Producer Profile: Nyetimber

The name Nyetimber first appeared in the Domesday Book in 1086 as ‘Nitimbreha’, believed to refer to a newly timbered house.

In 1139, a Benedictine Monastery was built here. The Nyetimber Manor was passed on from King Henry VIII to his fourth wife Anne of Cleves when their marriage was annulled.

Just a century after the first record of Nyetimber, a couple from Chicago bought the rundown estate and its farmland in the heart of West Sussex. The local agricultural officials advised them to plant apples, as it was then a common belief that England was too cold for wine grapes to ripen.

However, Stuart and Sandy Moss decided to take a leap of faith. They believed that the south-facing slopes in the lee of the South Downs, when combined with the warm greensand and chalk soils, had the potential for supreme sparkling wines.

In 1988, Nyetimber planted 10,000 vines and became the first wine estate in England to exclusively plant the classic Champagne trio – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

In 1996, the first Nyetimber sparkling wine – the 1992 Blanc de Blancs – was released, and soon received some royal attention with its quality; the Queen chose it for her 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

‘A rapier wrapped in silk’ was Oz Clark’s description of the early vintages of Nyetimber in his recently published book English Wine. The purer and finer acidity of these early bottles ‘weren’t really like Champagne at all’, said Clark, though they were also made using traditional method.

In 2006, Eric Heerema became the proprietor of the estate. Passionate about the potential of English sparklings, the Dutch lawyer and investor initiated an ambitious expansion plan.

Head Winemaker Cherie Spriggs and her winemaker husband Brad Greatrix were brought on board by Heerema in 2007. The pair met in university back in their homeland of Canada, when both were studying biochemistry. Greatrix’s parents were their first mentors to wine, but it was a bottle of Nyetimber, picked up by Spriggs’ father from the Heathrow airport, that had eventually brought the couple to England.

Vineyard and production

Now the Nyetimber estate owns 327 hectares of vineyards across West Sussex, Hampshire and Kent, 260 of which will be producing this year.

Using only estate-grown grapes, Nyetimber’s total production has risen from 40,000 bottles at its first vintage to 1,000,000 bottles today, which equals roughly 10% of all English sparkling wines made each year.

From 2007, Spriggs started to build a reserve from each vintage. The stock of back vintages allowed her to convert the Classic Cuvée to a multi-vintage blend – a practice common in Champagne but still rare in England. 2010 was the last dated version of the estate’s flagship wine.

This decision also ensured that the estate still had wines to sell when they decided to skip the difficult 2012 vintage.

In 2013, Nyetimber launched its first single vineyard cuvee, Tillington. Named after a 37-ha parcel deemed superb for Pinot Noir, it is only made in the most exceptional years. 2009 was its first vintage, followed by 2010 and the most recent 2013.

Not all of the old Champagne grapes planted in 1980s have survived until today, said Spriggs at a virtual masterclass during Covid-19 lockdown, ‘they are very special. I’ll hang on to them for as long as I can.’

There is no definitive answer to where the fruits from these old vines will end up, said Spriggs. She believes that low yields and high concentration of flavours ‘can sometimes be detrimental’ for sparkling wines, which are defined by their delicacy and lightness. ‘The rule isn’t so hard and fast for sparkling wine as it is for still wines.’

‘Something English’

The most recent chapter of Nyetimber began with the launch of 1086, the estate’s prestige range, in September 2018.

Named after the year when the estate was first mentioned in the Domesday Book, the range includes a sparkling white and a sparkling rosé. The prices sit at £150 and £175 per bottle respectively, matching that of premium Champagne.

At Nyetimber, sparkling wines are typically aged for three to five years on the lees before disgorgement. The 1086 range stays longer sur lie. The most recent sparkling white 2010 spent seven years on lees, and five years for the sparkling rosé 2009.

The biochemists turned winemakers are cautious about extensive lees aging. They are aware that after a certain point the fizz in bottle can become too heavy and textured, ‘you’ll start to lose the clarity’.

‘When we don’t want any more yeast characters, we’ll make sure to at least riddle it.’ Spriggs explained that this could ‘drastically reduce the surface area of yeast’, so as to reduce its impact on flavour.

Though made using Champagne varieties and traditional method, Nyetimber is not intended to be a mere copy of Champagne, said the winemakers.

‘What we can achieve in the best vineyard sites in England is a combination of flavour intensity with delicacy, or the effortless effervescence’, said Greatrix.

Spriggs added that English sparkling wines ‘have flavours that are reminiscent of some of the fruits England is famous for’, such as apples, strawberries and raspberries, which are known for their crisp crunches and freshness.

Layered complexity combined with lightness is one of the more sophisticated signals of ‘something English’, said the Canadian winemakers.

What’s next

Driven by global climate change, many English producers have started to entertain the idea of still wines and alternative varieties such as Bacchus, the potential ‘signature grape’ for English still wines.

The team at Nyetimber, however, wants to maintain a ‘laser sharp focus’ on making the highest level of sparkling wines.

There are no plans to venture into new varieties either, said the pair, ‘we are still trying to do better on the grapes that we grow. The trio have the track record to be the bases of wines being able to age, which is also the desire of Nyetimber.’

‘We want to take the story of Nyetimber to the international stage,’ said Spriggs and Greatrix, who are already exporting their wines to 20 countries, ‘so watch this space.’

A taste of Nyetimber wines:

The following wines have been tasted by Decanter experts. 

Also read:

English wine: Status report and top wines to try

Expert’s choice: English Bacchus