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Freedom of the press Chardonnay

2021

Classic English Chardonnay from Oxfordshire's 'urban' winery.

Light yellow gold in colour, this is a prime example of English Chardonnay, filled with a bouquet of wildflowers, tangerine, citrus, stone and a hint of honey.

The fruit was picked in Essex's Crouch valley in late October 2021. Despite tricky growing conditions that year, the fruit was particularly ripe, and they selected four different clones for the batch, creating a complex profile.

A light buttery quality comes with oak ageing for 13 months in old barrels, and it has great texture on the palate, bags of fruit with a firm core.

The wine has great texture on the palate, bags of fruit with a firm core. It has enough texture and weight to match rich foods - from roast chicken to fish with a buttery sauce. The fruit came from Martin’s Lane in the Crouch valley, one of the very best places in England for grapes for still wine.

Details

More Information
Wine Type	White wine
Closure	Natural Cork
Alc. Vol	13
Units	9.75
Region	Oxfordshire
Country	United Kingdom
Grape Varietal	Chardonnay

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Freedom of the Press

Freedom of the Press is an urban winery in the Cotswolds, just 15 miles outside of Oxford. Owned and run by Gavin Carver, the winery makes small batches of beautiful still wines from exquisite English grapes, selecting techniques and vessels best suited to crafting each wine’s distinctive style.

Not owning his own vineyards, Gavin sources his fruit from Essex, a county that is acknowledged as having the best sites for growing grapes for still wines in the country. In a typical year Essex is drier and sunnier than anywhere else, meaning the grapes become riper. Furthermore the London clay is proving to be a perfect soil to develop powerful complex flavours in cool-climate still wines.

Although a very small winery, Freedom of the Press have a range of vessels for fermentation and maturation. Steel tanks, earthenware jars, a concrete egg and old French oak barrels give Gavin the flexibility to shape his wines into a desired style.

The Grape - Chardonnay

The world's most planted white grape variety, Chardonnay is prized for its ability to produce outstanding-quality wines in cool, moderate and warm climates. It is most often used as a single variety in still wines but is equally successful when used in sparkling.

The flavours of Chardonnay are many and varied; they're very much affected by where the grapes are grown, the winemaking process and maturation.

In cool-climates, such as northern France and England, you would expect flavours of orchard fruits like apples and pears, citrus and wet stones. However, in warm-climates (California, Australia) you'd get peachy flavours, tropical fruits, and sometimes even banana.

It is common to taste other flavours in Chardonnay, for instance fermenting or ageing in oak gives the wine flavours of vanilla, smoke and toast; the process of malolactic conversion can add creamy, buttery flavours; lees ageing adds body as well as biscuit notes.