Wiston Estate

While only releasing their first vintage in 2008, the Goring family has called the land where Wiston’s estate vineyards are located home for generations. Nestled amongst the rolling hills and valleys of England’s South Downs, Wiston Estate is only 10 miles from the sea in the “Banana Belt”, a relatively warm, dry microclimate. Their first vineyard, ‘Findon Park” was planted in 2006 on flint-scattered soils over a chalk base (similar to that of Champagne’s rolling hills as well as the famous “Silex” of the Loire Valley) with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. There have been three stages of vineyard planting since: ‘Broadwood’, which is Chardonnay only; ‘North Farm’, which is Pinot Noir only; and ‘North Farm Valley’, which is equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Their husband-and-wife winemaking team, Marcus and Megan Rayner-Ward, strive to produce sustainably farmed wines of purity and substance. Producing exclusively traditional method sparkling, the wines see at least three years on the lees and often featuring a notable percentage of reserve wine (dating back to 2008) in the final blend. This approach has resulted in wines that are consistently championed as some of best examples of their country’s burgeoning wine industry.