Ben Adams: Enmill Field, Col Fondo 2022/23
Place: England
Grape: Chardonnay
Vibe: Serious
This Col Fondo is a blend of 60% 2022 and 40% 2023 fruit. Pressed super gently with a Coquard, then straight into old 228L and 400L barrels to ferment and rest on lees, untouched. The second ferment kicked off with a splash of the fresher juice, before being bottled by gravity in September 2024. Just 750 bottles made.
Unfiltered, expressive, and full of character. The fruit here feels like some of the ripest and most profound I’ve seen on home soil. There’s a salty, almost oxidative twang that adds a savoury lift, making this about as close to Champagne-level complexity as you’ll find from méthode ancestrale.
In wine, we tend to fetishise the complexity of old vines but there’s something to be said for the raw energy of a first crop. Outrageously well-priced considering the quality, from farming right through to the glass. ABV: 12%.