Black Chalk Wine

Jacob Leadley's decision to make only vintage wines at Black Chalk is either an act of exceptional confidence in Hampshire's ability to ripen grapes to consistently interesting levels, or a philosophical commitment to single-year expressions that cannot be blended away or softened by the comfort of reserve wine. Probably both. Leadley spent seven years making wine at Hattingley Valley before launching Black Chalk in 2015, and the education he received there, working with Emma Rice on wines of genuine complexity and ambition, is visible in everything he has made since.

The four chalk sites that make up Black Chalk's raw material sit within a mile of each other in the Test Valley, close to Fullerton near Stockbridge. Hide, Rivers, The Levels, and The Circle are 12 hectares in total, planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Précoce. The proximity of the sites means Leadley can observe each one closely and understand how the small differences in elevation, aspect, and chalk depth translate into differences in the harvested fruit, and these differences are what make the single-vineyard Hide bottling, being developed for future releases, a compelling prospect.

The wines are vintage only, meaning each year stands on its own merits. The Classic is the flagship blend, the brut expression of the year's harvest; the Wild Rose is the sparkling rosé, and it has developed a following that any larger producer might envy. Its WineGB Best Sparkling Rosé trophy in 2025 for the 2021 vintage confirmed what London's better restaurants had already discovered: that this is a rosé of unusual precision, with a delicate onion-skin colour and a palate that is dry, taut, and long. The debut commercial release, the 2016 Classic, won an IWSC Trophy in 2020, an extraordinary result for a winery in its infancy.

Events at Black Chalk include the Black Chalk versus The World masterclass during English Wine Week, where Leadley places his wines alongside Champagne equivalents in blind conditions and invites tasters to draw their own conclusions. The Test Valley setting is genuinely beautiful, and the combination of chalk-driven precision, boutique scale, and winemaking intelligence makes Black Chalk one of Hampshire's most interesting propositions.