No English producer of sparkling wine fits the ‘luxury item’ better than Nyetimber in West Chiltington, Sussex.
Nyetimber got its name from a mentioning of ‘Nitimbreha’ back in 1086 and England’s first ever Prestige Cuvée was actually named ‘1086 by Nyetimber’ to commemorate this.
In terms of vines and wines, Nyetimber has been around since the first plantings of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Menuier in 1988, but especially with Eric Heerema, who became owner in 2006, Nyetimber has cemented its status as a sparkling wine icon in England and one to truly rival the mighty Champagne and Heerema spares little in his efforts.
His ambition was never to mirror Champagne and the stylistic profile does not quite mirror that of Champagne.
The southern parts of England do have similar chalky soils to those in Champagne, but England is both cooler and wetter – arguably a more marginal climate for wine growing – than Champagne.
A few years ago, I compared temperature data for Brighton and Epernay respectively and Brighton enjoys roughly 20% less Growing Degree Days (GDD) than Epernay but benefits from a milder October. This results in an extended ripening period for English producers whilst preserving the vital acid levels in the grapes as well as the complexity and finesse in the final wines, for which Nyetimber is so well known and famous.
The English climate remains marginal, however, and even with the current climate change, South England will not have GDD’s similar to what is considered today’s norm in Champagne for the next 80-100 years, prognoses show.
Such climatic influences mean that the fruit will always be more at the front in Nyetimber’s wines, compared to its French counterparts.
Nyetimber is being recognized for the very high quality of its wines and Heerema’s signing of Head Winemaker Cherie Spriggs and Winemaker Brad Geatrix in 2007 turned out to be nothing less than a steal with Spriggs going from success to success at Nyetimber.
Spriggs assesses each single handpicked parcel for quality, ripeness and character. Each parcel is pressed and vinified separately for her to distinguish the subtle yet highly distinctive differences between the different parcels. This way, Spriggs has an incredibly varied selection to choose from for the production of each of the unique wines of the Nyetimber range.
A remarkable milestone was achieved, when in 2018 Spriggs became the first female let alone the first outside of Champagne to win Sparkling Winemaker of the Year at International Wine Challenge (IWC).
Nyetimber x Odette
Last year, the ever-increasing recognition of Nyetimber across the world brought about a tête-a-tête with Singapore restaurant Odette, 3-star Michelin since 2019 – right in in the middle of fine dining hub Copenhagen, whose ‘Michelin star restaurants to population ratio’ only few cities, if any, in the world can match.
Odette’s name reflects Chef Julien Royer’s great respect for his grandmother Odette and in the hands of Executive Chef Levin Lau, Odette is French cuisine alright, but it draws intensely on Japanese inspiration in the courses. Part of that is a desire to focus on local ingredients. And then, Singapore doesn’t really have a lot of ingredients to show for, hence the choice to look to Japan.
Matching traditional method sparkling wines with Japanese or Japanese fusion cuisine is really intriguing and highly rewarding as an early autumn dinner at Odette’s pop-up at Tivoli in Copenhagen illustrated.
A highly impressive lineup of top bottles from Nyetimber were presented:
Classic Cuvée 2010 (from magnum), Blanc de Blancs 2016, 1086 by Nyetimber 2013, 1086 by Nyetimber Rosé 2013, Tillington Single Vineyard 2016 and the recent addition of Cuvée Cherie.
Nyetimber long felt like missing a sweeter-style sparkling to pair with sweeter desserts and Spriggs provided the answer: Cuvée Cherie, a demi-sec style sparkling – England’s first of its kind – made solely from Chardonnay grapes from vineyards in West Sussex and Hampshire.
38 grams of residual sugar and 8,5 grams of acid per liter make for a beautiful balance between sweetness and crisp acidity, and in combination with aromas of pure lemon, mineral, honey and a hint of tangerine, Cuvée Cherie meets the needs.
A tour de force of some of the very best sparkling wines to have come out of England and the evening spoke volumes of the quality of the wines from Spriggs and just how well they pair with the exquisite cuisine of Levin Lau.
2025 saw Nyetimber going from success to success.
1086 by Nyetimber 2010 went on to beat 25 wines from across the world, including Dom Pérignon, Cristal and Krug, at London Wine Fair. From 16 bespoke judges, MWs, MSs and expert sparkling wine writers, one judge even scored the wine 100 points!
Maybe even more impressively, Spriggs took home the Sparkling Winemaker of the Year title once more at IWC 2025 and at the same event won the Champion Sparkling Wine trophy for Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2016 from a magnum bottle. This marked the first time ever for this highly prestigious award to be awarded to a producer outside of Champagne!
