A Refreshingly Different Sparkling Wine Producer

What a pleasure it was to be part of this tasting with Langham Wine Estate and Alexander Wines.  Also a historic occasion welcoming Tommy Grimshaw and Calum Chance from Dorset up to Edinburgh since it was Tommy’s first trip further north than the Lake District! Langham’s dynamic Head Winemaker Tommy has his own style of winemaking inspired by his love of Grower Champagnes and this is very apparent.

Situated in Dorset in the southwest of England, Langham Estate is at the very edge of where the famous chalk seam runs and tends to get higher rainfall than the sunny east. However, with the pure chalk, drainage is good, so it doesn’t cause a problem, thus enabling a longer growing period so riper fruit and resulting in richer wines. Owner Justin Langham planted 30 acres of his farm to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vines in 2009.  Last year in 2022 a further 15 acres were planted and next year a further 10 acres of vineyards will be planted.  It seems we've got plenty to look forward to. In order to achieve the desired style for each wine, all of which are Extra Brut, with just 1.5-2g/l residual sugar, Tommy works with an impressive 130 different base wines.  Up to 50% of these are oaked giving a bit more complexity but without being overpowering.  In addition Tommy can draw upon seven reserve wines which are kept underground in large 4,000 litre concrete tanks. Each adds one the following to the final blend;

• Floral

• Stone fruit

• Acidity

• Red fruit

• Orchard fruit

• Low acidity

Finally, the seventh, interestingly, is kept under flor which gives these superb sparkling wines their unique character. We were treated to Langham’s 5 sparkling wines, all very individual. Explaining he goes for Longitude and Latitude approach to winemaking, Tommy presented the Longitude style

Corallian Classic Cuvée NV

; certainly linear in style yet plenty of character and an introduction to the oxidative character Tommy likes to achieve. Being close to the coast, and with a touch of saline character, seafood is what first comes to mind for a food pairing and naturally, what grows together goes together as Tommy is quick to point out.

Moving onto

Culver Classic Cuvée NV,

this presented a richer broader mouthfeel and was perhaps my favourite of the two. Whilst Corallian tends to go well in Summer, with its finer character, Culver is your fizz for Autumn. Here we have more depth of flavour, together with a lovely freshness and this is Tommy’s Latitude style of wine. Many sparkling wine enthusiasts tend to get focussed on how long the wine has spent on its lees (dead yeast cells following second fermentation). However, Tommy points out this isn’t important with his approach. For Tommy, it’s all about the base wine rather than the yeast autolysis character.  Everything at Langham is about minimal intervention and they use wild yeasts.  Whilst not certified organic, Langham follows organic practices.

The Rosé was presented with the message that a lot of rosé is produced for marketing purposes and may not be a central part of a producer's range.  However,

 Langham Rosé NV

is aimed to be a textural experience and is another unique style.  Tommy points out that Champagne, Prosecco and the UK are the only sparkling wines which allow the assemblage method for rosé. This is where the red and white wine cuvées which create the final rosé, are vinified separately and then blended.  This rosé is of course another delicious Langham sparkling wine and offers more fruit, than floral characters. Trying it with some chorizo brought out an interesting paprika note too. Worth trying! Next came the

Langham Blanc de Blancs NV;

 a bit of a signature cuvée since Tommy is keen to showcase Chardonnay. With the Langham classic oxidative style, the touch of flor is clearly apparent in this wine, giving a delicious nutty character balancing the ripe, crunchy cox apple fruit. Finally Tommy shared one of just a handful of bottles remaining of the precious

Pinot Noir 2019

.  This wine came about when the team was tasting the 130 different cuvées from 2019.  10 barrels of Pinot Noir stood out as being on a different level and hence this limited release was produced.  During the harvest in 2019, the first couple of days were near perfect as Tommy said. They had beautiful sunshine and everything was looking great. Day 3 came and with it the rain which seemed to fall non-stop until Spring. These 10 barrels of Pinot Noir were from those first two days of harvest resulting in just 2,000 bottles being produced. It’s Brut Nature so there’s no dosage (adding of sweetness after lees ageing) which goes against Tommy's pledge that he’d never produce a wine with no dosage. However, the team at Langham always taste the final blend options blind and on this particular day ten

people were in the team.  Every single one, including Tommy, agreed this was the best, before finding out it was a zero dosage. This is the wine Tommy says he’s most proud of and believes it’s the best Langham has produced to date. That said, he did tease us by saying there are plenty more great wines in the cellar yet to come. It was a fabulous wine to end the tasting with; deliciously fresh with a cocktail of elegant red fruits and a finish which may well last me through winter. This tasting was a showcase of Langham’s full range of five sparkling wines. Rather than create an extensive portfolio of sparkling and still wines, for now they’re concentrating on producing as Tommy says “the best traditional method fizz we can”. He concluded by saying “I love these wines, I really believe they’re great and they’re only going to get better every year." Langham is certainly worth looking out for and it's very exciting that Alexander Wines are enabling us to be seeing the wines in Scotland.