#BeVibrant

Inspired by the fun, free-flowing freedom of the Modern Masters, colour, form and flavour collide in the story of our 2017 vintage Sussex Sparkling Wine releases. Our love for simplicity dances with our penchant for the playful and a taste for understated elegance, bringing you two new wines to serve this summer.

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A Reason to Celebrate

A new era of opportunity presents itself and it is yours for the taking. After a hiatus from play and spontaneity, the season of social enjoyment offers a surge of hope and rejuvenation and we invite you to raise a glass of Sussex Sparkling to loved ones past and present.

As you discover our wines, take note of our message which implores you to #BeVibrant. Now’s your time to express yourself and reclaim your rhythm. Do not dull your light. Live a life in vivid colour.

#BeVibrant

2017 Rathfinny Blanc de Blancs

Our Blanc de Blancs has made a name for itself among the most discerning wine writers; Jamie Goode naming it “One of England’s finest”. Now on our third vintage, the Rathfinny 2017 Blanc de Blancs is 100% Chardonnay, aged for 36-months on its yeast lees. With a luminous, flaxen-gold hue leading to a heady nose of ripe papaya and creamy lemon balm, you’ll notice a refined beading of white peach and fennel pollen with a silken, yuzu zest finish.

As food-friendly as previous vintages, this sparkling meshes sublimely with the sweet delicacy of butter-braised lobster, with the velvet-texture of a goat’s cheese and fig tartlet or pairs deliciously with oysters.

Available to shop from a range of selected stockists.

View the Tasting Notes

This is a really precise, tight Chardonnay with linear citrus fruit, high but well integrated acidity and some richer notes of apple and nectarine – and just a touch of some herbs. It is all about the fruit at the moment: there’s a tiny bit of bready autolytic character hanging in the background, and it finishes with lovely crystalline citrus fruit. 93/100. Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak

2017 Rathfinny Classic Cuvée

Charismatic and approachable, our 2017 Classic Cuvée boasts a striking gold neck wrap that sparkles with celebration and represents ‘Rathfinny in a glass’. This vintage is a blend of 65% Pinot Noir, 18% Chardonnay and 17% Pinot Meunier, aged for 36-months in the bottle.

This sparkling is light ochre in colour with a vibrant nose of red heirloom apples and baby ginger, giving way to a rich mousse of mirabelle plums and orange sherbet with a bright, pomelo finish. Rathfinny Brand Ambassador, Rob Buckhaven, suggested this wine is a stunning accompaniment to the earthy herbaceous notes of tarragon and wild mushrooms or with the gamey flavours of venison carpaccio.

Available to shop from a range of selected stockists.

View the Tasting Notes

Honeyed with a really exuberant mousse, the newly released 2017 Rathfinny Classic Cuvée… begins with upfront raspberry, apricot and strawberry ripple ice cream flavours partnered by cooked apple acidity and suggestions of blood orange with plum skin savouriness and floral aromatics too. Brian Elliot, Mid-Week Wines

The 2017 Vintage

Every Rathfinny Sussex Sparkling proffers you with a chance to sip upon a memory of a unique vintage that can never be replicated.

2017 sparkling wines are in relatively short supply due to a harmful late spring frost that impacted most of northern Europe that year. However, the south-facing aspect and proximity to the coast of Rathfinny’s vineyards protected us greatly.

Following an early budburst, the grapes benefitted from a long ripening period and a phenomenal “Indian summer”. An unseasonably warm September produced fantastic ripe fruit, with great flavours, balanced acidity and sugar levels.

We love to celebrate the vintage and 2017 was a cracking vintage. A long growing season produced rich flavours in the wines and with three years bottle ageing, it’s the perfect wine to celebrate the end of lockdown. Role on the roaring twenties and a summer of love. Mark Driver