Back in 1988, American couple Stuart and Sandy Moss revolutionized the English wine industry. At the time, the UK wine scene was vastly different, with around 800 hectares of vines primarily comprising early-ripening Germanic varieties like Bacchus and Seyval Blanc. It had a more hobbyist feel to it. The Mosses dared to defy conventional wisdom by planting Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier aimed at producing premium sparkling wine, thus founding Nyetimber.
Nyetimber saw immediate success; the 1992 Blanc de Blancs and the 1993 Classic Cuvée received critical acclaim. The biggest shift for Nyetimber occurred in 2006 when Dutch entrepreneur Eric Heerema purchased it for £7.4 million. Living nearby, Heerema invested significantly in the winery, expanding its vineyards from 16 hectares to 430 hectares, establishing it as the largest sparkling-focused project in the UK, encompassing 10% of the nation’s vineyards while upholding strict quality standards.
In 2007, Heerema appointed the husband-wife duo Cherie Spriggs and Brad Greatrix as winemakers. Spriggs quickly emerged as a leading talent, winning the International Wine Challenge’s sparkling winemaker of the year title twice—an accomplishment only previously achieved by Champagne winemakers.
During this year’s harvest at Nyetimber, they hosted their traditional harvest lunch early due to an unusually swift grape-picking season. By this time, 375 hectares of the 430 had already been harvested, with guests invited to pick from the remaining rows of Pinot Noir.
Nyetimber prides itself on crafting wine solely from estate-owned grapes across 11 vineyard sites in West Sussex, Kent, and Hampshire, utilizing either greensand or limestone soils shielded from coastal impacts. The wines produced are traditional method sparkling wines aged on lees for at least three years.
The main winery operates from an industrial estate in Crawley, with grape pressing conducted at two vineyard locations. Brad Greatrix, now on his 19th vintage, noted the excitement surrounding the quality of this year’s harvest, which could yield roughly 1.8 million bottles. Despite the favorable summer conditions, yields were lower at approximately 5.5 tons per hectare, compared to Champagne’s 15 tons, due to mixed weather from the previous year.
About 400-500 pickers worked in the vineyards during the harvest, carefully placing grapes into small crates for transport to pressing centers. The pressing process is crucial for quality, and Nyetimber has heavily invested in state-of-the-art Coquard presses, which allow for a gentle and quick processing of grapes.
The Coquard presses separate the juice into different fractions, with the cuvée (the finest quality) and taille (good quality but less refined) being distinguished from the rebêche, which is not suitable for sparkling wine. Greatrix emphasized the importance of keeping vineyard lots separate during fermentation to create a range of base wines that can be artfully blended.
With patience required for traditional method sparkling wines, the fruits of the 2025 harvest will not be seen on shelves for several years, but anticipation is high for the outstanding results expected from this vintage.