Chardonnay

The Backbone.

Chardonnay is a star performer in the sparkling wine world. It adds great ageing potential to the wine - useful when we lees age the wines for so long.

Of the three fields at Tickerage, it is the ‘barn’ field that shines as the Chardonnay producer. In was noticeable from the very first harvest there was something special about the Chardonnay in this plot, beautiful big bunches of golden nectar.

Our Blanc de Blancs is 100% Chardonnay, and built to age. Currently approaching a decade on the lees this gold medal winning Sussex sparkler shows no signs of letting up in its development.

Chardonnay is a little more tricky to look after, there is the risk of late frost damage as it tends to break bud earlier and the subtle change of colour at veraison (going from green to a slightly translucent green, whereas the Pinots turn from green to purple) makes it more difficult to select the bunches that are behind in ripeness and should be dropped so they won’t bring down the quality come harvest. But the extra effort is well worth it once in the bottle.

Brings ageing potential to the sparkling wine.

Higher yielding than the Pinots.

A dominant grape variety at Tickerage, we build a blend around it.