Why the long lees ageing?

Patience is a Virtue….

After the initial fermentation of grape juice via addition of yeast, we are left with a selection of base wines around 10% alcohol and without any fizz at all. This is where the magic begins, as after blending these base wines are mixed with a precise amount of sugar and yeast and put into the bottle where they will spend the rest of their lives until drunk by you!

At this point we top the bottle with a crown cap rather than a cork and cage, as many years later we will need to remove the dead yeast (let’s face it, ‘lees’ sounds more palatable). The wine then goes into dark, temperature controlled storage. Initially we require a temperature that will enable the secondary fermentation to start, the yeast does its thing converting that small addition of sugar to alcohol and the by product is carbon dioxide, which due to the crown cap can not escape the bottle and so is absorbed into the wine. And hey presto - sparkling wine!

The yeast starts to die and settle on the bottom of the bottle, releasing molecules that interact and impart subtle flavours to the wine. We like to leave the wine for a minimum of five years on the lees, letting it develop complex aromas and flavours that simply wouldn’t be there if we shortened the process. It is always a pleasure to test the progress of the wines every six months or so, but we feel the patience pays off when we finally release a new cuvée with all the nuanced flavours that year’s harvest gave us.

All sparkling wines start out still and relatively low in alcohol.

Addition of yeast and sugar before bottling creates the fizz.

Extended lees ageing imparts a complex depth of flavours that younger vintages can be lacking.