as an aperitif, to celebrate the first day of spring.

Abel Methode Cider is made by us in small quantities, crafted from 100% apples and pears. We hand harvest tree-ripened fruit, crush it, then ferment until dry. This is quite different from your usual cider as we ferment the skins, stalks, pips and all, to maximize fruit aromatics and flavour. Abel cider is unfined and unfiltered. This basically means we allow our cider to naturally clarify via gravity to retain character. It's fermented in the bottle, like champagne. This natural carbonation gives a finer bubble which retains the aromas and flavours. Bottle fermentation adds complexity and texture, as well as giving cloudiness from the natural yeast sediment that remains.

Our cider is dry as this is the way we like to drink it - refreshing and full of flavour! ENJOY You have a couple of options when it comes to enjoying a bottle of Abel Methode Cider: EITHER...Place bottle upright in the fridge overnight, the colder the better. This will allow the natural sediment to settle to the bottom of the bottle. When you're ready to drink it, pour the clear cider (everything but the settled sediment) into a champagne flute or wine glass of your choice. OR...If you like cloudy cider, invert the bottle a couple of times then pour away!

The Cuvée Royale Brut is a superbly intense champagne with depth of flavour and complex tastes of white peach, floral notes of white flowers giving way to the fruity ones and dialled up yeasty freshness, derived from 36 months aging with 20% reserve wines in the blend. The cepage is 35% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Meunier and grapes come from over 20 different top ranking vineyards, including at Cumières, Damery, Hautvillers and Verneuil.

What the critics say

“Vanilla shortbread seems seductive on the nose. Slender but fine palate majors on the lemon, spice, and hints of honey in a soothing and gentle fashion. Lovely aperitif. Drinking Window 2020 to 2025.” 

Decanter - 90 Points

Dom Perignon is one of the world's great prestige champagnes in name and in taste. Made only in single vintage years, this latest one is a blend of 50/50 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, aged for eight years on lees, which retains freshness while allowing the yeast autolysis process to create complexity and power in this multi layered, intensely richly flavoursome sparkling wine. 

This tastes full bodied, dry, creamy with complex layers of flavour. Serve chilled in a large glass to it its complexity and freshness shine. 

Vintage rose champagne is one of our favourite things and this one comes from arguably the most popular producer, Veuve Clicquot, owned by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey.

Veuve is named after the late, great Widow Clicquot, who was left not only a widow aged 27 but also in charge of running a champagne house. Her legacy is to have left both the brand and the region in better condition than she found them, mostly famously by inventing riddling; the turning of the bottle to remove the yeast sediment into its neck, prior to disgorgement. This resulted in higher quality, cleaner, fresher bubbles in both look and taste. Her quest was quality and she is widely credited with having raised it significantly in the Champagne region and in the bottles it produces.
This rose is typically a blend of base wines with 12% of still red Pinot Noir and aged for three years prior to disgorgement. 

Dry champagne with crisp flavours of citrus and apple, complexed by toasty brioche notes. 

40% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot noir

This bubbles represents excellent value for money as well as being an intensely refreshing, full bodied, dry champagne with toasty flavours and a savoury character. Sensational wine for a special day, any day...

La Grande Dame is one of the great champagnes and is a big, dry, toasty, full bodied wine, made from 90% Pinot Noir, which adds layers of savoury depths to this complex bubbly, and 10% Chardonnay. It is named in homage to the Grands Cru vineyards from which the grapes in this wine come, from Champagne villages Aÿ, Bouzy, Ambonnay, Verzy and Verzenay and 47% Chardonnay from Avize, Oger and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. 

Its name also pays homage to the Grande Dame of Champagne, the late widow Clicquot, whose main legacy is to have left both the brand and the region in better condition than she found them, mostly famously by inventing riddling; the turning of the bottle to remove the yeast sediment into its neck, prior to disgorgement. This resulted in higher quality, cleaner, fresher bubbles in both look and taste. Her quest was quality and she is widely credited with having raised it significantly in the Champagne region and in the bottles it produces.

Moët Impérial is typically a blend of 30% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Meunier and 30% Chardonnay and is made from grapes grown in several different sub-regions within the wider Champagne region.

It tastes medium to full bodied and dry with crisp acidity and a long finish. Flavours are of fresh apples and citrus. 

It is part of the large Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey (LVMH) group; the world's largest champagne producer. 

Frank and fresh attack of fresh fruit, floral notes and minerality on the nose. Round and balanced mouth, the Chenin dominates with its crisp fruits and finesse. The bubbles are both intense and persistent.

Grapes: 60% Chardonnay, 30% Chenin, 10% Cabernet Franc

Terroir: Chalky soils consisting of small fossilized stones.

Winemaking: Manual harvest before pressing in whole bunches. Separate vinifications for each grape and 18 months on lees.