With the excitement and ceremony of the upcoming Coronation, it seemed only fitting to send you your bottles of Windsor Great Park Vineyard Brut in time to chill down and toast King Charles III. Even better, from such a deliciously ripe vintage, this new release is already showing particularly well.

A little background:

You may well remember that since last year, we have moved away from vintage releases. Instead, we prefer – like the best Champagne houses – to blend a non-vintage, so we have the bandwidth to blend more extensively when we feel it’s necessary to deliver the best balance in the wine – of richness, breadth of flavour, freshness and ageing potential. Hence, you’ll have noticed that last year’s was Release No.5 (just awarded 94 points at Effervescents du Monde) and the 2023 Release is No.6.

Release No.6

Your bottles of Release No.6 are all based on the 2018 vintage, with the addition of Reserve wine blended from 2015, 2016 and 2017. The Reserve wine brings a richer, more mature complexity to the overall flavour, even though it comprises a mere 15%.

For this vintage, it is the team at Ridgeview, headed up by Simon Roberts, who put the blend together, with input from Henry (Laithwaite – my eldest with an award-winning sparkling wine estate of his own) and Anne Linder, who oversees the whole operation. 2018 was such a dream vintage, it makes up a high percentage of the blend. It was nigh-on perfect … “biggest and best yet”, said the team at Ridgeview, and a benchmark for years to come.

It won hands-down for both quality and quantity, the latter being particularly important to help top up the dramatic 50% drop in both 2020 and 2021, and the small 2017 vintage as well.

Why so good? Firstly, there was none of those devastating April early-morning frosts to dash yields or cause uneven fruit set. Then it was a wonderfully long, hot and sunny vintage, with enough moisture in the water table to keep the vines just happy. So, as long as there was enough canopy (leaves) to shade the bunches and prevent sunburn, the grapes – all three varieties – ripened exceptionally well. And the weather continued through autumn and right through harvest.

Windsor Great Park No.6 was made to a similar blend to previous releases – this time 61% Chardonnay, 33% Pinot Noir and 6% Pinot Meunier. All of it was aged on lees in bottle for 3 years 9 months to lend a roundness and complexity, before each bottle was individually disgorged and topped up with a small drop of dosage, as is the way with the finest fizz.

What to look forward to – a tasting note:

Pale straw gold colour, with a stream of fine small bubbles, it offers rich, honeyed apricot and bright citrus aromas, more forward than some years. It brings flavours of summer fruits, honeydew melon, a touch of almond biscuit and that classic core of minerality. Delicious now to toast the King, and for years to come.

Cheers!

Tony Laithwaite CBE