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The Best English Sparkling Wine At Hambledon Vineyard

Hambledon Vineyard is making some of the finest English sparkling wine and perhaps some of the best sparkling wine in the entire world. We had to taste it to believe it, so we visited the winery to check out the British bubbly in person.

2foodtrippers at Hambledon Vineyard
Image: ©2foodtrippers

We pinched ourselves as we approached Hambledon Vineyard in tiny Waterloo, just eight miles from Portsmouth, in Southern England. After jumping out of our rental car for a better view of the grapevines growing on a sloping hill, we looked at each other and asked one simple question:

“Are we in England or are we in France?”

The answer soon revealed itself. We were at a French winery hiding in England’s Hampshire County.

Hambledon Vineyard
This sloping hill with rows of grapevines is not in France. It is at Hambledon Vineyard in England’s Hampshire county. | Image: ©2foodtrippers

Hambledon Vineyard is firmly and proudly an English winery, but it has no shame in embracing a French connection that goes back to the 1950’s when winemakers from the Pol Roger Champagne House assisted with the vineyard’s original planting.

Ian Kellet purchased England’s oldest commercial vineyard in 1999 and soon realized the similarity between his Hampshire vineyard’s chalky hills and the chalky terroir in Champagne. Kellet has since assembled a crack winemaking team helmed by a Frenchman, Hervé Jestin, and the results are nothing less than extraordinary.

Felix Gabillet at Hambledon Vineyard
Winemaker Felix Gabillet describes English grapes with a French accent. The winemaker received his training in France and found an opportunity at Hambledon Vineyard. | Image: ©2foodtrippers

After arriving for our private tour on a crisp summer morning, we quickly met our tour guide, Felix Gabillet, a young French winemaker from Tours. After completing his studies at a four-year winemaking program in France, he moved across the Channel to join the Hambledon Vineyard team.

Tour Of Hambledon Vineyard

Vines at Hambledon Vineyard
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier Grapes on the Vine at Hambledon Vineyard. The vineyard’s terroir has many similarities to France’s Champagne region. | Image: ©2foodtrippers

Gabillet introduced us to the grapes at Hambledon Vineyard. We ‘met’ Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes and learned how this part of England has a similar, if not better, climate to Champagne, France due to global climate change.

Traditionally, the cool weather of the Champagne region has contributed toward the classic bubbly’s leanness. Hot weather can overripen classic champagne grapes by allowing them to oversweeten, muting some of the sparkling wine’s elegant, subtle aromas and flavors.

While Hambledon Vineyard’s harvest is in October, three weeks later than in Champagne, the cool, occasionally sunny, English climate produces wonderful acidic fruit that lends itself to amazing subtleties on the nose – think mushrooms and fresh herbs.

Process For Making English Sparkling Wine

Inside Hambledon Vineyard
Gabillet explained the complicated process for making English sparkling wine, a technical process for us laymen. | Image: ©2foodtrippers

Hambledon’s magic also happens indoors. It’s only logical that the winemakers use the Champenoise method – a process requiring two separate fermentations. Unlike the process for making gin, as we learned during our Bombay Sapphire Distillery tour, making English sparkling wine is a fairly complicated process.

We learned that Hambledon uses gravity during its winemaking process, not a pump, and that the winemakers incorporate the malolactic process in fermentation to make the end product less acidic. The first fermentation of the wine happens in large steel tanks; the second occurs in the bottle.

In the Champenoise method, the second fermentation defines the winemaking process. Fermented wine is bottled with residual sugar, capped with metal bottle caps and allowed to ferment. Toward the end of the process, bottles are placed on a rack and riddled, or turned, forcing the wine’s sediment to rise toward the top of the bottle into the neck.

Once the sediment has reached the top, the neck is flash-frozen allowing that sediment to be removed. Finally, the bottles are cleared, more sugar is added and the bottles are corked.

During the October harvest, 50 to 100 pickers pick the grapes each day before the full grapes go into the pressing machine. Unfermented juice is then graded and separated by quality using the best the best tools known to the winemaker – their eyes.

Go to the next level with sparkling wine cocktails.

Wine Tasting At Hambledon Vineyard

Premiere Cuvee at Hambledon Vineyard
We enjoyed tasting the English sparkling wine at Hambledon Vineyard. The complex Premiere Cuvee evoked flavors of mushrooms, apricot and citrus. | Image: ©2foodtrippers

As fascinating as it was to learn about the process for making English sparkling wine, we enjoyed the last part of our private tour the best.

Guided by Gabillet, we first tasted the vineyard’s Classic Cuvée made with 60% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier grapes. We also tasted the Première Cuvée with a combination of 60% Chardonnay, 24% Pinot Meunier and 16% Pinot Noir grapes.

All the key elements were there – a mushroomy earthiness that meets stone fruits like apricot with just a touch of citrus acidity.

Sipping the English sparkling wine, we couldn’t help but imagine ourselves back in France. It was easy to do since this British bubbly was as good as any champagne we’ve tasted in the past, and maybe even better.

Fun Fact
In 2015, the Hambleton Classic Cuvée placed first in Noble Rot Magazine’s sparkling wine competition, beating French contenders including Pol Roger, Veuve Clicquot and Taittinger.

Hambledon Vineyard is located at East Street, Hambledon, Waterlooville PO7, United Kingdom.

Where To Stay And Eat After visiting The Hambledon Vineyard

After finishing your tour at Hambledon Vineyard, why not drive less than two hours to the seaside resort town of Brighton.

Brighton Hotel Recommendation

We recommend you stay in the Perrier Jouet room at the Blanch House. You can continue the sparkling wine theme both in your room and in the bar.

Brighton Restaurant Recommendation

  • We recommend Terre a Terre for dinner. This local eatery is a cheerful vegetarian restaurant with flavorful dishes and…more wine.

Planning Checklist

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About The Authors

About The Authors

Daryl & Mindi Hirsch

Saveur Magazine’s BEST TRAVEL BLOG award winners Daryl and Mindi Hirsch share their culinary travel experiences and recipes on the 2foodtrippers website. Since launching the site in 2012, they’ve traveled to over 40 countries in their quest to bring readers their unique taste of the world.

Disclosures

Article Updates
We update our articles regularly. Some updates are major while others are minor link changes and spelling corrections. Let us know if you see anything that needs to be updated in this article.

Sponsorship
We thank Tourism Southeast, Visit Hampshire and Visit Brighton for their assistance with our visit to South England.

Original Publication Date: August 30, 2016

Kavey

Tuesday 13th of September 2016

It’s really interesting how English vineyards have developed and become so successful too. Looks like you had a great visit!

Mardi

Sunday 11th of September 2016

If you hadn't told me this was England I would totally think this was on the continent somewhere! I've tasted some excellent sparkling wines from England - was really interesting to read about this one (I'll keep my eye out for it here in Canada).

verushka

Wednesday 7th of September 2016

At first glance I too thought vineyards in France.So interesting to find out about this brand and how they have beaten other top brands. The packaging is rather pretty too.

Daryl and Mindi Hirsch

Saturday 10th of September 2016

It's great to see great wine making in areas that we normally don't associate with great wine. It was also interesting to see the great care that European winemakers put into making their product.

Bryan Richards

Wednesday 7th of September 2016

Not somewhere I'd expect to find a winery... Sounds fun though!

Sandy Cadiz-Smith

Wednesday 7th of September 2016

I'm always amazed at how beautiful the vineyards are in Southern England and this one looks amazing. The wine is pretty good, too, if a bit on the expensive side for what it is. Did you find that here?

Daryl and Mindi Hirsch

Saturday 10th of September 2016

Britain taxes alcohol producers fairly heavily, but the product they produce at Hambledon is a good value compared to the pricing on many more established sparkling producers in France and in the U.S.

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