60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir
75cl * 12% ABV * Sussex, England
The Trouble with Dreams started life as just that, an ill-fated attempt to grow grapes for mainly monastic wine in 2008, attractive only to the birds. The priest leading the monastic mission remarked that this is the trouble with dreams. Rather than be dismayed by this setback, the wine maker Dermot Sugrue persevered, embodying the words of William Butler Yeats, 'an Irishman has an abiding sense of tragedy, to sustain him through the temporary periods of joy'.
Notes from the winery on this 2021 release: 'Although 2021 was a challenging year, some well-timed warmth in September and October resulted in a small crop of excellent fruit across our South Downs vineyards, to which we have added 60% reserve wines (from 2011, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020), we have built up over the past two decades. As a result, this multi-vintage release is astonishingly layered and complex. With chalky minerality and bright acidity at its core, you will find a rich bass note emerge with further bottle age. Drink to 2036+.'
Great as an aperitif but also pairs well with a hard Sussex sheep's cheese or some freshly caught seafood.