Sugrue South Downs, Crouch Valley Pinot Noir 2024

Back in March, our friends from Sugrue hosted a little tasting here in the shop and as you would expect, the sparkling wines were absolutely on fire. The wine that stole the show though, and blew everyone’s socks off was a cheeky little bottle of Sugrue Crouch Valley Pinot Noir 2022 which they brought from the winery. In fact, the wine was such a hit that everyone, including myself, wanted to get their hands on a bottle. Unfortunately it was one of those “everything is to taste but nothing is to sell” situations- reminds me a bit of Burgundy. In fact, they only made 1,000 bottles of the 2022 vintage so definitely Burgundy vibes here.

So, as you may expect, when the phone rang about taking our allocation for the 2024 vintage I jumped at the chance and bit their arm off for anything they could make available. This is their long awaited and only second release ever of this wine.

The only way is Essex- The Crouch Valley is quietly establishing itself as one of the most exciting emerging wine regions in the world. Therefor it's probably hardly a surprise that Crouch Valley still wines are the talk of winemakers in Burgundy and beyond. While cooler than 2022, 2024 was still remarkably warm compared with the rest of the country.

Fermented from fully destemmed fruit and gently extracted, with one-third matured in new French barriques and two-thirds in a stunning foudre called Marion, which was liberated from Tonnellerie Rousseau in Gevrey-Chambertin.

Deep cranberry fruit with some earthy, smoky undertones and an unmistakable peppery character. A seriously grown-up Pinot that’s not in a hurry and going places.