Sugrue South Downs is comfortably our favourite English sparkling wine producer. Dermot and Ana Sugrue make serious, delicious fizz from a wealth of experience that created the successes at Nyetimber and Wiston among others.
Sugrue started as a passion project, but in 2022, they were able to leave their other work and focus full time on making their own wines. Today we can offer the 2022 The Trouble With Dreams, which has been released this morning and is the first wine made since that change.
We tasted this latest iteration of the flagship cuvée with Ana Sugrue recently, and it's safe to say it is another knockout wine that is true to the house style with purity, power and energy. 2022 was a hot year in England, and the vintage shows that side with rounder, riper fruit. Sourced largely from the Coldharbour vineyard, it is the typical 60/40 Chardonnay Pinot Noir blend, and it's layered, moreish and salty finish keeps you coming back for more.
The price has been held at £200 per six in bond. It is absolutely delicious already, ideal for the summer but with a great future ahead. We have a parcel of six packs en route that will be available for UK delivery by early July.
This new release from Sugrue is the first Trouble With Dreams made after Dermot left Wiston Estate, with new sources of fruit allowing for production to grow as he and Ana made their dream their full time reality. The fruit is largely from Cold Harbour and the blend is 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir, half in steel and half in barrel as usual. The nose is superb and open-knit already, showing notes of salted pretzel dough, confit lemon and peppery white fruit. The palate is textural, rich but cut by fresh acidity. This is a structured, complex wine that unfurls with air to show a ripeness we rarely see in English wine without losing vibrancy or personality. The leesy, bready autolytic notes build with air, but it is the balance between these notes and the fruit that make this just so enjoyable. Another brilliant release of our favourite English sparkling wine.
