Three Squirrels Brut

An excellent value, refreshingly bright sparkler local to us here at ERW HQ.

£24.99

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SKU: Three Squirrels Brut Category:

Description

Three Squirrels Brut is a fabulous aperitif and excellent value sparkling wine. It is a refreshing and easy-drinking wine from Hazel End Farm.

Charles and Petronella Humphreys took over Hazel End Farm in 1974. Planting vineyards in England had become something of a rarity since the dissolution of the monasteries. Sound advice on how to do it was hard to come by. In 1996, after nearly twenty years of trial and error, they harvested the first commercial crop. It was rather good.

A quarter of a century and several medals down the line, there is less surprise. For the first five years, they only made still wines. At first, the dream was to make the wine as well as growing the grapes. The struggle to master the latter suggested it would be prudent to entrust the former to the experts. At first that meant Chapel Down. When they decided not to make wine for small independents, Hazel End Farm turned to Shawsgate near Framlingham where Rob Capp has been making their wines since 2009.

Shawsgate is not equipped to do the second fermentation so, once they have completed the first fermentation, the base wine is shipped down to Wiston Estate where Dermot Sugrue does this. Dermot has twice been Winemaker of the Year and Wiston Estate has won all manner of prizes so Hazel End Farm has been fortunate with its winemakers.

Three Squirrels Brut

Winemaker: Dermot Sugrue

Additional information

Weight 1 kg

Wine at a glance

  • Size: 75cl
  • Alc Vol: 11%
  • Vintage:
  • Region: East Anglia

About the vineyard

Hazel End Farm

The hamlet of Hazel End has been part of the Gosling family estate for a couple of centuries which accounts for its unspoilt charm. Tudor farmhouses, thatched cottages, a pub, a pond and a cricket ground set the scene. The newer farm buildings are tucked away among the trees and, if you look carefully, you’ll see a suitably discreet sign about a vineyard.

The vines were planted from 1990 – actually other planting had occurred long before that – when the climate was cooler and people planted German vines because the French ones took longer to ripen. You’ll still find Muller Thurgau, Huxelrebe and Reichensteiner at the farm which, coupled with the age of the vines, makes this little vineyard rather special.

Only white grapes have been grown and the still wines have always been sold under the “Hazel End” label. The sparkling is called “Three Squirrels”. For the technically minded, the area under vines is now about 3 acres. It is around 73 m above sea level and the vines are planted in rows 2.44 m apart with 1.22m between the vines. They are all trained on the Double Guyot system.

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Please note - every effort is taken to ensure the vintage displayed on this page is the vintage supplied, but due to constantly refreshed stock the vintage supplied may vary.

This product contains sulphites

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