Exton Park, Reserve Blend, RB 23, Rosé, Brut, Hampshire, England

Exton Park

Exton Park is situated in England’s picturesque Hampshire countryside on the South Downs. The vineyard covers approximately 55 acres of gently sloping land and is known for producing high-quality sparkling wines using traditional Champagne methods.

Exton Park focuses primarily on three classic grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. These grapes are carefully hand-harvested and meticulously processed to create exceptional sparkling wines. The region’s cool climate and chalky soils contribute to the wines’ elegant acidity, fine bubbles, and distinct character.

The vineyard’s commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship is notable. Exton Park employs environmentally friendly practices, including minimal intervention in the vineyard, organic treatments, and the use of natural predators to control pests. This approach helps maintain the biodiversity of the surrounding area and ensures the vineyard’s long-term health.

Exton Park produces a range of sparkling wines, including their flagship, Exton Park Brut Reserve. Other cuvées, such as Blanc de Noirs and Rosé, offer different expressions of the estate’s terroir and grape varieties.

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county in South East England that has become celebrated for its production of English wine, and English sparkling wine in particular.

Leading producers here include Hambledon Vineyard, Exton Park Vineyard and Hattingley Valley. It is also home to Bride Valley Vineyard, founded by the late wine writer Steven Spurrier and his wife, Bella.

Hampshire has long been an important place for Berry Bros. & Rudd: we have offices and warehouses in Basingstoke and Andover.

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.