55% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, 10% Meunier
75cl * 12% ABV * Kent, England
Domaine Evremond - termed Taittinger's UK winery - is the work of lifelong friends Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and Patrick McGrath MW (managing director Hatch Mansfield), who have combined their expertise in the pursuit of exceptional English sparkling wine.
Hatch Mansfield has worked with Champagne Taittinger for over 25 years, establishing their position as one of the major champagnes on the UK market. Taking this partnership even further, Taittinger have collaborated with Hatch to become the first Champagne house to plant vineyards and grow wines in the UK. In the 1950s, Jean Taittinger twinned Cantebury with Reims, and in 2015, Pierre-Emmanuel and Patrick chose their site near Cantebury for the chalk soils, climate and topography that make it so similar to that of the Champagne region today.
The Estate is fittingly named after Charles de Saint-Évremond (1613-1703), a renowned Frenchman and cultural ambassador who first introduced Champagne to the English Royal court of Charles II. The cinquefoil (five-petalled flower) on each bottle is fashioned after his crest.
Domaine Evremond launched at Westminster Abbey in 2015, but this is the first release of their Classic Cuvée - it is a wine of minerality and precision that express the chalky soils of the Kentish terroir. The wine is fermented and matured in stainless steel vats and undergoes malolactic fermentation before three years on the lees. To taste, it shows a bright lemon and green apple freshness, with an elegant, linear palate and exemplary mousse. It is lively and slightly flinty, with a hint of white fruits, grapefruit and spring blossoms.