THE GUSBOURNE ESTATE
We planted Gusbourne ’ s first vines in 2004 with a singleminded vision : to craft the world ’ s finest sparkling wines . Today – two decades on – we ’ re still driven by that same ambition .
We work in a way that embraces tradition , but challenges convention . Our focus is always on the detail – the incremental gains – which allow us to keep pushing the boundaries of what ’ s possible in English wine , one vintage at a time .
The quality of our fruit is essential ; we farm and hand harvest all of our own grapes . This means we have total control over the quality in the vineyard ; we only pick when our fruit is perfectly ripe . Around half our vines are Burgundian clones . These yield smaller quantities of ripe , flavourful grapes which are ideal for both still and sparkling wines .
We ’ re fortunate to have incredible vineyards in both Kent and West Sussex , which means our wines benefit from fruit with different , but complementary characteristics . In Kent , our Wealden clay soils give our grapes intensity and richness . In Sussex , the higher altitude chalk and flint vineyards give fruit that ’ s mineral and elegant with brilliant acidity .
18 | VINEYARD