Ridgeview Oak Reserve - a celebratory launch

2020 should’ve been a year of ongoing festivities for Ridgeview, one of England’s most renowned sparkling producers, as the company, founded by Mike and Chris Roberts in 1995, marks its 25th year of operation and award-winning releases.  Instead, the restrictions unexpectedly imposed by a global pandemic made most celebration plans impossible.
But a crucial part of the quarter-century activity schedule was still possible: the launch of the special Ridgeview Oak Reserve, a cuvée that is distinct and symbolic in multiple ways.  

Simon and Mardi Roberts, August 2020

 The Roberts family has been at the forefront of English sparkling wine for the last twenty-five years, with a multidisciplinary team leading the brand on different fronts. Being able to scale production while remaining a family-run business has been crucial to build the strong company ethos – very committed to the industry as a whole – with which Ridgeview has been able to differentiate itself among the other leading British producers.   

Mike Roberts (1943-2014), Ridgeview’s pioneering patriarch, was followed by his children – Tamara, as CEO, Simon as Winemaking Director and Mardi, Simon’s wife, as Communications Director – at the helm of the estate. They remain active industry stakeholders, as was Mike, beyond the Ridgeview realm - Tamara was appointed President of the International Wine & Spirit Competition Awards for 2020, a role never before taken on by a British producer.

Ridgeview’s home vineyard and garden cafe - for which many anniversary events had been planned…

 It is the dynamism and commitment of Ridgeview’s second generation that the Oak Reserve also celebrates. It is, in a way, a symbolic handover: Mike was never a fan of oak influence in wine while Simon had long wanted to explore the flavour and textural possibilities of a primary fermentation and ageing in wood. Inspired by some his favourite pours, Simon crafted an elegant 100% Chardonnay with creamy texture and good ageing-potential (see tasting note below).

The fruit comes exclusively from Ridgeview’s home vineyard in Ditchling and is based on the 2017, 2016 and 2015 (the latter two fermented and aged in oak). From a total 2600 bottles produced, only 1000 have been made available for the initial release. The Oak Reserve is the first wine to be added to Ridgeview’s range in over ten years and marks a departure in style, against the minerality and fruit-forwardness of the remaining cuvées.

The elegant and tactile label, printed on Fasson Natural Cherry Wood paper, has been turning heads even before the cuvées’s official launch on October 5th. It won the Sparflex English Sparkling Wine Label of the Year in the 2020 Drinks Business Awards and has been the talk-of-the-town both for its design and for the technological challenges involved in printing it.

 In addition to marking a memorable anniversary and the craft of the generation now leading Ridgeview, this Oak Reserve also hints at the many possibilities that English winemakers are yet to explore – both in the vineyards and the cellar. (One of which – the potential of Meunier in British terroirs – is also very close to Simon Roberts’ heart.)

For now, get your hands on one of these beautiful bottles - if you can - and toast one of the names that has helped put English wine in the map.

Ridgeview Oak Reserve NV
94 points

October 2020 release – disgorged March 2020
100% Chardonnay from Ridgeview’s Ditchling vineyard, planted in1995
Dosage: 3gr/L
Alcohol: 12% ABV

Forward nose of lychee, lemon curd, ripe Golden Delicious apples and pink grapefruit, lined by a honey and butterscotch edge. Generous texture with fine bubbles smoothened by the creaminess of the oak influence. Complex and layered palate, with apple strudel, almond croissant and baked brioche at the forefront, supported by ripe orchard fruits and grapefruit. Very well supported by a vibrant acidity and minerality, the latter coming through on the mid-palate in particular.
Textured and nuanced this wine can certainly be drunk now but it will be interesting to see it develop for up to four years in bottle.  
A great pairing for game or a plate of intense cheeses.

£75 Available from Ridgeview with £1 from every bottle sold going to Hospitality Action.

Posted by Ines Salpico