Domaine Evremond

Domaine Evremond represents a bet placed on English terroir by one of Champagne's oldest dynasties, and it is a bet of unusual confidence. Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger of Champagne Taittinger and Patrick McGrath MW, founder of Hatch Mansfield, identified chalky farmland near Chilham in west Kent in the mid-2010s and saw in it the same Cretaceous geology that underpins the finest Grand Cru vineyards of the Côte des Blancs. Planting began in 2017. By 2020 the estate had expanded to 61 hectares, and in September 2024, after seven years of patience, the first wine was released.

That first wine, the Classic Cuvée Brut Edition 1, was made from the 2020 harvest blended with 20 percent reserve wine from 2019, and disgorged with 7 grams per litre dosage. Jamie Goode awarded it 93 points and described it as an impressive debut for vines so young. At £50 per bottle, it positioned itself firmly in the prestige English sparkling tier rather than hedging with a more accessible price, and the market absorbed it with the kind of enthusiasm that suggests the name Taittinger on an English label carries its own persuasive power. Edition 2 followed, based on the 2021 vintage.

The underground winery, designed with planned capacity of 400,000 bottles annually and a wildflower meadow planted on its roof, is the most ambitious purpose-built wine facility constructed in England in the current wave of investment. It suggests a long-term commitment that is not always visible in joint ventures between established European houses and English estates. The proximity to Canterbury, accessible by high-speed train from St Pancras, will eventually make Domaine Evremond one of England's most conveniently located prestige estates once it opens to visitors.

What makes the wine interesting beyond its provenance is the question it poses about the relationship between chalk terroir and winemaking house style. Taittinger's house wines are known for their Chardonnay-forward elegance and fine-boned mineral character. The Kent chalk at Chilham, with its similar Cretaceous composition to Cramant and Mesnil, should in theory produce wines with structural affinities to those French benchmarks. The early editions suggest that theory is becoming practice. The planned Blanc de Blancs and prestige cuvée, when released, will be among the most closely watched releases in the English wine calendar.