Louis Pommery England

In 2014, a decade before Taittinger and other Champagne houses began their much-publicised English projects, Vranken-Pommery quietly released a wine under the Louis Pommery England label, sourcing fruit from the Hattingley Valley estate in Hampshire and making it with the same traditional method precision that has defined Pommery's house style since the nineteenth century. It was an act of confidence in English terroir, and its timing, a full decade ahead of the competition, deserves more credit than it typically receives in the English wine narrative.

The Pinglestone Estate near Alresford, which Vranken-Pommery controls through the Gaskain family partnership, sits on south-facing chalk with a gradient and aspect that Champagne viticulturists would recognise immediately. The analogy is not merely promotional. The Seaford Chalk Formation that outcrops here is the same Cretaceous deposit as that which underlies Pommery's Crayères cellars in Reims, and the estate's position in the Itchen valley provides a microclimate noticeably warmer and drier than the Hampshire average. Currently 30 of the 40 hectares are in production, with a Chardonnay-focused second site at Lovington under development.

The Louis Pommery England Brut NV, which drew 91 points from Decanter on its debut, is a wine of Champagne-like restraint rather than the richer, more expansive style favoured by some English producers. Chardonnay dominates the blend at around 50 percent, with Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier playing supporting roles, and the result is a wine of considerable poise, with the creamy autolytic character of lees-aged sparkling wine and a mineral finish that speaks directly of the chalk. It is not a wine that shouts for attention, which is, of course, entirely in keeping with Pommery's house character.

The estate's environmental commitment is worth noting. Certified Sustainable Wines of Great Britain since 2021, Pinglestone operates without herbicides and with a biodiversity programme that maintains wildflower margins and insect habitats throughout the vineyard. The own-estate Pinglestone wines, when they eventually reach the market, will be the most direct expression of this terroir under the Pommery umbrella. Given the chalk quality and the house's technical resources, expectations are high.