The Friday Bubble - Danbury Ridge Chardonnay & Pinot Noir 2022 with winemaker Liam Idzikowski

Описание: Today on The Friday Bubble with Richard Bampfield MW and Danbury Ridge winemaker Liam Idzikowski, Danbury Ridge Chardonnay & Pinot Noir 2022.

Danbury Ridge was founded by two generations of the Bunker family: Michael and Heather Bunker and, their daughters Janine and Sophie. The first vines were planted in 2014 with a focus on identifying Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clones which could best exploit the unique mesoclimate. After just a few seasons the vines were producing grapes of a quality and ripeness previously unknown in the UK.

Grapes were carefully selected from across the estate. Glaciofluvial deposits of sandy gravel dominate the easterly Polo Field while loamy, carbonate rich clay of the estate’s Sleipnir Block dominates to the west. Select parcels were sourced from the Blackwater estuary and the river Crouch, which have significant influence over the favourable climate for winegrowing enjoyed in the region.

2022 was a vintage of anomalies. A maximum temperature of 41.43°C was recorded in the Polo Field on the 19th July, whilst cumulative precipitation for the three summer months, June - August, was a miserly 10mm. Temperatures in September and October fell back to normal values, slowing ripening. Rainfall remained low across September and October. They saw zero botrytis and the bunches and berries for both Chardonnay and Pinot were small.

Chardonnay
92/100
Neal Martin
“The 2022 Chardonnay has a taut and linear bouquet with clementine and apricot. Fresh and vibrant, the wine opens up gradually in the glass. The palate has a lovely texture, which marks it out from the previous vintage, much more weight. With very fine delineation and minerality, it’s beautifully balanced, deepening towards the finish with a prickle of stem ginger that feels more pithy and, therefore, has greater umami that the previous vintage. Superb.”

Pinot Noir
95/100
Jamie Goode
“This has just been bottled. A contrast to 2021: a really warm year with 1300 growing degree days. In the Polo vineyard they got to 41.3 C. September dropped down to normal, with 30 mm of rain from September to October, but despite this they watered the vines. Concentrated, dense and vivid with powerful black cherry fruit with some raspberry. Intense and bold with good structure showing lovely fruit intensity. Grippy and intense, this will be amazing with a few years in bottle. And it should live a long time.”